1961 - Chrysler Sued for Forcing Dealers to Drop Studebaker

[2R2]

As I have been reading old issue of Automotive News, it is obvious that Studebaker put a lot of effort into increasing it's dealer count with the introduction of the Lark. Many of these new dealers in '59 were duals with a "big three" dealership. Natually, when Chevy, Ford, and Chysler came out with their own compacts (and of course later Mercury Buick etc.) they wanted the dealers to sell their compacts not Studebakers! Thus, Studebaker lost some of their best dealers, which naturally hurt sales.
Well, Studebaker tried to fight back - this article which appeared in the April 17, 1961 issue, talks of how the Justice Department was looking into Chrysler forcing dealers to drop Studebaker in order to get Valient.



You'll have to use your zoom to read the article, which starts in the lower right of page one. If you are into the history of Studebakers like I am this was certainly an interesting time....

[57pack]

Our local Studebaker dealer in Pitman NJ where I grew up was John S. Stratton who sold Pontiac and Jeep, a tribrand
Dealer. I suppose Pontiac wasn't threaten by Studebaker. Stratton's was still servicing his Remaining Studebaker customers well into the 1980's
I remember his service manager coming over to me and asking for help in finding some 1959 Lark parts for a good customer. The customer had swerved to miss a dog and ran into a telephone pole guide wire. She hit it dead center in the soft spot, took out the bumper, grill, front panel and radiator. Got on the phone to Newman & Altman, had all the parts in a week!

[56H-Y6]

Hi

In light of the Studebaker market penetration information you've posted, one would think the Big Three sales management would have realized that the relatively miniscule numbers of Larks being sold were no real threat to their new compacts. If anything, display of Larks in the showroom for easy comparison, would have struck the public that the Big Three and their dealers were confident of their compacts still being the choice once the comparisons was made. Also, given the sales momentum of the Big Three makes as compared to Studebaker prior to the compact introductions, darn few of those intending to buy a compact were likely even consider a Lark. Even if they did, those lost sales would be a blip on the sales chart.

Steve

[studegary]

The two Studebaker only dealers closest to me both took on Dodge in the mid-1960s, when there were still new Studebakers. Both dealers stayed with Dodge after 1966. I bought my new 1966 Dodge Charger from one where I had previously bought Studebakers. They both continued to service Studebakers. Both dealerships were gone in a few more years (maybe ten). My neighbor bought a new 1973 and my father bought a new 1975 from the dealer that I bought my Charger from, so they were still selling new cars at least that long.