Re: New "What Ifs?"

Posted by Steve203 On 2014/6/28 17:03:02

Their advantage in being part of GM was mainly in buying power, low cost credit, sharing the cost of bodies and new tooling with Buick and Olds, and economies of scale that come from being part of a big corporation. So far as I know Cadillac showed a profit every year except for a few years in the depression.

Still, subsidies. R&D costs mostly covered by other divisions. Economies of scale enabled by the other divisions. Cost of credit, really not a factor as Packard had no debt in the late 40s.

They would have done much better if they had a V8 engine and sharper styles a few years earlier and if they had carried out their plan to ramp up production and sales to 150,000 - 200,000

Excessively conservative management didn't help, but, for the reasons listed above, over the long term, there probably was nothing that Packard could afford, that would have kept them in business alone.

Apparently, Nance was looking for merger partners as soon as he started in 52, to build that volume. He even took a look at Kaiser, though I'm sure Henry would never have let anyone else run "his" company. Check into the history of Kaiser-Frazer and you'll see how Joe Frazer and the experienced auto industry people he brought in were pushed out after Frazer himself was pushed out, and replaced with Kaiser construction and shipbuilding people from the west coast. One incident was the "orange squeezer" put in charge of the Willow Run paint shop. A man from Kaiser's construction interests, a good man, but he had no clue how to get a decent paint finish on a car in a humid Michigan summer.

Actually, Hudson might have had some potential. Both being in Detroit, they could combined foundry operations. Us the Hudson body shop on Conner to get free of Briggs. Rebrand the Clipper as Hudson Hornet and Wasp. Maybe revive the Essex or Terraplane brand for a low priced entry to replace the failed Jet. A merger with Hudson would have also had the advantage that Barit was ready to retire, leaving the executive suite open for Nance.