Last decade of Maytag washer production question...

[mtn1584]

Why did Maytag offer so many different sytles / types of top -load washers in their last ten years of their production in Iowa? The performa, the Amana machines, etc. Why didn't they just stick to their tried and true "Dependable Care" top loaders which were their bread and butter for so many years? Any thoughts....................Plastic tubs, Stainless Steel tubs, Porcelain tubs, I don't get it.
Mike

 

[maytagmike]

Maytag production

Hi I work in the appliance business, when Maytag came out with the performa we asked the same question, the answer from our rep at the time is that Maytag felt they were missing the lower price point, with their machines running between 5 and 6 hundred dollars they wanted to manf a machine with a 399 to 499 price point, which I feel was the beginning of their downfall.

 

[yogitunes]

It's always about the ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR......at that point the dependable quality history has known from Maytag was shot to hell........

just history repeating itself......and you can't tell these bigwigs that they don't know what their doing......after all, look how sucessful GM Frigidaire was by selling off to WCI.....

 

[supersuds]

There was actually an article, I think in the Wall Street Journal, about this. Yes, it was price. The reporter visited an appliance store in Newton, Iowa, and the owner stated that most local people balked at paying the price of a Neptune or Dependable Care and walked straight to the lower-cost models.

I know the Maytag prices were a dealbreaker for some people in my orbit. It just wasn't obvious what you were getting for the extra bucks over a DD Whirlpool.

 

[alr2903]

mtn1584,  It was a horrible end for Maytag. The Top  management style had changed, they acquired Magic Chef to get ranges and refrigerators, to make a full line of "appliances ".  Management had also branched out to Dixie Narco refrigerated vending machines,  iirc a line of restaurant ranges,  and lets not forget their Hoover floor care acquisition also Jenn Aire.  Some believe the dependable care line really took a "hit"  when they changed from the center timer design.  The later dependable care machines still had the old style agitator in the "large capacity tub", with the addition of  four little vanes at the top of the agitator.  I think they used it until the patent expired on the Whirlpool/Kenmore dual action agitator. Then Maytag introduced the "Load Sensor" agitator a Maytag version of the Dual Action.  Then there was the awful mess with that neptune front load system, ending in lawsuits. In the end "Maycor" was stretched  financially.  New customers balked at the prices of the DC units and older established customers that were loyal to Maytag no longer recognized the product, many had purchased center timer Maytags for decades. I have an aunt in her 90's and she was shocked and disappointed when she saw her first plastic tub Maytag ( that strange morph of Norge, Maytag and Amana), her last center timer tag had lasted so long she had completely missed the right hand timer DC machines with the black or brown control panels. I have a center timer std cap. Maytag and a newer DC  with the load sensor, i think they are wonderful machines. I am sure there is more to the story but these are things I remember.  alr2903