Word: egbert
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...series of incredible production snafus. In the past five years, Studebaker has lost at least $40 million in automaking; this year, despite the introduction of pleasantly restyled 1964 models, sales for the first eleven months fell to 59,742 cars. Last month Studebaker's directors fired President Sherwood Egbert, who insisted on staying in auto production, to clear the way for getting out of the auto business; in his place they put Burlingame, 63, a financial man, with orders to stem the losses...
...this were not enough trouble, Studebaker is having management problems. The company announced that President Sherwood Harry Egbert, 43, was on indefinite medical leave of absence. (Egbert was released from a Boston hospital at week's end after minor surgery to remove scar tissue from a successful abdominal operation last year.) Chairman Randolph Guthrie insists that he expects Egbert back. But Egbert is headed for convalescence in Palm Springs, and will say only: "After that, we'll just have to wait...
...Whether Egbert's absence proves temporary or permanent, his reign at Studebaker has produced controversies as well as cars. Egbert balks at the slightest hint that Studebaker might eventually withdraw from automaking. His radically styled Avanti sports car, tooled up at a cost of about $25 million, is a failure. Though Egbert predicted that at least 10,000 a year would be sold, the nine-month total is only 2,083. "If the Avanti had made it," says a former Studebaker staffer, "Egbert would have been a genius...
...Under Egbert, Studebaker has diversified into more profitable areas, such as plastics, power tools and electric generators. Its nonautomotive interests now account for 50% of sales, and earnings from these lines keep the company afloat. Egbert's duties were taken over by Financial Vice President B. A. Burlingame, 63, who was promoted to executive vice president and, as his first act, radically curtailed Studebaker's auto production. He and Guthrie face the task of deciding whether to take Studebaker out of the auto business al together. If this model year turns out to be as bad as last...
...Egbert is rapidly diversifying Studebaker into nonauto lines, from chemicals to ice cream cabinets. Last year he spent $47 million on four acquisitions, including Trans International Airlines, whose one DC-8 and four Constellations haul passengers on charter. Egbert is also expanding into the international market with Studebaker's Franklin Manufacturing, which sells refrigerators and freezers to mail-order houses. Other subsidiaries include Clarke floor polishers, Gravely small tractors, Onan engines and generators. Together, the safer nonauto lines account for 50% of Studebaker sales and have kept the company afloat...