Did Studebaker invent the “ute?”
Studebaker is one of those old automotive and trucking companies that everyone’s heard of, but few people know much about. But at one time, the company was as big an independent automaker as it was possible to find: selling cars and trucks around the globe.
Studebaker traces its roots back to three brothers who emigrated from Germany in the mid 1700s. A couple of generations later found the family firmly entrenched in South Bend, Indiana as noted coach builders. The company was so well known for its quality products that President Benjamin Harrison ordered a full set of Studebaker coaches and harnesses for the White House when he began his presidency in 1889,
Business was good until 1900, when company executives realized the advent of the motor car was poised to destroy their livelihood. Straight away, the company began building electric cars and, not long after, established a line of gasoline-powered automobiles. The company’s engineering philosophy was to “design for life,” resulting in cars and trucks noted for their exceptionally durable performance.
The Depression proved to a mixed bag for Studebaker. The company was booming when the stock market crashed in 1929. Naturally sales soon tanked as well and a top executive committed suicide when its stock price collapsed. But by 1933, the company was operating in the black and had even taken advantage of the hard times to purchase the White Motor Company, which at the time was producing 1 out of every 10 trucks sold in the United States.
Studebaker was an innovative company, as this ad from 1937 shows: The “Coupe Express” concept was indeed sound, as Ford and Chevy would prove with the Ranchero and El Camino twenty years on – car/truck hybrids that remain popular in Australia – where they are commonly referred to as “utes.”
By the early ‘50s, Studebaker, like so many independent automakers, was in trouble. Conservative leadership in a time of frenzied technological and styling development had led to a stagnant lineup of cars and trucks. Worse, GM in Ford, once again locked in their perpetual fight to the death, had slashed prices so low that no independent car maker could match them.
In desperation, Studebaker joined forces with Packard, Hudson and Nash, hoping to create a “Big Fourth” automaker to rival Chrysler, Ford and GM. Despite a revitalization that led to advanced designs such as the Lark and Avanti, the Studebaker-Packard Corporation simply couldn’t match the deep pockets of the Big Three. Studebaker limped along until 1963 before closing its doors forever.
