Editing Edsel (section)

==="The aim was right, but the target moved"===
Edsels are most notorious for being a marketing disaster. The name "Edsel" became synonymous with the real-life commercial failure of the predicted "perfect" product or product idea.  Similar ill-fated products have often been colloquially referred to as "Edsels". Ford's own [[Ford Sierra|Sierra]] model, which launched almost 25 years later, is often compared to Edsels owing to initial buyer antipathy to their perceived radical styling, even though, unlike Edsels, it ultimately became a sales success.  Since the Edsel program was such a debacle, it gave marketers a vivid illustration of how ''not'' to market a product. 

The principal reason Edsel's failure is so infamous is that Ford did not consider that failure was a possibility until after the cars had been designed and built, the dealerships established, and $400 million invested in the product's development, advertising and launch. Incredibly, Ford had presumed to invest $400&nbsp;million, equivalent to well over $4&nbsp;billion in 21st century dollars,{{inflation/fn|US}}<!--{{inflation}} agrees--> in developing the new product line without any prior study to determine whether such an investment would be prudent or profitable.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

The pre-release advertising campaign promoted the cars as having "more YOU ideas". The teaser advertisements in magazines revealed only glimpses of the cars through a highly blurred lens or wrapped in paper or under tarps. Ford never test marketed the vehicles or their radical styling concepts with potential buyers prior to either the vehicles' initial development decision, or vehicle shipments to their new dealerships. Edsels were shipped to the dealerships under wraps, and remained so on the dealer lots.

The public also had difficulty understanding exactly what Edsels were, primarily because Ford made the mistake of pricing Edsels within Mercury's market price segment. Theoretically, Edsels were conceived to fit into Ford's marketing structure as a mid-price model, with the brand slotted in between Ford and Mercury. However, when the cars debuted in September 1957, the least expensive Ranger model was priced within $74 of the most expensive and best-trimmed Ford sedan, and $63 less than Mercury's base Medalist model. In their mid-range pricing, Edsel's Pacer and Corsair models were ''more'' expensive than their ostensibly more costly Mercury counterparts. Edsel's top-of-the-line Citation hardtop sedan was the only model priced to correctly compete with Mercury's mid-range Montclair [[Mercury Turnpike Cruiser|Turnpike Cruiser]] model, as illustrated in the chart below. Edsel products were priced from $2,484 ({{Inflation|US|2484|1960|fmt=eq}}) to $3,766 ({{Inflation|US|3766|1960|fmt=eq}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|+ 1958 Ford Motor Company pricing ([[Free On Board|FOB]]) structure
|-
![[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]
!Edsel
![[Mercury (Automobile)|Mercury]]
![[Lincoln Motor Company|Lincoln]]
|-
|
|
|
| '''Continental''' $4,802–$4,927
|-
|
|
|
| '''Capri''' $4,803–$4,951
|-
|
|
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| '''Premiere''' $4,334–$4,798
|-
|
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| '''Park Lane''' $4,280–$4,405
|
|-
|
| '''Citation''' $3,500–$3,766
| '''Montclair''' $3,236–$3,597
|
|-
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| '''Corsair''' $3,311–$3,390
|
|
|-
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| '''Pacer''' $2,700–$2,993
| '''Monterey''' $2,652–$3,081
|
|-
| '''Galaxie 500''' $2,410–$3,138
| '''Ranger''' $2,484–$2,643
| '''Medalist''' $2,547–$2,617
|
|-
| '''Fairlane 500''' $2,196–$2,407
|
|
|
|-
| '''Custom 300''' $1,977–$2,119
|
|
|
|}

Not only was Edsel competing against its own sister divisions, but model for model, buyers did not understand what the cars were supposed to be—a step above the Mercury, or a step below it.

After introduction to the public, Edsels did not live up to their preproduction publicity, even though many new features were offered, such as self-adjusting rear brakes and automatic lubrication.  While Ford's market research had indicated that these and other features would make Edsels attractive to them as car buyers, their selling prices exceeded what buyers were willing to pay. Upon seeing the price for a base model, many potential buyers simply left the dealerships.  Other customers were frightened by the price for a fully equipped top-of-the-line model.