Gm's Aurora

The atmosphere was tense as senior Oldsmobile managers gathered at the division's Lansing (Mich.) headquarters for an unusual meeting in December, 1992. The topic of discussion: whether to strip the celebrated Olds "rocket" logo off a soon-to-be-unveiled luxury sedan. Longtime Olds loyalists were horrified. To them, the rocket was a proud symbol that harkened back to the mighty Rocket V-8 engine, which propelled Olds to new heights after World War II. But the team in charge of Oldsmobile's so-called G-car project argued tha` the logo had become less an emblem of excellence than a red flag to consumers.

The debate raged during the morning meeting. "People who've been here for a while have rockets tatooed on their foreheads," says Byron Kearney, the business team leader on the project, recalling the contentious session. Kearney and his team played a videotape of consumers who had been shown the car a few months earlier. Almost to a person, they marveled at the new sedan--but recoiled when they discovered that it was an Oldsmobile. Says Olds General Manager John D. Rock: "After a lot of heartache, we took the rockets off."