Sorry been a while since I’ve done one of these proper so, lots a details to fill in on. WALL OF TEXT INCOMING!
August 1970 - Meeting on FHL Business Plan and Forecast
Much has changed in only a year or so time. C Fenton Trunt has officially retired, replaced in his role as CEO by his long-time right-hand man, Everette Haverford. Prior head of engineering, William Floyd Waterson, has ascended to the relatively new role of Everette Division Head, given C Fenton Trunt Company’s restructuring into Fenton Holdings, Ltd. in 1967. Zachariah Cielsinski Stasiak is now in the role of Vice President of FHL while the presidency has gone to a recent new comer and shrewd corporate fixer, Buck Frederick Whittaker.
The subject at hand is relatively slow sales and razor thin profit margins on the 2nd generation Everette Ellston and future forecasting, especially given the recent influx of imports and compacts in the market.
Bill was just finishing up his presentation on the state of the Everette brand. “To sum it up, the Ellston is keeping its head above water but its not selling to near the desired level. That being said, I believe we should hang with it. Compacts are gaining popularity; imports are on the rise and the new Chevrolet Vega is taking the market by storm. If the upcoming Ford Pinto is at all similar, we can’t be missing out on that.”
FHL president Buck Whittaker looked over at him slightly puzzled. “I’m not entirely sure that’s a good assessment. You’re saying the car’s a loser but we should keep making it?”
Bill fidgeted a little and attempted to explain himself. “Well, I didn’t say the car is a loser. I said…”
Buck cut him short. " ‘Keeping your head above water’ is a nice way of saying ‘going to drown soon’. The car is a loser."
Everette chimed in on this point. “I think what Bill is saying but perhaps not articulating the best is that we can’t afford to lose the market segment and the Ellston should be revised. Not merely thrown out.”
“Fair.” Buck replied. “But what about the upcoming model? The Twisp? Was that not supposed to be the answer to in particular that Italian nonsense that won Motor World Review’s 1969 Car of the Year?”
Zach offered up the answer this time “Basically, yes. But its a base model; its never going to be much more than an economy car. The Ellston can offer more being a larger model.”
“But then we also have the Bellevue, the LE, and the ZL. Why the Ellston then?” Buck went on.“We shouldn’t have models just to fill in potential gaps. What is the Ellston doing for us? What can the Ellston do for us and for potential buyers?”
There was a slight pause in the room. Then, Everette cooly answered the question about the descendant of an old pet project of his. “Well, if you take from the car’s roots, it should be economical, easy to afford, but at the same time not feel like its cheap and tiny.”
“Good.” Buck said. “So how do you achieve that?”
“Better fuel economy… Better build quality… More options.” Bill said, thinking out loud.
“Okay, good.” Buck went on. “You know what you want. An economy-focused model with a good number of amenities. Is that what it is now?”
There was a rather awkward silence. The simple fact was, the Ellston had lost its way over years, becoming more of an upscale model, leaving the market it once owned to Z215’s, Gremlins, and Vegas.
“Alright, then you have your work cut out for you. Moving on…”
July 1971
The new Twisp model has been selling extremely well. With its refocus, sales of the Ellston have improved but profit margins are still small. FHL aims to fix this.
Buck looked over the figures again. Something about the Ellston’s costs didn’t add up.
“Bill, I’m getting this nagging sense the Ellston is too expensive. I feel like it should be cheaper but somehow isn’t.”
Bill gave him an approving smirk. “Well your senses serve you well then. The boys down in engineering are working something up.”
Buck looked at him quizzically for a second. Bill answered his implied question.
“You remember we discussed, as a cost saving measure, eliminating the straight-6?” Bill asked.
“Yes…” Buck replied.
“Contingent on the Twisp’s success. Well the Twisp has been selling so well, we’re going through with it for 1972. The V6 will replace the straight-6. Should save a boatload in production cost.”
Buck looked back at him with a grin. “Excellent! Really. Good work! And there won’t be any complications?”
“Actually no,” Bill answered. “And in fact the V6 is actually more efficient due to it being lighter… and some other complicated engineering mumbo jumbo you probably don’t care about. The upshot though: our test mules have been showing noticeably improved performance, especially fuel economy.”
“Alright. Very good to hear!” Buck said. “And again. Great work.”
1973 - The Ellston’s Comeback
For 1973, FHL gave the Ellston the best fuel economy in its history thanks to its new 3.2L V6 and a switch to radial tires which also drastically improved the handling. In addition it got a full facelift - new styling, new and improved safety features, and new options.
