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Edsel was a division of the Ford Motor Company, a 'silo' brand like Cadillac, Lincoln and Oldsmobile, enabling Ford to cover multiple price points. Executives had intended for the Edsel brand to fill the intermediate price point after deciding to move the Lincoln brand upmarket.

Edsel was launched in 1957, but lasted only until late 1959. Whether it was the styling of the cars, the workmanship or a lack of support by the company that killed the brand is debatable, but the name Edsel has come to be used as a synonym for failure.

The Ford Motor Company produced the Edsel between the years of 1958-1960. The Edsel was never popular with car buyers in America and sold very poorly as a result. The millions spent on development, manufacture and marketing were never recouped by the Ford Motor Company. Since that time the Edsel has become a synonym for failure. The Ford Motor Company was publicly traded by the early 1950s. The company was now no longer owned entirely by the Ford family and decided to change direction. The company wanted to produce cars that were more in line with current trends in the market. It was a seller's market during the post-war years and Ford wanted to capitalize on that. The managers of the company took stock of the situation and decided that the Ford Lincoln was competing with the Oldsmobile made by General Motors. Ford had great success with the Ford Thunderbird and had a surplus of capital to spend. The plan was to build a model that would compete directly with the Oldsmobile.

They set to work and developed a model initially known as the E car. This name was then changed to Edsel in honor of Edsel B. Ford, the son of Henry Ford. There was considerable publicity when the car was introduced on September 4 of 1957. The company promoted the car on a television special that did very well in the ratings. This show was known as The Edsel Show. Despite this, the public did not warm up to the car's styling and build. Ford had for months been spreading rumors that led the public to expect a radically different car. When the car was unveiled people were disappointed because it shared similar bodywork and engineering with the other models Ford already had in its lineup. The Edsel was supposed to be sold through a newly formed Edsel Division with its own dealer network and retail organization.

In 1958 there were four Edsel models produced. The models were the Citation, Corsair, Pacer and Ranger. These models were offered in various sizes and makes. The Edsel had several advanced safety features such as seat belts and childproof doors in the rear of the car that needed a key to be opened.

The Edsel never had a manufacturing plant that was dedicated to only producing this model and it was made in the Ford and Mercury plants under contract. During the first year of production there were 63,110 cars sold in America and 4,935 in Canada. This did not meet expectations but was still considered a large launch. In 1959 there were only two models produced, the Ranger and the Corsair. That year saw a decline in sales to 44,891 in America and 2,505 in Canada. By 1960 only 2,846 models were produced and production was stopped completely after this.

The Edsel sold only 84,000 units and this was about half of what Ford needed to recoup its initial expenditure. In total, Ford lost $350 million, which is about $2.45 billion at today's value.