The Oldsmobile Toronado shook up the automotive world when it was introduced in 1966, but few even noticed when it was discontinued in 1992.

As the first American front-wheel drive car in volume production sice the Cord 810, the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado was a sensation. The automotive press was mesmerized, for one. But as the years wore on and front-wheel drive became commonplace across the U.S. auto industry, the Toronado lost its air of distinction. For its final major redesign in 1986, the Toronado’s major innovation, the longitudinal V8 engine and transaxle unit known as the Universal Power Package (UPP) was discarded. Now the Toronado used the same transverse-engine powertrain as a number of cars in the General Motors stable.

With the Olds Rocket V8 now long out of the picture, in its final year the Toronado was powered by the Buick 3800 V6 in LN3 form with balance shafts, sequential fuel injection, and 170 hp. It was a fine engine, arguably one of the best GM has ever produced, but it didn’t do much to differentiate the Toronado from all the other mid-sized and full-sized cars in the GM lineup using the very same powerplant. Same for the GM 4T60-E four-speed automatic transaxle.

Likewise, the Toronado’s exterior design was clean and handsome, but it did little to distinguish the Toronado from other GM cars—or from the competition for that matter. Under two successive vice presidents of design, Irv Rybicki (1977-86) and Chuck Jordan (1986-1992), GM products developed a corporate sameness, forced in no small part by economic realities.

In 1990 the Toronado’s deck lid and rear quarters were extended 12 inches, which smoothed out the lines and gave the coupe greater visual presence. But it didn’t do anything for sales, which had slipped badly with the 1986 redesign. From 1990 until the end in 1992, the Toronado was very much the same car in exterior appearance with only minor variations in badging.

For 1992 the Toronado was offered in two flavors: the base Toronado Coupe (Z57) and the Trofeo (V57). Introduced as an upmarket Toronado in 1987, the Trofeo briefly displaced the Toronado name in 1989, then became a parallel model with the Toronado in 1990. Please forgive us if we’re not describing the brand shuffling with total accuracy. For Oldsmobile shoppers, it must have been equally confusing.

Anyway, the Trofeo listed at $27,295 compared to $24,695 for the base Toronado, adding a number of appearance and comfort/convenience features. These included the Visual Information Center, an early touchscreen setup, and a more luxurious interior. The Trofeo outsold the base model by a huge margin: 5,197 cars to 1,239. But in any case, the total of both wasn’t nearly enough to justify the car’s presence in the Olds lineup. And while we can criticize the late-stage Toronado for its failure to stand out in a crowd, meanwhile the once-hot personal-luxury coupe category was shrinking away. The final Toronado drove off the Lansing production line on May 28, 1992.