<VV> Slow Death of the Corvair

[Dave Keillor]

I would guess the real reason the Corvair lived so long after it
actually died as a combination of the bean counters and the lawyers.
The tooling for the newly designed late model had to have cost a fair
amount of coin.  As capital equipment, it would have been depreciated
over several years (someone earlier said five).  

If the plug had been pulled before it was fully depreciated, Chevrolet
would have a taken a charge for the remaining un-depreciated amount.
This could have been significant in 1967.  In a bottom-line oriented
company, the decision may well have been made to continue projection
even though money was lost on each unit.  Especially if the total
projected losses were less than the depreciation write-off.  If that was
the case (losing money on each unit), one way to limit your losses
without impacting your new Camaro would be to limit Corvair production.

Enter Ralphie and the Corvair lawsuits.  At that point, the lawyers may
have stepped in and advised management to keep the production going a
little longer to avoid giving any kind of quarter to the plaintiffs.

I worked for a number of years for a major corporation (IBM) and saw
examples of the above.

Dave Keillor