Episode 1532
General Motors companion make program
Thu, 2021-Jul-15 00:31 UTC
Length - 2:54
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Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Thursday, 15 July 2021 is General Motors companion make program.
In the late 1920s, American automotive company General Motors (GM) launched four companion makes to supplement its existing lineup of five passenger car brands, or "makes". The companion makes were LaSalle, introduced for the 1927 model year to supplement Cadillac; Marquette, introduced in 1929 for 1930 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 pricing hierarchy.
GM had pioneered the idea of having a ladder of marques, arranged in order by price, to appeal to consumers with different incomes. This contributed to GM's rise to automotive dominance in the 1920s at the expense of Ford. By the late 1920s, GM felt that there were excessive gaps in this ladder; president Alfred P. Sloan designed the companion makes in order to fill those gaps. The companion makes were also intended 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.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:31 UTC on Thursday, 15 July 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see General Motors companion make program on Wikipedia.
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This has been Brian Standard. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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