Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey
They need to do away with all the multiple brands, period. It never made sense to me back in the day, and even less so now.
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Well, back in the day, brands were basically just trim levels. The Pontiac was the more affordable Oakland, the Mercury was the upscaled Ford, etc. But the difference then was that car companies basically sold just sedans (not trucks, SUVs, compacts, wagons, sports cars, crossovers, vans, etc) and there was really just one car per brand... i.e. the 1938 Ford referred to just one car. So having several brands was akin to the company just offering difference performance/trim levels of what was essentially the same car.
Then, post WWII when the US auto market peaked, each brand expanded into selling its own lineup... which somehow continued for the next 60 years even though it was tantamount to competing with themselves for sales, resulted in higher production costs than necessary, and resulted in confusing choices for the consumer between too many lackluster products.