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Edsel
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What was the Edsel automobile?
The Edsel automobile, produced by Ford from 1958 to 1960, was named in honor of Henry Ford's son, Edsel Ford, who had been president of the Ford Motor Company. It was intended to allow Ford to compete with General Motors’ Oldsmobile.
Despite extensive market research, the Edsel's launch was a fiasco due to bad timing, ineffective marketing, flawed design, a high price, and poor workmanship. The public, expecting a revolutionary vehicle, was largely disappointed, especially with its front "horse collar" grille. Plagued by assembly issues and a lack of customer loyalty, the Edsel sold only about 110,000 units over its lifetime and cost Ford millions. The failure of the Edsel led to the name becoming synonymous with failure.
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Who made the Edsel cars?
The Edsel cars were made by a new division within Ford Motor Company to compete with General Motors’ mid-priced Oldsmobile. The car, produced from 1958–1960, was named in honor of Henry Ford’s son, Edsel (1893–1943), who served as the Ford Motor Company's president from 1919 until he died at age 49.
Despite extensive market research and over 8,000 potential names considered, the name Edsel was chosen, although Edsel Ford’s three sons reportedly objected to it. The Edsel suffered from bad timing, ineffective marketing, flawed design, a high purchase price, and poor workmanship. The Edsel brand survived only 26 months and cost Ford Motor Company upwards of $350 million.
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When was the Edsel introduced to the public?
The Edsel, an automobile named after Henry Ford's son, was introduced to the public on September 4, 1957, after a marketing campaign that promised something revolutionary. However, the Edsel's debut coincided with a recession and a shift in consumer preference toward fuel-efficient vehicles. The public's disappointment grew due to ineffective marketing, flawed design, a high purchase price, and poor workmanship. The Edsel only survived for 26 months.
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What features made the Edsel different from other cars?
The Edsel automobile, produced from 1958–1960, was intended to help Ford compete with General Motors' Oldsmobile. It was meant to be revolutionary, but the Edsel was perceived as just another Ford Mercury with a unique "horse collar" grille that some found unattractive.
Several factors contributed to the Edsel's failure, including bad timing with the U.S. entering a recession, ineffective marketing, flawed design, a high purchase price, and poor workmanship. The public expected a "plutonium-powered, pancake-making supercar" but instead received a car that wasn't much different from existing models. The Edsel brand suffered from indistinct recognition, with four sedans and three station wagons that had only subtle differences.
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Why did the Edsel fail to become popular?
The Edsel automobile, produced from 1958–60, failed for several reasons:
- Poor Timing The United States entered a recession, and the market shifted to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
- Ineffective Marketing Pre-launch marketing promised something revolutionary that Ford could not deliver, creating a "consumer blowback" after its introduction in 1957.
- Flawed Design The front "horse collar" grille was poorly received, with Time magazine describing it as looking "like a midwife’s view of labor and delivery".
- High Purchase Price The price was too high for the market.
- Poor Workmanship Cars were shipped incompletely or wrongly assembled.
The Edsel, named after Henry Ford’s son Edsel, cost the Ford Motor Company upwards of $350 million (about $3.6 billion in 2023 dollars). The line was cut short at 26 months, and "Edsel" became a synonym for failure.
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How is the Edsel remembered in automobile history today?
The Edsel, produced from 1958–60, is remembered in automobile history as a major marketing and commercial failure. Ford created the Edsel to compete with General Motors' mid-priced Oldsmobile, but the Edsel suffered from bad timing, ineffective marketing, flawed design, a high purchase price, and poor workmanship.
The public anticipated a revolutionary vehicle, but the entry-level Edsel was too similar to a Ford Mercury, with a front grille that was widely mocked. Incompletely assembled cars shipped to dealerships further damaged the brand. Despite Ford's efforts, total sales only reached about 110,000, and the Edsel was discontinued after just 26 months, costing Ford upwards of $350 million. Today, the Edsel is a byword for failure, but with few remaining on the road, it has become a prized collector's item.
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Edsel, an automobile (1958–60) whose name commemorates Henry Ford’s son, Edsel (1893–1943), who had been the much loved and appreciated president of the Ford Motor Company from 1919 until his death at age 49. Edsel Ford’s three sons objected to the use of their father’s name, and indeed Ford conducted extensive market research and gathered more than 8,000 possible names before settling on Edsel—a name once popular but now all but vanished from American culture, except as a synonym for failure.
(Read Henry Ford’s 1926 Britannica essay on mass production.)
The Edsel was the product of a new division within the Ford Motor Company created to compete with General Motors’ mid-priced Oldsmobile. Planned in the mid-1950s’ flash flood of optimistic consumerism in an era in which millions of new cars were purchased each year, it was developed with deliberate secrecy. Not even official Edsel dealers were allowed to see it in advance; but the pre-launch marketing blitz promised something revolutionary that Ford just could not deliver. Bad timing (the United States was entering a recession, and the market turned to more fuel-efficient vehicles such as the American Motor Company’s Rambler), ineffective marketing, flawed design, a high purchase price, and poor workmanship invited what business academics call “consumer blowback” after the Edsel was formally introduced on September 4, 1957. The public had been teased into expecting nothing less than a “plutonium-powered, pancake-making supercar.” Instead, the entry-level Edsel appeared to be little different from an ordinary Ford Mercury with a front “horse collar” grille described by Time magazine as looking “like a midwife’s view of labor and delivery”; others said it resembled a toilet seat. The Edsel also suffered from indistinct brand recognition: four sedans and three station wagons were put on the market, some with only subtle differences between them.
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Disappointment mushroomed in direct proportion to public anticipation, and post-launch incompetence merely compounded the fiasco. In the rush to meet launch deadlines, cars were shipped incompletely or wrongly assembled—and with no customer loyalty to fall back on, the brand was born into its own death spiral of recrimination and closed dealerships. The product line was trimmed in 1959 and Ford pushed hard to popularise the Edsel, sponsoring, for instance, a television special called The Edsel Show, hosted by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Even so, total sales reached only some 110,000 over the brand’s lifetime. Edsel survived just 26 months and cost the Ford Motor Company upwards of $350 million (about $3.6 billion in 2023 dollars). It was discontinued at the direction of Robert S. McNamara, an executive soon to leave Ford and become John F. Kennedy’s secretary of defense, and the Edsel emerged as a point of contention in the 1964 presidential campaign when Barry M. Goldwater placed blame directly on McNamara, continuing in his post in the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, for the Edsel’s failure.
In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon rode in a convertible Edsel through Lima, Peru. When his motorcade was pelted with eggs, he quipped, “They were throwing eggs at the car, not me.”
The Edsel was not the only victim of economic downturn and the quest for less expensive vehicles; Chrysler’s DeSoto, launched in 1928, was similarly terminated in 1961. And although a byword for failure, the Edsel, with few working vehicles still on the road, has become a prized collector’s item.