Evening star., 1939-09-03
De Soto S Byron Foy
Brings Salesman
View 10 Auto Makinq
Winner Of Retailing
Honors Has Had
A Rapid Rise
BY the Associated Press,

A Rapid Rise
BY the Associated Press.
DETROIT, Sept Ever since the
making and distributing of motor
cars became two separate lines of
effort in the automobile industry
cleavage that dates back to the be-
ginning of the mass production era,
leaders of the two divisions have
been at odds in varying degrees.
What a salesman would do as
manufacturer was one of the early
challenges of the industry's two
division set-up and the answer
seems to have been supplied in
Chrysler's Byron c. Foy.
Mr.. Foy, one of the more Youthful
of the industry's executives. is presi-
dent of De Soto Motor Corp, vice
president and director of the Chrys-
Ter Corp. and leading force in the
development of that unit of the
automotive world.
Mr.. Foy. a serious minded Texan.
came to the manufacturing division
of the automotive industry through
the sales division door A little
more than two decades ago, when
he was just out of college, Mr.. Foy
decided that the selling of motor
vehicles promised a reasonable flu
ture. So he went out and sold
more automobiles in one year than
any other individual in the United
States. He didn't just sell cars to
individuals; he went after what the
trade calls the fleet business
selling cars in multiple numbers to
corporations and municipalities.
Is an Anachronism.
1t was thus that Mr.. Foy. who
perhaps gave little thought to the
making of cars at that time, began
his business career. It was a career
that incompassed the experience of
dealer. factory representative,
branch manager and a distributor
and a bank director, and brought
him in his early 30s to the post
of vice president of the Chrysler
Corp.
Thus Mr., Foy brings to the manu-
featuring division of the automobile
industry viewpoint many OF his
associates regard as an important
factor in the development of manu-
featuring practices.
Mr.. Foy, who was born in Dallas.
Tex. on June 20, 1898, was called
a human dynamo" in the mer-
chandising division of the industry.
He lost none of that power when
he was taken into the manufactur-
ing field by Walter P. Chrysler.
Mr.. Foy, of medium height and
youthful appearing, excepting for
a few grey streaks in his brown hair,
gives the immediate impression of
being an intense" individual, yet
he is one of the motor industrys
most reticent executives.
His closer associates call him
of an anachronism in
that he combines the qualities of an
salesman with those of
a quiet spoken executive who rarely
makes a speech and talks little IN
public.
Believes in Eye Appeal.
Mr.. Foy's reticence does not affect
his affability, for which he is noted
his acquaintance, who at
tribute to him another outstanding
capacity for making
lasting friendships with little effort.
The youthful head of the De Soto
Corp. believes eye-appeal is vital
factor in the selling of automobiles
and he gives this phase of car pro-
long and careful considera-
ton. He once devoted a large part
of week to determining the style
of radiator ornament for one of
the De Soto models.
Mr.. Foy was educated at Texas
and Cornell Universities. Out of
school, he sold Ford cars in Texas,
came to Detroit to become assistant
branch manager for the REQ Motor
Car Co. and then moved to Cali
fornla as vice president and Los
Angeles manager of the REQ COM
pany of California. Two years aft
erward he was made president of
the California company.
Married Chrysler's Daughter.
His introduction to the Chrysler
interests came soon afterward when
he purchased an interest in one of
the larger retail concerns in Detroit.
The company handled the various
Chrysler products. Mr.. Foy later
became a partner in a New York
firm retailing Chrysler cars and
from there he went into Chrysler
Corp.
Mr.. Foy was only IS years old
when he was named a vice president
of the Chrysler Corp. and 81 when
he became president of De Soto. To
his associates he is an executive
with an enormous capacity for as
similating detail; student of trans
portation who knows exactly what
he wants in the way of motor car
design and to whom everything has
a serious side.
He was married in 1924 to Thelma
Irene Chrysler, only daughter of
Walter P. Chrysler. He maintains
offices in Detroit and New York, but
handles most of his administration
of the De Soto Corp. from his Offices
IN the Chrysler Building In New
York CITY.