Founded
in 1899, Packard was one of the last independent car manufacturers in
the US. The luxury brand survived the Great Depression and two world
wars. It emerged in good financial shape after domestic car production
picked up in 1946. But it couldn't keep up with changing markets and its
larger competitors.
In 1955, Packard merged with
Studebaker--another company that would soon disappear. The following
year, Packard unveiled the Patrician, an example of which is pictured
above. On June 25, 1956, the last Packard came off the assembly line in
Detroit. For a few more years, there would be Studebakers re-branded as
Packards. But this would be the last true Packard. Blake Z. Rong writes
mournfully at
Road & Track:
All
the things that went wrong with Packard—a move downmarket, chasing
volume instead of brand image, strange styling, intense cost-cutting,
defects, recalls, pissed-off dealers, model lineup bloat, the dreaded
scourge of "badge engineering," a desperate merger with a tarnished car-maker just to compete with bigger companies—are still happening
today. Maserati comes to mind. The last Honda Civic. Every dead GM brand
that didn't survive the bailout, plagued by lost identities and muddled
marketing, surviving this far only by dint of pure nostalgia. Mercury.
Plymouth. The Mercedes-Benz CLA. Is Volkswagen going to follow the same
route? Or Fiat-Chrysler? It's always sad when a car-maker dies, and we
never wish for that to happen. Not even for Mitsubishi.
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