Edsel - the big American failure (25 photos)

In the 1950s, the American market had no shortage of automotive brands. Let's take mid-range cars as an example. segment: General Motors Corporation was represented by three brands (Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick), Chrysler - two (Dodge and DeSoto), and here Ford only one - Mercury. In those glorious years, a typical American the car was big, shiny, with a voracious V8 under the hood, and the cost was determined mainly by the quality of the interior finishes, equipment and external decor.





In other words, everyone did approximately the same in technical terms. in terms of cars, occupied certain market segments and practically did not intersected with each other. And since the demand for cars was huge, the volume of sales of members of the "Big Three" was determined, among other things, the number of brands in their portfolio. The market seemed bottomless and Ford corporation rightly judged that the new brand with its own model line and dealer network, definitely waiting for success. What could go wrong?! Almost everything...

The ads celebrated Edsel's dramatic style!







In 1955, the E-Car project was launched in the depths of Ford Corporation. (Experimental). Within two years of car development, organization of production, creation of a dealer network and large-scale advertising campaign was spent from 200 to 350 million dollars, in today's money is billions. The top management of Ford was confident of success and did not spared the expense. The name of the son was chosen as the name for the new brand Henry Ford Edsel, who died suddenly in 1943, although the head of the corporation Henry Ford II (second) did not want to see the name of his father "revolving on the wheel covers of cars across the country."

Edsel Pacer Convertible 1958





The Edsel line in 1958 consisted of four full-size series: Citation, Corsair, Pacer and Ranger, differing in the level of finish, equipment and, of course, the price. A total of 18 models were available: coupe, convertibles, sedans, station wagons. Cars are equipped with the latest V8 engines of 5.9 and 6.7 liters with a capacity of 300 and 345 horsepower respectively. Innovative solutions were available, such as pushbutton automatic transmission selector directly in the steering wheel hub (where today hosts an airbag, Edsel had metal buttons).







In general, Edsel cars were at the level of American cars of their time, but had certain quality problems assembly and resistance of the body to corrosion. And yet, marketers made a bet to a radical style and obviously overdid it ... If at first the car watched with interest, then after a short time over it already openly laughed. Especially a lot of criticism was caused by the shape of the lattice radiator, which was to become the hallmark of Edsel. Ford marketers imagined it as a kind of necklace, and buyers seen, at best, a collar for horses.



Edsel Corsair Skycruiser 1959





The folding hardtop is simply huge!



Gear lever - traditional American poker

The start of sales in September 1957 turned into a disaster. Radical style scared off buyers, and those who decided to buy, faced with low reliability of machines. Not well trained staff assembled Edsel on the same assembly line as Ford and Mercury. Mechanics, constantly repairing cars under warranty, even came up with a decoding titles Edsel - Every Day Something Else Leaks ("every day a new flow"). An important role was played by the general economic downturn in the late 1950s. Demand for full-size cars fell by 30% and give their hard-earned for a strange-looking unreliable Edsel, no one wanted. Already in 1958 it became it is clear that Edsel will turn out to be huge for Ford Motor Corporation losses. Operational measures in the form of a reduction in the model range, "softening" the design, the introduction of economical engines and reducing the selling price of the results did not bring. Edsel cars withwaist look much nicer, especially the 1960 model year, but this "engine" is already went off the rails.

1958 model year



1959 model year



1960 model year



After only two years of the brand's existence, Ford decided to "cover shop" and forget Edsel like a bad dream. The last cars of 1960 model year rolled off the assembly line in the fall of 1959. With annual plans production of 100,000 copies, from 1957 to 1959 succeeded to produce just over 118,000 Edsel cars of all series. Of course, still before the start of production, it was possible to correctly assess the condition market and curtail work, but something happened that would later be called "The Concord Delusion" - huge funds were invested in the project and its needed to be completed. Therefore, it turned out that happened.



Edsel Ranger Hardtop Coupe 1960





Edsel turned out to be "the wrong car for the wrong time". Americans began to count money, sales of compact cars grew The Volkswagen Beetle became a bestseller. Until recently, this was unthinkable. The automotive business is about to change...

And Edsel is now synonymous with commercial failure, a prime example marketing miscalculations and a monument to the era of excesses in the automotive design.





1958 model year



1959 model year



1960 model year



Nevertheless, even the most specific ones have fans. cars ... In 2008, a certain enthusiast Rob Keram noted on a large scale 50th anniversary of the brand by building two cars based on the Ford Crown Victoria in typical Edsel style. In the presence of the notorious grille, characteristic rear lights, expensive interior trim, commemorative plaques.



Against this background, the classic Edsel models do not cause any rejection, rather the opposite.