Overview

Product variety was Henry Ford s Waterloo and what finally eroded Ford s market share. Yes, the T s standard chassis was versatile; customers could have a two- or five-seat open touring car, landaulet, coupe, van, or truck. With a special body, the Model T could become a small bus, a taxi, a racing car, or a tractor. The design was clean and production efficient. Bolt the body on the rolling chassis and paint it black, the color that dries the fastest.

Customers were okay with this as long as cars were a novelty, but when the new-vehicle market saturated around 1927, they began to grumble. Meanwhile, Chevrolet, Ford s main competitor, had introduced the 490 in 1917 in a range of five very stylish body styles. The 490 was a modern, fresh-looking car with a selective transmission as opposed to Ford s foot-pedal-operated one. More important, Chevrolet had become a division of General Motors in 1918, and it was already benefiting from Alfred P. Sloan s strategy of promoting multiple brand and multiple models. When Sloan took the helm, in 1923, he was prepared to have GM offer everything from an entry-level Chevrolet 490 to a Cadillac. In the 1924 annual report to shareholders, he stated that GM would be offering a car for every purse and purpose.

In retrospect, the results were predictable. At the start of the 1920s, Ford sales were five...