I was working on my design for a universal single model but I had
not settled the designs nor had we the money to build and equip the
proper kind of plant for manufacturing. I had not the money to discover
the very best and lightest materials. We still had to accept the
materials that the market offered--we got the best to be had but we had
no facilities for the scientific investigation of materials or for
original research.
My associates were not convinced that it was possible to restrict our
cars to a single model. The automobile trade was following the old
bicycle trade, in which every manufacturer thought it necessary to bring
out a new model each year and to make it so unlike all previous models
that those who had bought the former models would want to get rid of the
old and buy the new. That was supposed to be good business. It is the
same idea that women submit to in their clothing and hats. That is not
service--it seeks only to provide something new, not something better.
It is extraordinary how firmly rooted is the notion that
business--continuous selling--depends not on satisfying the customer
once and for all, but on first getting his money for one article and
then persuading him he ought to buy a new and different one.
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