“Instead of investing in mechanics or inventory, early dealers constructed lavish marble palaces on expensive parcels of land. They clustered on highly visible downtown thoroughfares, often called ‘Automobile Row’. . . .
Early dealers could afford to be incompetent, because most early buyers were caught up in a fad, ‘a craze in which the psychology of the masses impelled individuals to make purchases not warranted by their needs or buying power.’ Early car buyers had ‘a longing for the possession of a rare thing that would separate the owner from the common herd’ and therefore were determined not be excluded from the select few who owned vehicles. Because the supply of vehicles was less than the demand, buyers waged ‘a vigorous competition, almost a panicky struggle . . . to secure the coveted prizes.'”
— James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars (2001)
RE:SOURCES
- Rubenstein, James M.; 2001. Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automobile Industry. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London: p. 253-54.
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