While Oldsmobile sold vehicles as an upscale brand, their vehicles had remained in the grasp of everyday motorists. Among many Oldsmobile sedans, the 88 (or Eighty-Eight) moniker provided a mix of luxury and family car characteristics for decades. The Oldsmobile 88 endured 50 years of production before being retired after 1999. In the 1990s, the strikingly designed Oldsmobile Aurora provided a captivating effort to restructure the image for an auto company regarded as behind the times in its segment (the sedan also debuted an all-new Oldsmobile rocket emblem). The Oldsmobile Aurora would be one of the first non-Cadillac branded vehicles to feature the Northstar V-8 engine technology. The Aurora inspired a new crop of vehicle designs including the Alero and Intrigue sedans during the latter years of production for the brand. An Alero four-door sedan would be the final vehicle to be produced by Oldsmobile when General Motors discontinued the brand in 2004.