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Marketing Trends in the Auto Industry, a Photo Essay
William Sundwick
They were called “horseless carriages” for a reason. The
earliest automobiles had open bodies fashioned from wood, sometimes with a
folding top, like popular carriage designs of the time.
Soon, however, there emerged more luxurious closed bodies,
often only the passenger cabin, with the driver still exposed to the elements.
But these “cabs” were generally considered to occupy only the top end of the
market, or livery vehicles.
The Model T Ford then
created a “mass market” for automobiles in the United States. But roughly by
the end of the First World War, closed bodies became more commonplace – even for
the Model T. Ford had competitors by this time, many makes were marketed to less
than upper-class buyers. And, as the maturing auto industry moved through the
1920s, there seemed to be a stock selection of body styles. There were coupes
(with or without jump seats in the rear), sedans (two or four doors, but with
full back seat), town cars and limousines for the chauffeur-driven elite
(passenger
These different body types appealed to folks now driving
longer distances, often between cities. Both comfort and reliability became the
most common marketing pitches for all auto-makers. In the U.S., General Motors,
Chrysler Corporation, Nash, Hudson,
Studebaker and Packard all laid claim to
significant portions of the market in the ‘20s and ‘30s. (Ford, the originator
of the market, was overtaken in market share by both GM and Chrysler by the
time World War II began).
Closed bodies (coupes and sedans) dominated the market from
the onset of the Great Depression in 1930. Comfort and quiet, along with new
features like radios, heaters, and window cranks made the passenger cabin a
much more parlor-like experience, even in the popular-price segment where
Chevrolet and Plymouth became the new market leaders.
Styling of auto
bodies underwent some drastic changes in the 1930s. It was not just the
enclosed quiet of the cabin that characterized cars of that decade, but major
marketing initiatives around
Through the decade, running boards gradually disappeared
from all cars, pontoon fenders with fared-in headlights became the norm, smooth
curves replaced boxy shapes in all body styles. Horsepower ratings also began
to be advertised during the 1930s and became a major marketing strategy after
the war.
Tasteful, curvy
streamlining and pontoon fenders began to fade post-war, as a brash new
generation of designers took over in Detroit. GM’s Harley Earl (the dean of
that earlier generation of stylists) retired, and people like
While a spacious,
comfortable cabins continued to be important to the post-war auto buyer, new
demands from the growing popularity of family vacations by car took on more
importance. Trunks had to accommodate ever more luggage – not to mention golf
clubs! This, in turn, caused another aesthetic shift in the appearance of auto
bodies. Long hoods (to accommodate powerful V8 engines) were supplemented by
long trunks. Cars got very large. The cabin area, now diminished as a
percentage of the overall length, was made to seem bigger by much more glass.
Wrap-around windshields and rear windows. The literal disappearance of side
window frames (when
lowered) made the “hardtop” body style (two or four door)
the most popular configuration in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Perhaps unsurprisingly,
there was a reaction to the apparent excess of the huge cars, powerful engines,
and lots of chrome. Beginning even before the war, a niche market for imported
small cars (usually from Britain, like Austin, Morris, MG) started to develop,
especially in coastal cities. By the early ‘50s, this market had grown enough
that many British automakers were equipping their export
While the price of
gasoline was never a constraint in the U.S., as it was for the native designers
in Europe (not to mention their narrower urban streetscapes), the general
cultural reaction against bigness and flashiness grew to such an extent that
Detroit had to respond. But, since product development cycles in the auto
industry are attenuated over several years, the new Detroit “compacts” didn’t
arrive until 1960. By that time, Volkswagen Beetles had become a common sight
in most of America. Rambler led the way somewhat earlier and could show a
growing market share in the mid-to-late ‘50s as proof.
Keeping up with changing
tastes of a young, more suburban, market in the fifties and sixties led to some
important trends. Two body types that grew into an impressive social mainstay were
convertibles and station wagons. Both body styles imbued a certain social
status to their owners – convertibles implied youth, daring,
and enough
affluence to have one car (of two) dedicated more to fun than practicality.
Wagons frequently had three rows of seating, 
for growing numbers of kids, not
necessarily your own, but the neighbors’! For a while, it was thought that kids
enjoyed facing the rear window in that third-row seat, although some safety
concerns were later raised about that configuration. Even without the third
row, wagons were great cargo carriers -- virtual car-truck hybrids! They were
great for suburban shopping and family vacations, able to accommodate long
things, like surfboards or plywood paneling for the basement.
Automobile marketing
became more mysterious, at least in the eyes of this observer, in the
1970s. Convertibles began to disappear –
supposedly killed off by the insurance industry. And, while big cars with big
engines continued to dominate Detroit, small imports retained a large
following. What is strange, both for the domestic bodies and imported
offerings, is the popularity of two-door models. For some reason, and I’ve been
unable to find a psychological study explaining it, two-door bodies
The coming of the BMW (and others, both foreign and domestic)
four-door sport sedans in the ‘90s effectively killed that mystery market for
two-door cars. There was no longer any connection
between “sportiness” and
having only two doors.Of course, throughout the history of the automobile, there have been many smaller niche markets: electric cars in the teens, sports cars from the 1920s on, drag racing wannabes in the muscle car era of the ‘60s and early ‘70s, and early 4x4s (Jeeps and pickups). Trucks moved from a rural niche market for private transportation into the mainstream with the coming of the smaller Japanese pickups in the 1980s.
The original Jeep was the first SUV. But Toyota, Nissan, then GM, Ford, and Chrysler all discovered
They were, indeed, trucks. They were all built on a pickup frame, with a body (two-door at first, later expanded to four doors) that included a bouncy, but roomy, rear seat.
As trucks developed their own market segment, complete with luxo-cruisers, monster off-road vehicles, and compacts for urban living, it occurred to the intrepid auto designers that a true car-truck hybrid might fuse the enthusiasm of the SUV buyer with the family buyer who had previously settled for a matronly minivan. The “crossover” was thus born.
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| 2018 Buick Enclave |
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| 2018 Honda CR-V |
behind.
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| 2019 Ford EcoSport |
It seems that a combination of a “high ride” (you look down on traffic) and the practicality of a large open cargo area (accommodates bulky items) are the main selling points. The main distinction between a crossover and an SUV is that the crossover always has a unitized body-frame, like other car bodies, but unlike the separate platform frame of truck-based SUVs. Hence, the ride is more car-like.
This is where we have come after more than 100 years of automotive market segmentation and design whims. Practicality combined with comfort and freedom have always ruled the marketplace. Of course, my unsupported impressions are subject to dispute. I’ve always been partial to the Harley Earl period at General Motors, myself!
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