--- description: Market researched failed in a major way title: Ford Edsel History: Why the Car Flopped image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt637f97868bb4b2cb/698768e63c163913ab44ffab/edsel.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Happened to the Car Industry's Most Famous Flop?  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 19, 2014 12:00 PM CUT  A 1958 Edsel convertible made by Ford A 1958 Edsel convertible made by FordUnderwood Archives / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 19, 2014 12:00 PM CUT Any crossword puzzler knows there’s a five-letter word for a Ford that flopped: Edsel. --- ### More from TIME --- At the heart of any big flop–like when Ford ended the Edsel 55 years ago, on Nov. 19, 1959–lies high expectations. The Edsel was named after Henry Ford’s son, no small honor, and it had its own division of the company devoted to its creation. As TIME [reported](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,809839,00.html "undefined") in 1957 when the car debuted, the company had spent 10 years and $250 million on planning one of its first brand-new cars in decades. The Edsel came in 18 models but, in order to reach its sales goals, it would have to do wildly better than any other car in 1957 was expected to do. The September day that the car first went on the market, thousands of eager buyers showed up at dealers, but before the year was over monthly sales had fallen by about a third. When Ford announced that they were pulling the plug on the program, here’s how TIME explained what had gone wrong: --- > “” --- Even so, the Edsel wasn’t a complete loss for Ford: the company was able to use production facilities build for Edsel for their next new line of, you guessed it, compact cards. **_Read the full report here, in the TIME Vault:_** [The $250 Million Flop](http://time.com/vault/issue/1959-11-30/page/89/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3586398/ford-edsel-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3586398/ford-edsel-history/"},"headline":"What Happened to the Car Industry's Most Famous Flop?","datePublished":"2014-11-19T12:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:27:36.380Z","description":"Market researched failed in a major way","url":"https://time.com/3586398/ford-edsel-history/","keywords":["Transportation","cars","Ford","Autos","Automotive"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt637f97868bb4b2cb/698768e63c163913ab44ffab/edsel.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt637f97868bb4b2cb/698768e63c163913ab44ffab/edsel.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A 1958 Edsel Convertible","caption":"A 1958 Edsel Convertible","creditText":"Underwood Archives / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3586398/ford-edsel-history/","name":"What Happened to the Car Industry's Most Famous Flop?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2022: Rivian","description":"Rivian CEO and founder R.J. Scaringe on the inspiration behind the company.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/MDTRHmVn/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2022-03-30T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MDTRHmVn.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3586398/ford-edsel-history/","duration":"PT3M6S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3586398/ford-edsel-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```