Life — March 30, 1916 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is **not a cartoon or satire** — it's a straightforward advertisement for the Locomobile Company of America. The ornate decorative border frames their company policy statement, which emphasizes luxury positioning rather than mass production. The key points reveal Locomobile's market strategy in the early automotive era: they deliberately limit production ("Four Cars a Day"), focus on quality over quantity, use premium materials, maintain six-cylinder engines and four-speed transmissions, and price accordingly. The statement that higher prices reflect higher quality — "the cost is higher" — explicitly rejects competing in the budget market. This reflects the pre-Model T luxury car segment, before Ford's mass-production revolution fundamentally altered the industry.