Note the question is calendar year. It was the same for both cars and trucks. Bet you would have guessed incorrectly.
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Richard Quinn
Editor emeritus: Antique Studebaker Review -
"First by far with a post war car" ...and yes, I would have guessed incorrectly.John Clary
Greer, SC
SDC member since 1975 -
This is a good object lesson in people understanding history within the framework of everything else going on at the time.
That Studebaker did so well in 1949 against the industry certainly had something to do with the new 1949 Big Three low-price cars having delayed introductions and production and teething problems due to being "all new," save their drivetrains.
It worked for Studebaker, of course, who had their production of new postwar cars down pat by that time.
It is calendar year 1949, as Richard specifies, and we know the "next look" 1950 Studebakers got a tepid reception in the fall of 1949...but took off big time as the model year unfolded.
Good lesson, Richard. BP
We've got to quit saying, "How stupid can you be?" Too many people are taking it as a challenge. 
G. K. Chesterton: This triangle of truisms, of father, mother, and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.Comment
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Hi
Context is everything. While Studebaker was fielding a third year, lightly-restyled, hold-over against the all-new Big Three 1949's, they still performed admirably in the fray. By contrast, Kaiser-Frazer was in the same boat product-wise and got decimated producing 60,000 cars versus 181,000 the prior year. 1950 production would have been worse except for the March 1950 introduction of their new '51 models. Downside was a glut of 1949-50 Kaiser and Frazer leftovers that turned into an immense headache for the company. Some were used to build the 10,000 '51 Frazers, the remainder sold off at massive discount clearance, fleet and motorpool sales, even give-aways.....all at considerable loss. Joe Frazer had divorced himself from the company because this disaster-in-the-planning in 1948, only to watch his predictions come horribly true.
The years 1951-54 starkly shows how precipitous was the plummet in their share, even in the face of all new 1953 models. Such was the fiercely competitive situation then in force, and it would only get worse!
SteveComment
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Wow, only .90 in 1963 for cars. I wonder what 1964 sales must have looked like.Comment
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Way cool stats! I enjoy seeing how our favorite car did against all others.........Comment
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