It’s time to feature another car that was once oh-so-common and nowadays rarely appears. It’s a find by riveranotario from the Cohort; a mid-90s Cutlass Ciera, looking rather well and still doing service in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
As far as I can tell, this is a Mexican-market late model. Also, there was no Ciera in these Mexican Oldsmobiles, as they went simply by “Cutlass” by GM. The vehicles came from GM’s Ramos Arizpe assembly line, near Monterrey. GM’s longest-running plant in that nation, dating from 1960.
As everyone in the States knows, this was one GM product that ran seemingly forever. Efficient and clean looking in ’82, but quite stale by 1992. However, we’re talking about Mexico’s market with this Cutlass, where Beetles still sold in decent numbers in the ’90s.
With that in mind, I would think this Ciera Cutlass probably did the trick for Mexicans, even in the mid-90s. The ad above is for the ’93 model, with the hard-to-translate sales pitch “La Razón se impone” (Something along “Reason takes over”). The print touts the car’s Chevrolet-derived 3.1 V6 and automatic transmission—both a plus in that market back then.
However, as I understand, Oldsmobile was never a great player in that nation. Chevrolet was, for all purposes, GM’s calling card with Mexican buyers. It wasn’t until the mid-80s that locally built Centurys and Cutlasses became available at Chevrolet dealers. But that seems to have been more of an afterthought in the corporation’s affairs rather than a serious effort.
If these remind me of anything at all, it’s Puerto Rican office workers. The ultimate American commuter car of the ’80s. Or so it seemed on the island, as they were everywhere. A few years later, by the time I reached California in the ’90s, these were basically rental fleet material.
In either case, this old Ciera Cutlass still looks pretty good. Other than the annoying stickers in the back window (they’re Mexican registration permits, if I recall correctly) and the broken tail light, it’s mostly all there. A previous Mexican Cutlass already appeared at CC, in far worse shape. So it’s good to see an old workhorse still looking rather intact. A nice period piece from the ’90s. Or the ’80s.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1987 Cutlass Cierta – The Triumph Of TrueCoat
Cohort Sighting: 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Coupe – Not Quite My Aunt’s Oldsmobile
I used to travel Mexico for the fun of it and always there were interesting and obscure vehicles to look at .
-Nate
You can still purchase Chevrolet’s latest offerings at the Mexico City dealer Durkin Motors S.A. de C.V.
No mention of Oldsmobile in the ad, just GM Mexico.
That’s an interesting observation. I wonder if the name Oldsmobile even appears on the car.
It’s on the trunk lid of the featured car unless it was added on. I know for the Mercury’s sold in Mexico they were under the Ford umbrella with the Mercury logos deleted and a blue oval in place
Duh, don’t know how I missed that. Thanks.
I’ve never quite understood that about Mexican GM products from this era. Even though the Oldsmobile name and logo appear on the car here, I think they were often considered Chevrolets. Same with Mexican-market Buicks. Looking through Mexican used car ads, these cars are more often listed as a “Chevrolet Cutlass” than an Oldsmobile, so maybe they were “officially” registered as Chevrolets for some reason, but commonly called an Olds? I have no idea.
Reading some more on Mexican sites, it seems like they were sold as “Cutlass by Chevrolet” from when they went on sale in 1987 (always carrying the Oldsmobile ‘rocket’ logo). Along with the Cutlass, the Century also arrived as a “Chevrolet”, but neither model seems to have carried Chevrolet logos on their bodies.
An update for the Cutlass arrived in 1991, with the Chevrolet reference going away and selling as “Cutlass by GM.”
Thanks Rich – that explains a lot regarding the marketing confusion. Of course “Cutlass by Chevrolet” was brought to you by the same company that sold the “Cimarron by Cadillac,” so I guess that phrase shouldn’t be too surprising.
Refreshing seeing one this clean and not wearing dingy black steelies, alloys suit it well even though it seems to have lost its center caps. Looks like the Mexican version got a different grille design as well.
Ciera was always a stupid name anyway, and a result of GMs noncommittal splitting of the Cutlass line between the new FWD A body and old RWD G body, and by the 90s continued noncommittal split of the old A body and new W body which inexplicably used the Cutlass name without any tacked on affectation. Being just a Cutlass and not having the tacky little international flag emblems US versions were too often festooned presents a subtle alternate reality where 80s GM operated a little leaner in their lineups, like they should have.
I always liked seeing the Mexican versions of the A bodies. Everything’s a Chevy. Cutlass Eurosport with ground effects and alloys from 6000s, Grand Ams, Achievas, or whatever, which means they kept the 100mm bolt pattern longer than the US did. Someone said you could get the super reliable 3.1 MPFI with 5 speed all the way till the end. It’s like they used our leftover parts and made some unique and cool stuff.
Wonder if it’s been repainted? For a car that age with no splash guards, stone shields, the paint looks remarkably good.
The two I see, from time to time, look good but faded. One is dark blue, one is burgundy.
The CC effect. Just saw a gold one of these on my way home from work. It caught my eye because it was in great shape. It had the same grill as well Did it change after some point in the 90’s?
The Chevrolet Cutlass (as sold in Mexico) also had a decent looking sporty version, the Cutlass Eurosport. This was a 93 I believe, which I think is a pretty good looking sporty coupe.
It kind of resembles the Lumina Z34!
Living in San Diego back in the early 90’s, I would see the Mexican-elite in these Cutlasses, Dodge Spirits and Ford Contours. At the time, the Mexican auto market was pretty limited and not much selection.
I’ll never forget one spring break while driving to Ensenada in my buddy’s Nissan 300ZX. We were at a red light when a Bright red Cutlass Eurosport driven by a rich kid and trying to impress his date and started revving his engine at us. We just looked at him, laughed, gave him a head start and as we passed him, his date blew a kiss at us.