If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#31
|
|||
|
|||
Toyota.
=?iso-2022-jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= >
wrote in : > > What ever happened to Studebaker? I always thought they were actually > ahead of the curve. If they had hung on into the 70's they might have > fended off Toyota and Nissan in the smaller car market. > According to noted automotive historian Patrick Foster, who specializes in the independents, Studebaker was the victim of their own very serious errors, and of historical circumstances... Error 1: Instead of banking the profits from the immediate post-war sellers' market, Studebaker gave generous dividends to stockholders. This was probably an attempt at impressing investors with the health of the company. But the ultimate effect - after the sellers' market inevitably ended - was to leave the company with little cash for new development at a time when new development was the key to sales. Error 2: Stude spent huge money developing their modern OHV V8, introduced in 1951. But then they made a huge mistake in failing to consider how large engines might grow in the future. As competitors' engine sizes crept well over 300 cu. in., Stude ended up maxed-out at 289, with no money left to develop a new engine with larger displacement. They did supercharge the 289 in an attempt at matching the competition's horsepower numbers, but it was too little, too late. Circumstances 1: Studebaker was solely a low-end manufacturer (excepting the Avanti). Low- end sales prices also mean low-end profits. Unless you can sell a ton of cars to make up the difference, which Stude could not do. It didn't cost them much less than Ford or GM to bring a new model to market, but they had far fewer sales over which to amortize those costs. Ford and GM had several divisions covering different strata of the market, so they could share lots of parts to cut costs while building sales to different types of customers. And when Ford and GM used their much- larger sales volumes to engage in a price-war in the '50s, one-trick-pony Studebaker just couldn't compete. Circumstances 2: The UAW strike of 1962. By that point, the end was probably already near anyway, but the strike definitely did a lot of damage. Studebaker needed every sale they could get to help amortize the aforementioned costs, and the strike cost them - and the strikers - fatally. Ultimately, what killed Studebaker was bad management, exactly the same thing that killed Packard. -- Tegger |
Ads |
#32
|
|||
|
|||
Toyota.
On 2011-01-22, Tegger > wrote:
> Ultimately, what killed Studebaker was bad management, exactly the same > thing that killed Packard. Looking at it from a modern POV what killed them was not having access to taxpayer money. Bad management is ok so long as a company has friends in government. |
#33
|
|||
|
|||
Toyota.
Brent > wrote:
>On 2011-01-22, Tegger > wrote: > >> Ultimately, what killed Studebaker was bad management, exactly the same >> thing that killed Packard. > >Looking at it from a modern POV what killed them was not having access >to taxpayer money. Bad management is ok so long as a company has friends >in government. Nope, that only works for a very short amount of time. But, a loan from the government sure helped Iacocca clean out some of the bad management from Chrysler. If only it could have stayed out... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#34
|
|||
|
|||
Toyota.
On 2011-01-23, Scott Dorsey > wrote:
> Brent > wrote: >>On 2011-01-22, Tegger > wrote: >> >>> Ultimately, what killed Studebaker was bad management, exactly the same >>> thing that killed Packard. >> >>Looking at it from a modern POV what killed them was not having access >>to taxpayer money. Bad management is ok so long as a company has friends >>in government. > > Nope, that only works for a very short amount of time. But, a loan from > the government sure helped Iacocca clean out some of the bad management > from Chrysler. If only it could have stayed out... The fiancial sector has been doing it to various degrees since 1914. |
#35
|
|||
|
|||
Toyota.
Brent > wrote in news:ihfvrq$11g$1
@news.eternal-september.org: > Bad management is ok so long as a company has friends in government. > And that's a very bad thing indeed. -- Tegger |
#36
|
|||
|
|||
Toyota.
On 1/21/2011 8:08 AM, N8N wrote:
> On Jan 20, 10:29 pm, Hachiroku > wrote: >> On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:09:33 -0800, N8N wrote: >>> I always wanted to build a "Fairmont GT" as well >> >> Why?!?!?! >> > > see my reply to Brent. > >> Wasn't the Fairmont based on the Mustang of the time, or vice-versa? > > Yup, so lots of OTC performance parts easily and cheaply available. > Sort of like building a Factory Five roadster, but with the exact > opposite end result. (getting a completely boring looking car to > drive/handle acceptably well.) > > nate I'll second that. I had a 78 Fairmont wagon with the 302, an ex-fleet car. Basically a Mustang GT station wagon. Even with the slightly-less-hot engine, it surprised a lot a people who assumed it was a 6. I put the slightly-wider rims from a fox-body Tbird and some decent tires on it, and heavy-duty shocks, and it even handled pretty well. I was broke at the time, or I would have switched the sway bars and such with the Mustang pieces. And it was basically invisible to cops. Sadly, rust got it. The rocker panel box sections, a major component on a unit-body car like that, turned into swiss cheese. It is one of the few cars out of my past that I still miss. -- aem sends... |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Toyota's Urgent Recall: Remove Toyota, Lexus Floor Mats | john | Technology | 6 | October 1st 09 09:16 PM |
25 year old Toyota - "1983 Toyota Tercel rear left IMG_0030.jpg" 174.4 KBytes | [email protected] | Auto Photos | 0 | November 19th 08 03:27 AM |
You Only Live Twice: 1968 Toyota 2000GT Model MF10 [Toyota AutomobileMuseum].jpg | Square Wheels[_6_] | Auto Photos | 3 | October 27th 07 09:20 PM |
Chyrsler To Build Overseas and Toyota Builds In America - DCX Not American, Toyota Is | Jim Higgins | Chrysler | 19 | May 17th 06 06:43 AM |
Ride quality? Toyota Echo vs. Toyota Scion Xa | larry moe 'n curly | Technology | 35 | May 12th 05 02:45 AM |