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General Motors companion make program

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A blue 1920s-style car facing forward but angled towards its right, the picture's left, on a grassy clearing
1930 Viking

In the late 1920s, American automotive company General Motors (GM) launched four companion makes to supplement its existing lineup of five car[a] brands, or "makes".[b] The companion makes were LaSalle introduced for the 1927 model year to supplement Cadillac, Marquette introduced in 1929 for 1930[c] to supplement Buick, Pontiac introduced for 1926 to supplement Oakland, and Viking introduced for 1929 to supplement Oldsmobile. GM's fifth existing make, Chevrolet, did not receive a companion make. With the exception of Viking, each of the companion makes were slotted below their "parent make" in GM's hierarchy.

GM had pioneered the idea of having a ladder of marques, arranged in order by price, to appeal to different consumers with different incomes. This contributed to GM's rise to automotive dominance in the 1920s at the expense of competitors such as Ford. By the 1920s, it was perceived that there were excessive gaps in this ladder between the various makes. Alfred P. Sloan, the president of GM, designed the companion makes in order to fill those gaps. The companion makes were also used to increase the sales of their respective divisions by selling cars that cost less to produce.

The program is generally considered a failure, as Viking and Marquette quickly foundered during the Great Depression and were discontinued by 1931. LaSalle lasted longer, weathering the Depression until it too ceased production after 1940. Pontiac had a different fate; its popularity exploded after its introduction, and led to the discontinuation of Oakland after 1931. It would continue as one of GM's marques until it was discontinued in 2010 in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Background and concept

General Motors (GM) was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant as a holding company for Buick,[4] and quickly purchased the pre-existing brands of Oldsmobile, Oakland, and Cadillac.[d] Durant was expelled from GM in 1910 after over-aggressive expansion; he founded Chevrolet shortly thereafter and used it to regain control of GM in 1918, adding Chevrolet to the list of GM brands.[9] After a 1916 corporate reorganization, GM brands became divisions within the corporation.[10] By 1921, there were seven different divisions producing ten models for GM, with Scripps-Booth and Sheridan adding to the five.[11] Except for Sheridan, which was the first brand originated by GM,[12] these different divisions represented companies that had been acquired by Durant in an effort to replicate his business model as a coachbuilder, when he had made several different coaches for different price points.[13] Unfortunately for GM, he was unable to replicate this model rationally for the automobile, as he purchased different companies willy-nilly.[13]

Durant was forced out of GM for the last time in 1920, at which point the company was almost bankrupt.[14] He was replaced as GM president by Pierre du Pont of DuPont.[15] One of du Pont's main assistants was Alfred P. Sloan, who noted that GM commanded about an eighth of the automobile market, compared to Ford's more than half.[16] Sloan noted that GM lacked a car to compete with Ford's immensely popular entry-level Model T, and that GM's divisions were poorly organized to appeal to buyers wishing to upgrade their car.[16] In addition, GM's makes had significant overlap in price and competed with one another for customers, cannibalizing possible sales of GM vehicles.[17] While du Pont believed that direct competition with the Model T would be GM's best opportunity to gain market share, Sloan instead decided to pursue Durant's idea, albeit without crediting Durant, of a "car for every purse and purpose".[18] Sloan placed Chevrolet at the low end of GM's price hierarchy, followed by Oakland, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac in that order.[19] However, the order and price points between each marque were somewhat fluid,[19] and by 1929 Oldsmobile was cheaper than Buick and Oakland.[20] Scripps-Booth and Sheridan were removed from the lineup by 1922.[19]

The idea of pricing cars on a ladder, in concert with other such innovations by GM as providing credit to prospective car buyers, was tremendously successful in expanding GM's market share during the 1920s at Ford's expense.[21] It surpassed Ford in market share in 1927 and forcing it to discontinue production of the Model T that year in favor of the updated Model A.[21] By the late 1920s, Sloan, who had replaced du Pont as GM president in 1923,[22] detected several gaps in GM's ladder and decided to create various "companion makes" to fill them.[23] These companion makes, introduced within GM's existing divisions rather than becoming their own, were also desirable to GM's divisions as they would increase their sales while costing less to produce.[17]

Launch

A dark green 1920s-style car with beige/cream trim facing forward angled to the picture's right in on a brick-paved lot surrounded by other cars
1929 Pontiac

Oakland introduced Pontiac at the 1926 New York Auto Show in January as a low-priced model for the 1926 model year, followed by a sales meeting at the Commodore Hotel.[24][25] The name dated back to 1893 as a coachbuilding business that had been the predecessor of Oakland's automotive ventures, and was an homage to both its factory in Pontiac, Michigan, and the Native American chief of the same name.[24] Touted as "the Chief of the Sixes" for its six-cylinder inline engine, it was designed from scratch by Ben H. Anibal, who had previously been Cadillac's chief engineer, to the order of Oakland's general manager Al R. Glancy.[24] By the 1929 model year the engine, a flathead, was able to make 60 brake horsepower (bhp) (45 kW).[26] The chassis had a wheelbase of 110 in (2,800 mm), and the car was available as a roadster, phaeton, coupe, convertible, 2- or 4-door sedan, or landaulet.[27]

In early 1926 Lawrence P. Fisher, the general manager of the Cadillac division, visited a Los Angeles Cadillac dealership run by Don Lee that made custom cars for Hollywood actors and producers on the side.[28] The director of the custom car operation, Harley Earl, would turn boxy factory automobiles to sleek low-riding roadsters, something that thrilled Fisher.[28] Fisher hired Earl in spring 1926 to design a sleek low-priced vehicle to be introduced by Cadillac in 1927 known as the LaSalle.[29] Earl's design impressed Sloan such that a special design division of GM was established in June 1927 with Earl as its head.[29] The LaSalle itself was introduced in March 1927 for the 1927 model year.[30] By the 1929 model year it had a V8 engine with a newly-introduced synchromesh transmission.[31] It came with either a 128 in (3,300 mm) or 134 in (3,400 mm) wheelbase; the former was available in a roadster, phaeton, sport phaeton, or town cabriolet, while the latter was available in a convertible, roadster coupe, 5-passenger coupe, sedan, family sedan, town sedan, 7-passenger sedan, 7-passenger imperial sedan, convertible landau cabriolet, or town cabriolet.[31]

A lime-green 1920s style car with a black foldable top facing forward angled towards the photo's right on grass
1930 Marquette

Oldsmobile introduced the Viking in March 1929 for the 1929 model year.[32] The Viking served as the upscale counterpart of Oldsmobile's F-29 model, which had a 62 bhp (46 kW) six-cylinder inline engine.[33] The Viking, by contrast, had an 81 bhp (60 kW) V8 engine.[32] Its logo, a stylized "V", stood for both "Viking" and "V8".[32] It resembled the LaSalle in appearance, had a 125 in (3,200 mm) wheelbase, and was available as a convertible, a close-coupled sedan, or standard sedan.[32] It was initially priced at $1,595 but by the end of 1929 had become worth $1,695.[32] During his 1930 visit to the United States to attempt a land speed record in the Silver Bullet, British racer Kaye Don used a Viking as his daily driver and racecourse tester.[34] A retrospective noted it as a "fine car" that "doubtless...would have survived" but for the Great Depression.[32]

After Buick sales had declined in the previous several years and following the successes of Pontiac and LaSalle,[35] Buick introduced Marquette to showrooms on June 1, 1929, for the 1930 model year.[c][36][17] Unlike Buick, which was noted for its overhead valve engine, the Marquette had a flathead six-cylinder engine based on Oldsmobile's.[17] A prominent selling point was its fine engineering and craftsmanship; its engineers remarked that one could drive it at 60 mph (97 km/h) without damaging the engine, and one was driven from Death Valley, the lowest point in California, to Pike's Peak, a mountain in Colorado, without any issues.[36][37] Other standard features included an air cleaner and a large muffler.[36] Having a 114 in (2,900 mm) wheelbase with its engine making 67 bhp (50 kW), it was offered as a two-door sedan, roadster, phaeton, one of two styles of coupe, or standard sedan.[37] It possessed distinctive styling, with a portly shape that led to its sobriquet of "the pregnant Buick" and a herringbone radiator to distinguish it from other GM makes.[17][37]

General Motors marques as of 1929, in descending order of price and with parent marques duly noted[e]
Make Price range in 1929 Price range in 2019 dollars[38]
Cadillac $3,295 – $6,700[39] $49,100 – $99,800
LaSalle (Cadillac) $2,295 – $5,125[40] $34,200 – $76,300
Buick $1,195 – $2,145[41] $17,800 – $31,900
Viking (Oldsmobile) $1,595[32] $23,700
Oakland $1,145 – $1,375[42] $17,000 – $20,500
Marquette (Buick) $900 – $1,000[36] $13,400 – $14,900
Oldsmobile $875 – $1,035[43] $13,000 – $15,400
Pontiac (Oakland) $745 – $895[27] $11,100 – $13,300
Chevrolet $525 – $725[44] $7,800 – $10,800

Demise and legacy

A brown 1920s-style car facing forward angled towards the picture's left on grass
1927 LaSalle

The beginning of the Great Depression rendered the Viking ill-suited to build for Oldsmobile, which found difficulty selling its own models that were almost half the price, and it was discontinued at the end of 1930.[32] Existing parts were assembled into the final Vikings for the 1931 model year.[45] The Depression was similarly unkind to Marquette; having failed to resuscitate Buick's sales,[46] it was discontinued at the end of the 1930 model year, after about 35,000 units were made and mere months after dealerships had been mailed signs to put up indicating their presence.[37] Two factors working against the Marquette were its flathead engine, which irked fans of Buick's overhead valve philosophy, and its six-cylinder engine, which was incompatible with Buick's decision to offer only eight-cylinder cars for 1931.[17][46] After its discontinuation Marquette's body design was used in Buicks and its engine used for Opels.[17]

LaSalle fared better; initially selling a quarter of the Cadillac division's output, it narrowly outsold the Cadillac brand in 1929 and its sales contributed to the survival of the division during the Depression.[23] Nevertheless, as the economy improved throughout the 1930s, LaSalle's niche dried up as the gap between Buick and Cadillac narrowed.[47] In its final model year of 1940, LaSalles comprised about 65 percent of Cadillac's total output, but it was replaced in 1941 by the Cadillac Series 61.[47] The LaSalle name has been occasionally floated for revival since; a 1955 concept car was titled the "LaSalle II", and the name reappeared in 1963 and 1975 as proposals for what eventually became the Buick Riviera and Cadillac Seville, respectively.[48] Earl, having gotten his start designing the 1927 LaSalle, would later get fame as the "dean of design" of automobiles.[23]

Pontiac would have the opposite destiny. Selling more than 75,000 units in 1926, Pontiac saw a rise to 140,000 units in 1927 and more than 200,000 in 1928.[24] Oakland was discontinued in 1931, a victim of the Depression; its final model, which had been based on the Viking V8, became the Pontiac V8 for 1932.[49] Pontiac earned the distinction of being the only GM make that was not an outside acquisition that survived for a significant amount of time.[50] It remained in production until 2010, when it was discontinued in the aftermath of the Great Recession as part of GM's reorganization from Recession-caused bankruptcy.[51]

The companion make program as a whole was described by automotive historian Bill Vance as a "short-lived experiment" in a retrospective of the Marquette.[17] Vance unfavorably compared the program to Sloan's earlier paring down of GM's line after the Durant ouster.[17] A report on the Viking referred to the program as "several 'in-between' cars introduced by General Motors while the Twenties still roared and the stock market hadn't crashed."[32]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to General Motors Companion Make Program.

Notes

  1. ^ GMC, also owned by GM at this time, makes light trucks and not cars.[1]
  2. ^ The words "brand", "make", and "marque" are synonymous in the automotive industry. They are distinguished from a "company", which can produce several makes, as well as a "model", which is a specific style of automobile produced by a make over a set period of time.[2]
  3. ^ a b It is common practice in the American automotive industry to introduce a model year's automobile during the previous calendar year.[3]
  4. ^ Oldsmobile, which had been founded in 1896, was bought by GM in 1908.[5] Oakland, which had entered the automotive business in 1907, joined GM within a year of GM's founding.[6] Cadillac, which had been formed from the remains of the Henry Ford Company in 1902, was purchased by GM in June 1909.[7] Prior to the formation of GM, Buick had been founded in 1903.[8]
  5. ^ All figures are for the 1929 model year except for the Marquette, which is for the 1930 model year. Prices do not include optional features of each automobile.

References

  1. ^ Golden, Conner (April 13, 2020). "The GMC Chevette is the GMC Sedan You Never Knew Existed". Automobile Magazine. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  2. ^ Hearst Autos Research. "What Is the Difference Between Make and Model?". Car and Driver. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  3. ^ Antich, Mike (June 15, 2010). "Model-Year versus Calendar-Year". Automotive Fleet. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  4. ^ Encyclopedia, p. 33
  5. ^ Encyclopedia, pp. 158, 164
  6. ^ Encyclopedia, pp. 33, 191
  7. ^ Encyclopedia, pp. 41, 43, 45
  8. ^ Encyclopedia, p. 31
  9. ^ Encyclopedia, pp. 54, 56
  10. ^ Encyclopedia, p. 45
  11. ^ Farber, p. 58
  12. ^ Woodcock, Glen (July 7, 2013). "Time Machines:GM's forgotten marque". AutoNet. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2021 – via Archive.is.
  13. ^ a b Farber, p. 59
  14. ^ Farber, p. 44
  15. ^ Farber, p. 45
  16. ^ a b Farber, pp. 58–59
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i Vance, Bill (December 29, 2006). "How stock market crash killed "The Pregnant Buick"". The Ottawa Citizen. p. C11. Retrieved March 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Farber, pp. 59, 62–63.
  19. ^ a b c Farber, p. 64
  20. ^ Kimes, pp. 168, 1011, 1036
  21. ^ a b Farber, p. 104
  22. ^ Farber, p. 72
  23. ^ a b c Great Cars of the Forties, p. 39
  24. ^ a b c d Encyclopedia, p. 191
  25. ^ Kimes, p. 1176
  26. ^ Kimes, pp. 1178–1179
  27. ^ a b Kimes, p. 1178
  28. ^ a b Farber, p. 100
  29. ^ a b Farber, p. 101
  30. ^ Kimes, pp. 805–806
  31. ^ a b Kimes, p. 808
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kimes, p. 1455
  33. ^ Kimes, pp. 1035–1036, 1455
  34. ^ "British racer selects Viking". The South Bend Tribune. Vol. 56, no. 310. South Bend, Indiana. April 6, 1930. Section 3 p. 4. Retrieved March 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. ^ Kimes, pp. 169, 891
  36. ^ a b c d Klein, Israel (June 1, 1929). "Marquette enters motordom". The Grand Island Independent. Vol. 46, no. 130. Grand Island, Nebraska. p. 12. Retrieved March 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ a b c d Kimes, p. 891
  38. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  39. ^ Kimes, p. 209
  40. ^ Kimes, p. 807
  41. ^ Kimes, p. 168
  42. ^ Kimes, p. 1011
  43. ^ Kimes, p. 1077
  44. ^ Kimes, p. 279
  45. ^ "Viking Radiator Emblem". National Museum of American History. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  46. ^ a b Kimes, p. 169
  47. ^ a b Great Cars of the Forties, p. 40
  48. ^ Great Cars of the Forties, p. 41
  49. ^ Encyclopedia, pp. 14, 191, 192
  50. ^ Encyclopedia, p. 14.
  51. ^ Eisenstein, Paul A. (December 2, 2009). "Pontiac hits end of the road after 82 years". NBC News. Retrieved May 6, 2021.

Works cited

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