This week, we highlight one of the biggest failures in the history of the auto industry in ‘The Emergency Strip’: the Edsel, Ford’s attempt to steal market share from Chrysler. After endless market research, Ford was firmly convinced that the buying public would swallow Edsel’s models for a treat. Reality turned out differently.
Ford had two sub-brands in the 1950s: Mercury and Lincoln. Lincoln was the luxury brand, while Mercury was more between Ford and Lincoln. Ford management thought it necessary to add an extra brand. That became Edsel, named after Edsel Ford, the son of Henry Ford. Edsel Ford was director of the family business from 1919 to 1943. At the age of 49 he died of stomach cancer. In his time as CEO, Edsel was responsible for, among other things, founding Mercury. The launch of the ‘Edsel’ brand in 1958 therefore had to be big; Ford threw money to warm the American public. There was even a complete television showdubbed ‘The Edsel Show’, for which Ford hired stars such as Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby. Even they couldn’t make the brand a success in the end.
The plan
Marketing materials of the 1958 Edsel Corsair 4-door hardtop.
In the mid-1950s, the need arose at Ford for a brand that would come under Mercury. The car manufacturer wanted to take more market share away from Pontiac and Oldsmobile, two middle-class brands with which General Motors had quite a success. Lincoln was positioned higher in the market to compete with Cadillac. In 1955, Ford started under the name ‘E car’ with market research into what should become the second make in the middle class. With the extensive survey of the target group, Ford wanted to ensure that the new brand was perfectly tailored to the needs of the market. To determine the name of the new brand, Ford consulted poet Marianne Moore, who had once won a Pulitzer prize for her work. She came up with names like ‘The Intelligent Whale’, ‘Regna Racer’, ‘Pluma Piluma’ and ‘Moongoose Civique’. ‘Utopian Turtlepop’ was perhaps the pinnacle. She also refused any form of payment for her services, which may be a good thing afterwards.
Ultimately, management decided to name the new brand Edsel. Expectations among investors and the press were high. Ford assured them that the Edsel was a superior product, which, thanks to thorough market research and a rousing marketing campaign, would be in great demand among the public. In the first model year, Edsel came on the market with seven models: four sedans and three station wagons, which were subdivided into no fewer than 18 different variants. These models made use of Ford technology under the skin. The upright grille was by far the most striking style element. A number of novelties were also present in the interior. For example, the speedometer was housed in a rotating dome and the selection for the automatic transmission was integrated into the steering wheel via the ‘Teletouch’ system. The Edsels were not equipped with cruise control, but the car did warn you with a light when you exceeded the speed limit.
The execution
The success that Ford had in mind with Edsel failed to materialize. The extensive marketing campaign had not paid off. In particular, the striking vertical grille was not well received by the public. In addition, customers did not fully understand where Edsel stood in the market. The brand was positioned between Ford and Mercury, but in a number of cases an Edsel was even more expensive than a comparable Mercury. In addition, as a new brand, Edsel had not yet built up customer loyalty, something that the competing brands had. Incidentally, they were not at all waiting for another brand in the middle class. The economic recession of 1957 increased the demand for more compact and fuel-efficient cars. The large, for that time already inefficient V8 engines under the hood of the Edsels did not match that. To make matters worse, the quality control turned out to be inadequate, resulting in many assembly errors in the production models.
The interior of the Edsel Corsair.
In the first year, 68,045 Edsels were sold jointly in the US and Canada. This number was below expectations, but not very disastrous. In 1959, the range was reduced to the models that sold the best: the Ranger, Corsair and Villager. The styling was also slightly adjusted, but the vertical grille was allowed to remain. The Teletouch steering wheel control of the machine turned out to be very unreliable in practice, so that novelty did not return. With a sales decline of no less than 20,649 cars, the adjustments proved to be ineffective. At the end of 1959, Edsel made one last attempt to turn the tide for model year 1960 by throwing the vertical grille overboard and making the design more conservative.
It turned out to be a waste of time. On November 19, 1959, the plug was pulled from Edsel. The total number of cars produced remained at 118,287 copies. Ford ultimately made a loss on Edsel of a whopping $ 350 million, which today would translate into a sum of around $ 2.4 billion. Ultimately, Edsel’s failure is attributed to several factors: the timing and positioning were not good, the design and marketing were not well received, and the quality was poor.
Edsel preferred to take a different approach. In John Brooks’ book Business Adventures, marketing manager JC Doyle even blamed the American public for the brand’s failure. “What they bought for years encouraged the industry to build exactly this car,” he said. “We gave that car to them and they didn’t want to take it away. Well, they shouldn’t have acted that way. Now the public wants the little Beetles. I don’t get it!”