After topping a million sales for the sixth and last time in '86, Olds began a long slide to oblivion with GM's (poorly executed) second round of downsizing and across-the-board conversion to fwd beginning with '86 full-size models and continuing through an awkwardly-styled, V6-powered new fwd Cutlass series for '88. Sales slipped below 400K for '93 while Olds engineers desperately developed this sexy luxury sport sedan, which they hoped would revitalize the venerable marque as its 100th birthday approached. Powered by a new 250-hp 244-cid DOHC V8, the $31,995 Aurora sold nearly 50K units in its first year at the top of Olds' line and was a terrific car in most ways. But so timid were Olds' marketers that it wore no Oldsmobile badging and was far too little too late to contribute much toward saving the brand.