Ford brought out its 1959 Edsel this week with
a face lifting, but it carefully redesigned the whole selling pitch for
its one-year-old youngster. Instead of competing with medium-priced
cars, as originally planned, Edsel is now aimed at the low-priced
buyer. Ford switched Edsel's price range from last year's $2,300-$3,489
to $2,320-$2,807 by dropping two of last year's higher-priced models
, thus bringing Edsel down into the price
range of the top series of the Big Three's lowest-priced cars. Also
slashed: accessories prices, e.g., $175 for automatic transmission v.
last year's $215. In line with the trend to fewer models , Ford also dropped six other Edsel models.Studebaker-Packard's new small car, the Lark, also made pricing news.
Its price was set lower than the list prices of the Big Three and in
some cases below American Motors' hot-selling Rambler. The Lark begins
at $1,756 for a two-door, six-cylinder model, ranges to $2,362 for an
eight-cylinder station wagon. Its four-door six carries a list price of
$1,821 v. $1,918 for the cheapest four-door Rambler, but most of its
two-door models run slightly above Rambler's two-door Rambler American
series.U.S. car production last week reached 69,599 units v. 45,387 the week
before, and prospects are for a production of 75,000 this week.
Production was still held back by wildcat strikes at General Motors,
but other carmakers hiked schedules. Chrysler hopes to increase
production 15% this week. Ford's Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division plans a
40% hike, and Studebaker-Packard scheduled a 50% rise; with Ramblers
running off the line at an alltime peak, American Motors raised
schedules by 10%.Cars were selling well. Buick announced that it has received more than
100,000 new car orders from its dealers, almost two-thirds of which
have already been sold. Ford announced that its dealers sold 27,000 new
Fords on introduction day alone, and Pontiac reported sales and
confirmed orders of more than 20,500 during the car's first three days
on the market. Buoyed by orders for 72,400 Ramblers so far this year,
American Motors made plans to turn out 100,000 Ramblers by the end of
December, almost double the total turned out in the same period last
year.
