Re: New "What Ifs?"

Posted by Steve203 On 2014/6/28 12:32:17

Expanding on the point about production levels, here are the numbers from Wiki


1946 Packard: 30,793 Cadillac: 29,214

1947 Packard: 51,086 Cadillac: 61,926

1948 Packard: 92,251 Cadillac: 52,706

1949 Packard: 116,955 Cadillac: 92,554

1950 Packard: 42,627 Cadillac: 103,857

1951 Packard: 100,713 Cadillac: 110,340

1952 Packard: 62,921 Cadillac: 90,259

1953 Packard: 90,252 Cadillac: 109,651

1954 Packard: 31,291 Cadillac: 96,680

1955 Packard: 55,247 Cadillac: 140,777

Cadillac had an obvious subsidy in being able to share development cost of the Hydramatic with Pontiac and Olds, as well as Hudson, Nash, Kaiser and Lincoln, while Packard shouldered the cost of the Ultramatic itself, but where was Cadillac getting the money for the new platform in 48 and V8 in 49, if not a subsidy from Chevy? And if GM was content to run Cadillac at a loss in order to knock Packard out of it's place as the top luxury brand, Packard was cooked. There is nothing that Christopher, or Ferry, or Nance could have done.