Question Why did Frigidaire ( GM) never release a washer dryer combo in the 60s?

This is conjecture, but I have an idea that Frigidaire's lack of a combo was based in marketing needs.

Remember that Frigidaire was out there with a wash action like no other on the market - one that required explanation to the consumer. The famous teddy-bear ad, showing the toy being wafted up and down in the wash, was just one of the tools GM used to put the concept over.

But a combo is - by necessity - a horizontal-axis machine. If I'm guessing right, someone at Frigidaire didn't want a second unusual wash action paired with Jet-Action. I think the fear would have been, "We don't need a reputation for making all kinds of strange machines."

GM was always careful to make Frigidaire a styling leader; I think that effort was very important to putting Jet-Action over. If the console was gorgeous enough, maybe Milady wouldn't think too hard about that unusual agitator that went up-and-down instead of side-to-side. I would go so far as to say that if any other manufacturer besides GM (or GE) had tried to put Jet-Action over, they would have gone belly-up; it took the reputation and marketing savvy of a really trusted company to pull it off.

But if Frigidaire had done combos, Milady might have thought, "They have that thing that goes up-and-down on some machines, and others don't have anything at all - they just go 'round and 'round. Nobody I know has anything like that. Maybe I should look at some other brands, too."

You may agree or not, but I think combos just complicated the sales message, and that was something GM was very, very good at avoiding at that time.


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Post# 649512 12/28/2012 at 11:06 (4,133 days old) by verizonbear (Glen Burnie )
Checkrate/Likes I was just curious, but all the major appliance makers had combos in their line up except Frigidaire ( GM) , any ideas why ?

Post# 649539 , Reply# 1 12/28/2012 at 13:29 (4,133 days old) by e2l-arry (LAKEWOOD COLORADO)
Checkrate/Likes *They may have been the only smart ones* As the washer/dryer combo's never really took off in the U.S. I guess it was the time issue. Back in the 60's with bigger families, washing one load and drying another at the same time was just a faster way to get the wash done.

Post# 649542 , Reply# 2 12/28/2012 at 13:44 (4,133 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN)
Checkrate/Likes That is an interesting question to pose. I suspect that either Tom or John out in the DC area could give us a rather definitive answer. I know for a fact that John is on the road right now and may well only have spotty internet access. It does seem rather curious that with the design power and engineering power that GM put behind Frigidaire laundry products in the 1950s and 60s that it would certainly have been possible for them to have produced such a machine. Even one of the more CONSERVATIVE companies (Maytag) took a stab at it! GM/Frigidiare redesigned their automatic washer drivetrain no less than 4 times between 1947 and 1970 (Unimatic, Pulsmatic, Multimatic, Rollermatic & 1-18 modified Rollermatic) and from 1955 to the late 1960s nearly redesigned the console every year too! That certainly speaks to willingness to innovate and retool production regularly, much like the automobile model of the time. So, I guess what I'm saying is that there is no technical or engineering reason for it not to have happened. It must have been driven by other forces such as perceived demand or marketing.

Post# 649661 , Reply# 3 12/28/2012 at 21:05 (4,133 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)
Checkrate/Likes *Marketing, I Think.....* This is conjecture, but I have an idea that Frigidaire's lack of a combo was based in marketing needs. Remember that Frigidaire was out there with a wash action like no other on the market - one that required explanation to the consumer. The famous teddy-bear ad, showing the toy being wafted up and down in the wash, was just one of the tools GM used to put the concept over. But a combo is - by necessity - a horizontal-axis machine. If I'm guessing right, someone at Frigidaire didn't want a second unusual wash action paired with Jet-Action. I think the fear would have been, "We don't need a reputation for making all kinds of strange machines." GM was always careful to make Frigidaire a styling leader; I think that effort was very important to putting Jet-Action over. If the console was gorgeous enough, maybe Milady wouldn't think too hard about that unusual agitator that went up-and-down instead of side-to-side. I would go so far as to say that if any other manufacturer besides GM (or GE) had tried to put Jet-Action over, they would have gone belly-up; it took the reputation and marketing savvy of a really trusted company to pull it off. But if Frigidaire had done combos, Milady might have thought, "They have that thing that goes up-and-down on some machines, and others don't have anything at all - they just go 'round and 'round. Nobody I know has anything like that. Maybe I should look at some other brands, too." You may agree or not, but I think combos just complicated the sales message, and that was something GM was very, very good at avoiding at that time.

Post# 649664 , Reply# 4 12/28/2012 at 21:17 (4,133 days old) by lebron (Minnesota)
Checkrate/Likes I seem to remember some patents for a "unimatic combo" . I hope someone with more knowledge chimes in on this. Maybe I am just remembering wrong