Re: Merger of Nash/Kelvinator, Packard & Hudson

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2015/4/19 19:49:53

Sales of medium priced cars and deluxe versions of lower priced cars were very strong in the early fifties. This was quite a change, at one time the cheapest model would have been the sales leader but suddenly, the public taste changed and they had money to spend. For example, Buick overtook Plymouth to become the 3d best selling car after Ford and Chev.

Chrysler was very strong in the medium price brackets and actually outsold Ford in the forties even though Plymouth never sold half as many cars as Ford did. But Dodge DeSoto and Chrysler sixes were very popular.

GM of course had "a car for every purse and purpose".

Ford had the best selling Ford, and if you wanted something a little nicer they had Mercury. If you didn't happen to like the Mercury your only other choice was Lincoln which was a big step up in price.

Their new strategy was to put the Edsel solidly in the medium price bracket with 4 models covering a wide range in price and size. Move Mercury up to the upper medium price bracket and move Lincoln up from the upper medium price to the top of the luxury car range.

It was their bad luck that this strategy took effect as the country went into a recession and medium price car sales dropped like a rock. Olds, Buick, and DeSoto saw their sales drop by more than half. Rambler and Lark set new sales records. And newcomer Edsel was a resounding flop.

So, they dropped the Edsel and turned the Mercury back into a deluxe Ford. Even Lincoln shrank in size after 1960 although not in price.