LaSalle (automobile) - 1941

1941

By the time the decision was made to drop the LaSalle at least three wood and metal mockups had been made for potential 1941 LaSalle models. One was based on the notchback GM C platform which ended up being shared by the Cadillac Series 62, Buick Roadmaster and Super, the Oldsmobile 90 and the Pontiac Custom Torpedo. A second was based on the fastback GM B platform which ended up being shared by the Cadillac Series 61, the Buick Century and Special, the Oldsmobile 70 and the Pontiac Streamliner Torpedo. A third was a modified notchback design, derived from the fastback B-body, but described as "A-body-like"", that ended up being used by the Cadillac Series 63. Any or all of these could have ended up being part of the next LaSalle line. However, it has been inferred that of the three, the third design was most likely to have been a LaSalle, with that platform being assigned exclusively to LaSalle, and that the second design, whose platform was shared with the Series 61, was the next most likely. Sales of the Series 61 and 63 were 29,258 and 5,030 in 1941.

LaSalle sales had consistently exceeded Cadillac's since 1933, so the question begs, why did GM decide to drop LaSalle? Evidently the lesson of the Packard One-Twenty had been weighing on the minds of the executives at GM. Since its introduction in 1935 the medium priced Packard One-Twenty had consistently outsold the LaSalle, with sales volume exceeding Cadillac's counterpart by an average of 72 percent over the six year period 1935-40 inclusively. Since LaSalle had been a Cadillac in all but name for most of its lifespan, it was decided it was time to bestow upon it the prestigious title of Cadillac.

Interestingly, in Packard circles, the fact that the marque's lower priced cars were designated Packards is thought by many to have ultimately resulted in the ruination of the company. In LaSalle's case that it wasn't a Cadillac was probably the ruinous factor. People do buy prestige and a Cadillac was prestige. LaSalle did not have the time to develop a prestigious name before the onset of the Great Depression, and did not have the opportunity after.