Edsel continued to produce models introducing the Mercury-based Citation and Corsair, and the Ford-based Pacer and Ranger. There was also the four-door Bermuda and Villager wagons and the two-door Roundup wagon. For the 1959 model year, there were only two Edsels. There was the Ranger and the Corsair, which was, in actuality a relabeled Pacer. The other two cars were not produced that year. Ford announced the end of the Edsel program on Thursday, November 19, 1959 and the Edsel was produces only until late November. In the end the company lost $350 million on the Edsel.
Popular culture faults the car’s styling for its incredible failure of the Edsel. Consumer reports faults poor workmanship. Business analysts fault weak internal support for the Edsel inside Ford’s executive offices. Marketing experts fault corporate America for failing to understand the nature of the American consumer. There is really no one reason for the failure of the Edsel.
The Edsels pricing was supposed to fit into Ford’s marketing plans as the brand between Ford and Mercury. When the Edsel was introduced the pricing was considerably different than what the public understood it to be. The Edsels Pacer and Corsair models were more expensive than their Mercury counterparts. The public was unsure where the Edsel fit into the market. The Edsel didn’t live up to the expectation of consumers after all of the excitement and high hopes caused by Ford’s advertisements. The cost of the car was higher than what consumers were willing to pay.
There was a recession in 1957. When Ford initially began planning for the release of the Edsel the economy was thriving. The public was looking for affordability by the time the Edsel was released. They went for the lower priced models. The name of the car wasn’t so appealing either. Ford hired the advertising firm Foote, Cone and Belding to come up with a name. They came up with 6,000 names and many of them were used for the vehicle’s series names. Even though the Ford family opposed naming the model the Edsel, Henry Ford II was adamant about using the name Edsel. The name was very similar to the name of the Edson tractor and therefore, very unpopular.
There are countless reasons that can be contributed to the failure of the Edsel. If you were in charge of marketing for Ford at the time, I would have done many things different. First the name of the model would have been more closely looked at. The company that was hired to come up with a name would have been more effectively utilized. The list of 6,000 names would have strategically been narrowed down to the top three and the executives board would have been called to a meeting to choose the final name. The marketing strategies would have been rethought also. The economy was in a recession by the time the car was to be released, so more thought would have had to be put into whether to release the car on the original release date or not. I also would have looked into a newer body style as was rumored to be what was being released to the customer.
There are many things that could have been done to make the Edsel a success. The very first thing would be the name because the Edsel doesn’t sound like the name of anything, car or otherwise, that I would like to own. The target market should have been more closely looked at and also the pricing of the car.
References
http://www.gmarketing.com/tactics/weekly_83.html
http://www.failuremag.com/arch_history_edsel.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsel
http://www.edsel.net/links.html
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1657867_1657781,00.html