Categorized | Affiliate Marketing 101

Why Was The Ford Edsel Such A Failure In The Late 1950’s. How Many Sold.?

It was not a bad car, my grandparents owned one and were happy with it. The problem was marketing. Ford perceived that their was an open market segment between their mid-priced Mercury and luxury Lincoln lines, sort of like Buick in the GM line. Ford also wanted a dealer network of similar size to GM and Chrysler.
The niche never really existed as the Mercury and Lincoln lines covered that price range. Ford didn’t eliminate high-line Mercurys or lower-line Lincolns, fearing harming their existing dealer network. Most Ford dealers sold Edsels as a companion line to either Mercury or Lincoln. Buyers preferred to purchase cars with a known name and reputation. Also styling was somewhat unfortunate, the “horse collar” grille was ridiculed by some.
Sales figure never reached corporate expectations. The brand was dropped in the 1960 model year. Production figures were about 68,000 for the 1958 model year, 45,000 for 1959 and only 2800 for 1960. Ford cancelled production shortly after introducing the 1960 models.
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No Responses to “Why Was The Ford Edsel Such A Failure In The Late 1950’s. How Many Sold.?”

  1. Battleax says:

    It wasn’t well-designed and it was overpriced for what it was. Ford actually sold a decent number of Edsels at first, but not enough to justify the cost of maintaining an entire separate division of the company. The Edsel wasn’t just a model of car, Edsel was an entire new division of the company, like Lincoln and Mercury are today, and it had about three models. After a few years, Ford cut its losses, pulled the plug on Edsel, and the only model that was any good was transferred to the Mercury division.
    There are some Edsels still in existence today. Look them up and see how butt-ugly they are, and you’ll see why Edsel failed.

  2. Der Kommissar says:

    The Edsel was an ugly car. Very few bought one. Today an Edsel sells for many times its original price.

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