The Edsel was titled after Henry Ford's son, which was a great honor, and it had its branch of the corporation dedicated to its development. According to TIME, when the automobile arrived in 1957, the firm had spent ten years and $250 million designing one of its first manufacturer cars in generations.
Edsel was an automobile manufacturer that was sold by Ford Motor Company from 1958 to 1960 model years. Edsels, named after
Edsel Ford, the son of the founder of the company Henry Ford, were created to provide Ford with a 4th
identity to capture the share of the market from Chrysler and General Motors. Edsel was formed as a three-company expansion of the Lincoln-Mercury Division (renamed the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln Division), and
shared a price category with Mercury; the section shared components with both Mercury and Ford.
Edsel was the first different brand created by an
American manufacturer since Mercury in 1939, contending with Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Dodge, and DeSoto. Ford embarked on an
effective marketing plan in the year running up to its introduction, portraying Edsels as the automobiles of the future. While 1958 Edsels would provide several advanced
capabilities for their price bracket, the model line's arrival would then become symbolic of the massive flop. Edsels were deemed
overhyped, ugly (characterized by a vertical grille), and inferior quality when they were launched during a downturn that severely impacted sales of mid-priced automobiles.