The car was an open-top 4-seater with European styling featuring some Oldsmobile traits, and powered by the latest Ecotec I4 engine.

However, the O4 concept was unveiled a few weeks after General Motors announced that they would be phasing out the Oldsmobile brand, meaning that production possibilities of the O4 would never be realized.

The Alero was replaced in Europe, Israel, and Canada by the GM Daewoo-sourced Chevrolet Evanda.

It included such features as a 2.4 L inline four-cylinder engine, 5-speed manual transmission, an AM/FM stereo (later, AM/FM stereo with single-disc CD player) with a four-speaker sound system, 15-inch black-painted steel wheels with decorative wheel covers, manual windows, power door locks, full instrumentation, air conditioning, velour door panel inserts, and cloth seating surfaces.

It added the following features to the base GX trim level: an AM/FM stereo with cassette player (not applicable for later models), power windows, and 16-inch alloy wheels.

It added the following features to the already well-equipped GL trim level: an AM/FM stereo with cassette and single-disc CD player (later, an MP3-decoding single-disc CD player was added), an eight-speaker "premium" sound system with amplifier, keyless entry, power driver seat, leather upholstery and a security system.

These variants include: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the 1999–2005 Grand Am (which was built on the same platform as the 1999–2004 Alero) a Poor rating in its frontal crash test for its marginal structural integrity, a possible head injury, a potential right leg injury, and poor dummy control.

[3] The following are 2003 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test ratings for the Alero.