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"It Helps Business." Who will buy the compacts? Detroit, which prides itself on having market surveys to answer almost any sales question, this time is stumped. Buyers have been unpredictable and have shown a notable disregard of polls telling them what they should like, especially that they liked bigger, chrome-decorated cars. Detroit guesses that the compacts will appeal particularly to people on tight budgets. But it is not certain, since consumers no longer buy cars to match their pocketbooks. Most buyers of the low-cost foreign cars and of the Rambler and Lark come from higher-income brackets.
Hopefully, Ed Cole says: "The bulk of compact-car sales will probably come from an expansion of the market." But he is well aware that the compacts are bound to cut into sales of existing models. "If our Corvair moves some other cars off the road, well, that's too bad. But any time we bring out something that gets the focus of attention, it helps business. Anything that stimulates interest in autos is bound to stimulate the economy."
For such stimulation, Chevy itself may pay a price. Some of autodom's biggest wheels reckon that one out of every five compact sales will come out of the standard models of Chevy, Plymouth or Ford. Atlanta Dealer Paul Timmers echoes what many a savvy salesman says: "The compacts are going to give us our Biggest year in 1960, but they will take away sales from our regular line."
The Corvair's factory list price of $1,860 is only $196 below Chevy's cheapest model, the Biscayne. But the spread will grow when it comes to the buyer's choice of extras. The Corvair handles so easily that it needs no power brakes or power steering, and its automatic shift, at $135, is $50 less than on Chevy models. Cole expects that many Corvair buyers will not even want the automatic shift, will prefer the stick shift on the floor to get back the "feel of driving." Thus the Corvair, with the minimum extras needed, will run several hundred dollars under the Biscayne, and as much as $2,000 under the most expensive car in Chevy's line, the Impala. One thing that will help Chevy salesmen is the fact that the Corvair will have only a four-door, seating six passengers, at the start. Next January Cole plans to bring out a two-door hardtop with a stepped-up engine designed for the sports-car type. Eventually, he hopes to bring out a station wagon.
If the compacts cut deeply into the present low-priced three, Detroit dopesters expect that they will certainly be bad news to what is left of the ailing middle-priced market. Says Cole: "The middle-priced field is sitting there with a gun to its head." Some middle-priced dealers have already pulled the trigger. New Orleans' leading Buick seller, Stephens Buick Co., fortnight ago surrendered its franchise and switched to Chevy.