Oldsmobile will launch its new import fighter, the compact Achieva, with a special leasing program that lets consumers opt for a no-money-down, 48-month lease for as low as $199 a month on a fairly well-equipped car.
The car will have air conditioning, automatic transmission, antilock brakes and AM/FM stereo with cassette. Another option would be a 36-month lease at $199 a month that requires a 10 percent down payment.
The lease program is aimed at boosting Achieva sales to 100,000 units its first year, versus 1991 sales of 59,188 units of the model Achieva replaces, the compact Olds Calais.
”Achieva is designed to stop the defection from Olds owners into imports,” Olds general manager Michael Losh told the media at a preview of the new car.
Oldsmobile held about 10 percent of the U.S. car market in the early 1980s, but its share dwindled to 5.3 percent by the end of last month.
”Our biggest losses have come from those moving to the Honda Accord. We have to do better in our compact line than we`ve done in order to compete,”
Losh said of the Accord, the industry`s top selling nameplate the last two years.
Honda also offers a $199 lease on some of its cars, but only in selected markets.
Losh said that at the end of the lease term, consumers will have the option to buy the car at a pre-established residual value or simply return it and walk away.
Losh said Achieva prices will start at $12,715 for the base S coupe and range up to $14,610 for the SC performance coupe. Those prices are roughly $1,300 higher than the comparable `91 Calais.
Losh said the addition of such new standard equipment as antilock brakes and power door locks accounts for part of the increase, though antilock brakes only account for $350 of it.
Achieva will not offer air bags until the 1994 model year.
Because Achieva is aimed at winning back sales from imports, it initially will be marketed on the West Coast, where imports dominate, before moving to the Midwest and East, Losh said. Those sales will begin later this month.
The Olds general manager also revealed that Achieva was the second choice for the car`s name. Originally market research among consumers came up with the name ”Achiever.”
”But we thought that sounded a tad too Japanese,” Losh said.
