Diversify. Diversify. Frigidiare

Frigidaire on Main StreetA quick thought. What happened to diversified car companies. The nation misses diversified products, though they are sold by foreign companies, particularly Asian companies, all at the same time.

The companies were more interesting when:

  • Ford made Fordson (and Ford) Tractors, Tri-Motors and Philco Televisions. Kingsford charcoal was an interesting spin-off, however, and that was the right thing.
  • General Motors made Electro-Motive engines and Frigidaire appliances.
  • Chrysler made Chrysler sailboats (long live the Buccaneer) and Chrysler Marine engines. Chrysler also sold engines for Eero Saarinen’s Mobile Lounges at Dulles, and over the years has made such things as tanks.

These companies were so much more interesting and adaptable when they were in different lines of business. All companies are more interesting when they are diverse. All companies are more adaptable when they are diverse.

While it is awful to see a conglomerate with unrelated parts (that is what is pitiful about some of the GE ventures of the 1980s and 1990s), it is good to see industrial companies make things that relate, sort of, to what they do mostly. It keeps them flexible. So when a downturn comes, they don’t get stuck.

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

3 Comments

  1. You’d be surprised the legacy brands that Electrolux owns:

    Kelvinator
    White-Westinghouse
    Gibson

    And those are for starters…..buy enough of them, and Electrolux will put any name you want on them….

    A lot of Kenmore home appliances these days are also Electrolux built…..Sears buys them with no manufacturer’s warranty on them and gets them cheap- Sears guarantees them themselves through their in-house service centers.

  2. Stephanie…Excellent idea on Kelvinator. There were lots of good products with the Kelvinator brand back in the day…I will try to post something and will put it on my list. Thanks for checking into the website!

  3. I’m a new comer here

    About Frigidaire, it’s sort of irony is Electrolux, the company who currently own Frigidaire, also own the rights of the former rival of Frigidaire, Kelvinator.

    Do you plan a topic about Kelvinator as well?

    Keep up your good work 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *