Edsel

E11618

Edsel was a short-lived and commercially unsuccessful automobile marque introduced by Ford in the late 1950s, now often cited as a classic example of a major product failure in marketing history.

Aliases (1)

Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf automobile marque
defunct motor vehicle brand
assemblyLocation United States
countryOfOrigin United States
discontinuationReason poor sales
discontinuedBy Ford Motor Company
distinctiveFeature horse-collar grille
vertical grille design
estimatedDevelopmentCostCurrency USD
estimatedDevelopmentCostUSD 250000000
firstModelYearSales about 63000 units
industry automotive industry
introduced 1957
legacy case study in marketing and product planning failure
symbol of corporate misjudgment in the auto industry
manufacturer Ford Motor Company
marketingApproach heavily hyped pre-launch advertising
nationwide teaser campaign
marketLaunch 1957-09-04
marketLaunchName E-Day
marketSegment between Ford and Mercury brands
modelYearRange 1958–1960
namedAfter Edsel Bryant Ford
Edsel Ford
notableFor being a major marketing failure
complex product lineup
controversial styling
high development and launch costs
misreading of market trends
overly optimistic sales projections
poor market reception
offeredBodyStyle convertible
hardtop
sedan
station wagon
offeredEngineType V8 engine
parentCompany Ford Motor Company
positionedAs mid-priced brand
productionEndYear 1960
productionStartYear 1957
productType passenger car
reasonForFailure confusing model range and pricing
quality-control problems
recessionary economic conditions in late 1950s
shifting consumer preferences toward smaller cars
salesPerformance commercial failure
targetMarket middle-class American car buyers
totalProduction about 118000 vehicles
transmissionOption automatic transmission
manual transmission

Referenced by (5)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Ford Motor Company
formerBrand
Edsel Ford
givenName
Edsel Ford ("Edsel (automobile brand)")
inspiredNameOf
E-Day
promotedBrand
E-Day
promotedProduct

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