In the late 1920s, companion cars were all the rage at General Motors. Buick had Marquette. Oldsmobile offered Viking. Oakland featured Pontiac, and Cadillac had the stylish LaSalle. By 1932, both Marquette and Viking had been dropped; Oakland, too, as it was usurped by its understudy Pontiac. Inside GM, there was talk of dropping LaSalle which bothered Harley Earl tremendously. LaSalle was after all, his baby. Ultimately, the struggling early Thirties economy made it a tough go for automobiles, especially upstarts like LaSalle. The nameplate was discontinued following the 1940 model year.