The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-02-13
Studebaker Policy Is to Maintain the
Highest Standard at Lowest
Possible Price.
BY n. A. BIGGS
Vice President The Studebaker
Corporation.

In the long run value tells, whether
in an automobile or any other article
and the manufacturer WHO offers most
for the money rises to the greatest
success. There may be times when this
fact - not so apparent. For instance
when xhfs country returning to an era
of peece, faced a great demand for
goods, with production at a low ebb
previous accepted standards of value
We're for the most part lost sight of
This period-the year 1919, to be ex-
act-~pAved the way for Studebaker's
rise to the position of the world S
largest manufacturers of six cylinder
cars. True, the prices of Studebaker
cars went up, as prices of everything
went up, but our profits We're no great
er, for our prices increased only in
proportion to the greater costs of raw
materials and labor. In other words
although we could have sold our cars
for considerably more than their list
prices, we were all the while thinking
not only of 1919 and 1920, but of the
years to come.
las a result our cars at the highest
prices, showed an amazingly small in
crease over their lowest prices, and in
addition they incorporated many fea-
lures of appointment and refinements
in design that made them really worth
more. Our sole object was to retain
and enhance the good will we had built
up.
In like manner, when prices began
to show a downward trend, we kept
pace, lowering our pieces as fast as
lower costs of raw material and great
er efficiency of labor permitted. The
cumulative effect of this policy was
felt through the results achieved in
1921. and will, believe, be even more
in evidence in 1922.
Much comment has been aroused
over the slogan This Is a Studebaker
Year." In fact. it has been the most
widely quoted slogan in years. It be-
gan with the public--a spontaneous
expression of Studebaker supremacy
1t seems to be echoed everywhere-in
smoking compartments, on transconti-
mental trains, on the streets, in all
public places where people gather.
Conversation invariably seems to turn
to a discussion of automobiles. One
man says, "well, this is certainly a
Studebaker year" another answers:
1T surely IS the way they are selling
cars is really astounding" and third
says, "Well, no wonder, they've got a
great car"
And so it goes. And, as have said,
the fact of the matter is that the slo-
gan This is Studebaker Year" or
iginated with the public, not with us,
and we We're forced by public senti-
ment to adopt IT, This slogan is not
and never was intended to be a proph-
ecy which might not come true. but
statement of condition as it actually
exists. 1t is a reflection of the way
people think and talk about US. the re-
spect and confidence which the name
Studebaker inspires, and the quality.
performance and dollar for dollar
value that have placed our cars in
such demand.
II we reaped the harvest in 1921 and
paved the way 10 greater rewards in
1922, and the years TO come, the
answer, 1 believe, is to be found in the
one fact that we preferred TO maintain
our established ideals of quality and
fair prices rather than resort to any
expediency that would cause these
ideals TO suffer. Little wonder. then,
that the public continues to echo more
and more widely and frequently the
slogan, This is Studebaker Year"
As view the situation. 1922 is 60
ing TO prove a keenly competitive year
and the public Is going to judge cars
more critically with an eye to securing
the greatest value for each dollar in
vested The days when anything on
four wheels would sell for almost any
price asked have passed. In offering
our cars for 1922 we have Incorporated
a number of features that give them
added beauty, completeness and re-
finement, but our ideals have under
gone no change whatever. We are