Get inspired by this Museum of Failure!
The newly opened 'Museum of Failure' in Sweden on failed innovations is a lesson in embracing your errors
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
Ford Edsel
1957-1960
Ford hoped that the Edsel would be the car that everybody wanted. The car had several technological innovations, like an electro-mechanical Teletouch transmission - with the buttons in the middle of the steering wheel. With an extensive and expensive marketing campaign, expectations were enormous. The advertising campaign teased consumers with silhouette glimpses of the Edsel. Confident of the imminent success, Ford convinced dealerships to order the Edsel before it was fully developed. Those dreams were crushed when nobody bought the car, and it was mocked in the newspapers. The design was considered ugly, and the car was priced far too too high. Ford lost $350 million on the Edsel, equivalent to almost $3 billion in 2017 dollars. It is no wonder that an Edsel became a symbol for commercial failure.
1957-1960
Ford hoped that the Edsel would be the car that everybody wanted. The car had several technological innovations, like an electro-mechanical Teletouch transmission - with the buttons in the middle of the steering wheel. With an extensive and expensive marketing campaign, expectations were enormous. The advertising campaign teased consumers with silhouette glimpses of the Edsel. Confident of the imminent success, Ford convinced dealerships to order the Edsel before it was fully developed. Those dreams were crushed when nobody bought the car, and it was mocked in the newspapers. The design was considered ugly, and the car was priced far too too high. Ford lost $350 million on the Edsel, equivalent to almost $3 billion in 2017 dollars. It is no wonder that an Edsel became a symbol for commercial failure.
