<?xml version="1.0" ?><html> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> " The auto sector in the US in the 1950s was dominated</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> by the big three; now there are something like ten</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> major players, and the big three's market share is</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> down to 58%."</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> </span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> Doug Henwood wrote:</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> Before the 1950s, though, there were a lot of other</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> auto makers: Pierce-Arrow, Nash, Premier Motor</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> Corporation, Essex Motors [Detroit], etc. The 1950s</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> may have represented the culimination of US automaker</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> monopolization. But before that, there were definitely</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> more than just a 'big three.' It was a very active,</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> lively market within the US.</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> </span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> I happen to have a book in front of me that contains</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> alot of ads from US auto-makers from the 1940s and</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> prior, going back to about 1890. You'd be amazed how</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> many there were.</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> </span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#7f0000"><span style="font-size:10pt">> -B.</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">The Big Three have been just that since the teen's. In the 1950's the other makes were far smaller than most people imagine. Below is a list of sales for 1956 except I added Willy's and Kaiser sales for 1955 at the bottom of the list since they were gone in 1956. I chose 1956 because I like that years selection. Total number of cars sold in 1956 = 5,021,041 of which The Big Three accounted for 4,812,016 which is 95.8%. </span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">It was pretty much the same story in earlier times. In 1919 Ford sold 419,452 cars, Chevrolet sold 149,904 cars, Buick sold 119,310, and Dodge sold 106,00 cars. These were the top four and they alone accounted for 78% of the market. Add in the other makes in the Big Three and you will see that they have been big for awhile. Never less than 80% of the market since 1912 except for one year, 1948, if memory serves. I would double check that last figure before quoting it anywhere since I'm going on memory alone with that one.</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">GM (total 2,113,319)</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Chevrolet         1,574,740</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Buick                 535,364</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Oldsmobile         485,458</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Pontiac              405,731</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Cadillac             113,086</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">FoMoCo (total 1,789,293)</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Ford                1,408,478</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Mercury             327,943</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Lincoln                52,872</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Chrysler (total 909,404)</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Plymouth           466,723</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Dodge                205,727</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Chrysler             118,119</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">DeSoto              108,207</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Imperial               10,628</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Studebaker          82,402</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Nash                   69,636</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Packard              28,836</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Hudson               28,151</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Willy's   (1955)     24,744</span></font></div> <div align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt">Kaiser   (1955)       1,231</span></font></div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"><br/> </div> <div align="left"></div> </body> </html>