Therefore in 1909 I
announced one morning, without any previous warning,
that in the future we were
going to build only one model, that the model
was going to be "Model T," and
that the chassis would be exactly the
same for all cars, and I
remarked:
"Any customer can have a car
painted any colour that he wants so long as
it is black."
I cannot say that any one
agreed with me. The selling people could not
of course see the advantages
that a single model would bring about in
production. More than that,
they did not particularly care. They thought
that our production was good
enough as it was and there was a very
decided opinion that lowering
the sales price would hurt sales, that the
people who wanted quality
would be driven away and that there would be
none to replace them. There
was very little conception of the motor
industry. A motor car was
still regarded as something in the way of a
luxury. The manufacturers did
a good deal to spread this idea. Some
clever persons invented the
name "pleasure car" and the advertising
emphasized the pleasure
features. The sales people had ground for their
objections and particularly
when I made the following announcement:
"I will build a motor car for
the great multitude. It will be large
enough for the family but
small enough for the individual to run and
care for. It will be
constructed of the best materials, by the best men
to be hired, after the
simplest designs that modern engineering can
devise. But it will be so low
in price that no man making a good salary
will be unable to own one--and
enjoy with his family the blessing of
hours of pleasure in God's
great open spaces."
This announcement was received
not without pleasure. The general comment
was:
"If Ford does that he will be
out of business in six months."