The Downward Spiral Of DeSoto: Where It All Went Bad

There have been plenty of brand casualties in over a century of automobile production. Some cars caught the public's eye and shined, only to vanish into obscurity, quickly becoming collector's items of the past. DeSoto was a brand that lasted 31 years and saw some of its highest popularity in the late 1950s, only to be retired forever shortly thereafter in 1960. With impressive models like the Fireflite and Adventurer Convertible, how did everything come to a crashing halt, leaving DeSoto nothing but a distant memory?

The brains behind the creation of DeSoto was Walter Chrysler, and he planned to conquer the mid-tier car market. Aptly named after a famous Spanish conquistador, the automobile brand was poised to impact the industry in its inaugural production year of 1929. According to Salt River Stories, the first DeSoto cars were $845, and would claim a sales record for a new model with numbers over 80,000cars sold. This record would go on to stand for 31 years.

Unfortunately, despite its early success and soaring demand in 1957 with the impressive Adventurer — a member of the Mopar family — several factors worked against DeSoto, ultimately defeating it just as it seemed the brand was on top. Despite owning DeSoto, Chrysler steered customers toward other options that offered more features for less money. As if internal competition wasn't enough, trouble in the factory caused apprehension toward the brand.

One key to DeSoto's success was that it sat nicely in the middle budget between Plymouth and Chrysler luxury cars, offering essentially the best of both worlds. Customers could get the eye-catching futuristic look complete, with fins and some luxury features with DeSoto, but not be expected to pay a premium for it. In addition, DeSoto offered some of the first popular hemi engines that set a trend going forward. But something curious happened in the 50s just when DeSoto was really gaining some steam with the public.

Chrysler models like the Windsor and Newport became direct competitors to the DeSoto, making its place in the pricing tier less appealing. The 1959 Windsor looks remarkably similar to the DeSoto Adventurer with its forward design and rear fins. Not only does it capture the look, but the Windsor also offered more luxury than DeSoto, but was less expensive. Advertisements of the time would state phrases like, "New Chrysler Windsor Convertible — Chrysler quality at an economy price."

Chrysler also lowered the price of its Newport, which offered many similar options to DeSoto's lineup and now at a mid-tier price as well. While experiencing a high point in its run in 1957 with 178,594 sales, DeSoto slumped to only 46,000 cars sold in 1959.

Positive word of mouth and customer satisfaction are vital to the ongoing success of any business, and DeSoto learned this lesson the hard way. Quality control became an issue as customers began reporting leaks, broken suspension components, rapid rust, upholstery tears, and peeling paint. It was such a disaster that Chrysler management halted production for a whole week to iron out all the problems. It's not clear exactly how much this factory pause cost the automaker, but it served as a foreshadowing of DeSoto's downfall.

With increasingly more competition, even from within Chrysler, and defects coming out of production, customers were beginning to sour on the brand. In 1959, DeSoto only moved 46,000 units, likely due in part to customer brand apprehension following all the reported trouble. By 1960, and selling of the remaining stock in 1961, the automaker had shuttered permanently and was absorbed by Chrysler. Unfortunately, nowadays, the eye-catching DeSoto Adventurer is one of the super rare Mopars you might never see in person, which is a shame.