How Ford Failed The Edsel | The Bad Blonde Car History A car considered one of the most notorious failures in automotive history, car whose styling has lost more battles than it won, a car that Ford gave up on within two years, the Edsel.

It is 1955 and ford has begun research and development for an all-new line code-named the “E Car”. Why? Because a gaggle of Ford executives got together and compared Ford’s lineup with that of General Motors. What did they find? They concluded that Lincoln was not actually in direct pricing competition with Cadillac, as they had hoped, but with Oldsmobile and Buick. Thus they hatched a plan to move Lincoln and Mercury upmarket, break Continental into a separate make, AND put the E Car in between the pricing of Ford and Mercury.. Ford would tell its investors, its consumers, the press, and anyone that would listen that the entire car’s details, styling, and specifications were a direct result of intense market analysis, research, and development. They were kind of cocky with the idea that all their research would automatically entail success. The E Car took a long and interesting route to become the Edsel. Who was Edsel? He was the son of Henry Ford Sr., the father of Henry Ford II, a talent and one of the most believed men at the Ford Motor Company. Sadly, he passed away in his prime due to stomach cancer. Edsel was actually the first name suggested for the all-new car BUT Henry Ford II did not want it to be named after his father. So the team went to the drawing board with a few parameters for naming. Everyone and their mothers at Ford sent in name suggestions. They were scoured over by the team, leaving four suggestions on the table: Corsair, Citation (who thought that was a good idea?), Pacer, and Ranger. All of this and Ford simply went back to its first name…. The Edsel. Ford created a top-rated television special called The Edsel Show which was studded with stars such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Bob Hope, and more. The Edsel Show whose sole purpose was to promote a new car was nominated for an Emmy. While it is clear The Edsel Show was a hit, unfortunately, this support would not translate to the car. The Edsel did have some innovative features for it’s time, the engine tachometer, speed warning light speedometer (optional warning dial to let you know when you exceeded your set speed limit), and panel-mounted compass. Plus a push button system that shifted gears using an electro servo motor called the “Teletouch”. Not to mention the Edsel also sported seatbelts and childproof locks. With all the hype, the Edsel show, the exciting new features there was substantial interest on September 4th 1957 when the Edsel debuted, as Ford called it, E Day. But that interest did not convert into sales. The Ford execs were entirely baffled by the low sales. They had been telling the press that they positively knew there would be great demand for the car through their market research. Why did it fail? The Edsel did not live up to the hype that Ford created. Not in style, performance, or reliability. Let’s talk about those key issues. The grill was a statement in styling but evidently not in a desirable way. The Edsel grill was a clear point in which designers had the drive to be different but faltered the execution. Essentially, they looked at all the modern horizontal grills of the time and thought let’s do the opposite. Now concerning reliability, an intrinsic quality control issue was that the Edsel was run on the same production line as Fords and Mercurys, many workers would get mixed up in their assembly using the wrong parts, installing incorrectly or even forgetting to install a part entirely. Which meant dealers were getting haphazard cars. Also, consumers did not like the Teletouch, it was not ergonomically thoughtful, it was not ideal to have the Teletouch in a location where so many drivers were used to hitting to honk their horns. There was a real risk of accidentally changing gears. The Edsel being released in a recession didn’t help one bit. Every carmaker in the industry took a major sales hit. Essentially, 1958 was one of the worst years to debut a car since the great depression. In November of 1959, Ford announced to discontinue the Edsel. Ford and its bean counters had all the reasons why the Edsel should have been a success but why was it not? Could the Edsel have turned around and become if not a success at least not a failure if Ford had given it more time?