Word: packards
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last week Hutchins created a new office of fund vice president and named the man to fill it: Public Relations Man W. H. ("Ping") Ferry, 43, son of Packard Motor Car Co.'s onetime Board Chairman Hugh J. Ferry. A former teacher and newsman, Ferry worked with the International Labor Organization, OPA and the C.I.O.-P.A.C. during New Deal days. In 1945 he joined Manhattan's public relations firm of Earl Newsom & Co., where his duties included writing speeches for Henry Ford II and doing "think work" for the Ford Foundation. He is, says Hutchins, "the kind...
...overwhelming vote of their stockholders, the only two remaining independent automakers last week gave up their independence. In Detroit, Packard stockholders voted 89.9% to join forces with Studebaker; at the same time in Wilmington, Del., Studebaker stockholders voted 99% to merge with Packard. The new company (official name: Studebaker-Packard Corp.) will have a full line of low-to high-priced cars for the competitive battle ahead. Its combined assets: $251 million. But Studebaker-Packard's biggest asset is the opportunity to compete better by pooling the resources of the two old independents...
...part, Packard will get the advantages of the slick styling that has made Studebaker a pacesetter in postwar auto trends, will also get the benefits of Studebaker's strong dealer organization around the U.S. Packard, which has long had trouble getting dealers to take on its big cars in fringe markets, will start off by doubling up with Studebaker to sell Packards in 1,000 towns too small to support a full-time Packard agency. In turn, Studebaker will profit from Packard's solid engineering and its strong financial position...
...president of the new combine, in stepped able James J. (for John) Nance, 53, the automaker who pulled Packard out of the rut two years ago. Coming to Packard from General Electric's Hotpoint division (TIME, May 19, 1952), Nance found a company suffering from old age. Packard's plants were among the mustiest and least efficient in the industry; its sales organization was without drive or direction; its executives were aging and set in their ways. The company made money, but largely because of defense production and the happy fact that 1952 was still a seller...
Nance's first move was to jack up Packard's personnel. The company had no retirement program; Nance started one, and in the process lowered the average age of his 25 top executives from 59 to 46. He brought in cost analysts to check Packard's entire operation, turned penny savings into dollars. At one point, for example, he replaced hand upholstery work with a pair of automatic staplers. Savings: $1.45 per car, $100,000 per year...