By Matt Nelson
It's not uncommon for popular automakers to form entirely new sub-brands in order to target a different sort of market. Today, there are numerous examples of this practice, especially when it comes to luxury brands. To name a few, there's the Toyota-owned Lexus brand, along with Honda's luxury brand Acura and Nissan's Inifiniti. However, the practice is even older over here in the States, as brands like Lincoln — Ford's luxury arm — have been around for nearly a century.
Speaking of Ford, the Detroit Giant's brand-related repertoire used to be spread a bit wider. Most of you will remember Mercury, Ford's intermediate brand that was slotted between the mass-market-focused Ford brand and the luxurious Lincoln marque. However, in the late 1950s, Ford tried its hand at founding yet another luxury-adjacent automaker called Edsel. The brand's introduction was heavily marketed but, sadly, things didn't go very well for the doomed Ford brand.
Edsel: Born Out Of Perceived Necessity
Quick Facts About The Edsel Brand
- Founded in 1956
- Produced its first model in 1958
- Positioned to compete with the likes of marques such as Buick, Oldsmobile, and Dodge
- Faced insurmountable financial issues straight away
- Declared defunct in 1959
In the mid-1950s, Ford began to realize that it was outgunned. Its main competitors, General Motors and Chrysler, offered a slew of subsidiaries that were geared towards different markets. For example, on the GM side of things, Chevrolet and Pontiac made up the mass-market side of things, with Pontiac taking a slightly more luxurious approach. However, General Motors also had two intermediate brands, those being Oldsmobile and Buick, both of which had unique aspects that appealed to different folks. At the same time, Chrysler offered the Dodge, DeSoto, and Plymouth brands, all of which were similar, yet different, in their respective approaches to the American automotive market.
Ford, on the other hand, only had Lincoln and Mercury. Lincoln was the brand's flagship marque, directly competing with Cadillac and Chrysler. Mercury was positioned to compete with a slew of names, including but not limited to Buick, Oldsmobile, Dodge, and DeSoto. In Ford's collective mind, Mercury was spread too thin, and an entirely new brand seemed to be the best option to ease Mercury's large burden.
The founding of the Edsel brand came just as the Ford Motor Company became a publicly-traded corporation. This meant the Ford family no longer owned the majority of the company. While going public can bring in a good bit of additional profit, it also means the company in question — in this case Ford — must answer to its shareholders. During a slew of company overview and market trend meetings shortly after Ford took itself public, it was found that Lincoln was not, in fact, competing with Cadillac. Instead, consumers saw its direct competition to be with manufacturers like Buick, Oldsmobile, and DeSoto.
It was decided then that Lincoln needed to be moved upmarket, and another brand was required to lighten the load on Mercury and expand Ford's market share. So, in 1956, Ford founded Edsel, another intermediate brand meant to serve alongside Mercury, and serve as a stopgap between it and Lincoln. Edsel's actual name was derived from Henry Ford's son. What followed was the most expensive development and marketing campaign ever undertaken by a single automaker to-date, as Ford was determined to make Edsel a success.
"E-Day" Arrives
On September 4, 1957, the Edsel brand was officially launched. The event, known as "E-Day", was heavily marketed and consisted of over 1,300 dealers across the US opening their doors for business in unison. In addition, a top-rated television program complemented the reveal called The Edsel Show, which aired on October 13 the same year. Despite the aggressive marketing, folks were already unimpressed. A popular slogan relating to Edsel was that the brand was the "reborn LaSalle." LaSalle, another defunct American brand, was related to Cadillac and in operation from 1927 to 1940, when it was dissolved due to poor sales.
Regardless, Edsel sales began shortly after the brand's reveal. A total of seven models were immediately made available, all of which utilized with Ford or Mercury bodies sporting widely different styling. The most popular model proved to be the Ranger, Edsel's base model. Two-door, four-door, and wagon variants were all available, along with a few engine options ranging from a 223 CID inline-six to a 410 CID V8. The most powerful Edsel produced, the 1958 Citation, took advantage of the aforementioned 410 CID (6.7L) "MEL" engine, and pumped out 345 horsepower alongside 475 pound-feet of torque.
Edsels were purposely designed to be futuristic, and sported several innovative features then known to be space-age. For starters, 1958 Edsels came standard with a rotating dome speedometer, the same sort found in most light aircraft at the time. Warning lights were also featured in lieu of certain gauges in the instrument cluster. Edsels were also meant to be safer than the average late-50s automobile, featuring option seat belts, rear-door child safety locks, and a deep-dish steering wheel that helps prevent head injuries in the event of a crash.
Sources: Savoy Automobile Museum, Business Insider, MotorTrend.
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This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
