Semon Knudsen

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Semon Emil "Bunkie" Knudsen (born October 2, 1912 in Buffalo , New York , † July 6, 1998 in Bloomfield Hills , Michigan ) was an American engineer and manager in the automotive industry. He is regarded as the savior of the brand Pontiac and also has up to the present by the eponymous Knudsen nose in the vintage area a high profile. In Germany, a generation of the Ford Taunus is named after him as "Knudsen-Taunus".

Personal

Semon Knudsen had Danish ancestors. His father, William "Big Bill" Knudsen , who was born in Copenhagen , immigrated to the USA in 1900, where he became a successful manager in the automotive industry at Ford and General Motors . William Knudsen was President of General Motors from 1937 to 1940. Semon Knudsen was “Big Bill's” only son. Both were very close. His father gave him the nickname "Bunkie", which was an abbreviation of bunk-mate ("close friend"). In later years, however, the nickname was used derogatory in the sense of nonsense ("nonsense").

Semon Knudsen grew up in Detroit . After attending several private schools and a local college, he completed a technical education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by 1936 . Even as a child he was enthusiastic about automobiles. According to a popular legend, at the age of 14 he asked his father for a car. The father gave the son all the individual parts for a brand new Chevrolet from model year 1927 and gave him the task of assembling the car, which the boy supposedly succeeded in doing.

Knudsen was married for 58 years. He and his wife had three daughters and one son.

Professional development

General Motors

In 1939, Knudsen was hired by General Motors. Here he initially worked for the corporate brands Pontiac and Detroit Diesel and performed higher-level tasks at corporate headquarters. Over the next 15 years, according to one source, he worked in a total of 106 different GM organizations. In 1956, Knudsen was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of the Pontiac brand, which at that time was suffering from considerable sales difficulties. In the early years he brought a number of young managers such as Elliot "Pete" Estes and John DeLorean to Pontiac. Under Knudsen's direction, the brand developed a decidedly sporty image, which was underlined by involvement in the NASCAR series. One of his decisions was the introduction of the Pontiac Grand Prix as a counterpart to the Ford Thunderbird . In a short time, the brand was able to stabilize and expand its market position. Knudsen, whose decisions contributed to this development, was widely regarded as the savior of Pontiac. In November 1961, Knudsen was appointed general manager of GM's Chevrolet brand . As with Pontiac, Knudsen pushed the development of sporty models here too. In 1965 Knudsen became Vice President of General Motors and was given responsibility for Canada and overseas, among other things. As a further step in his career, he expected the appointment as President of General Motors. At the end of 1967, however, this post went to Knudsen's competitor Ed Cole . Knudsen then left General Motors after almost 30 years with the company.

ford

In February 1968, Knudsen moved to GM's competitor Ford, where he replaced Arjay Miller as president. This step triggered "a shock in the automotive world" because the change from a high-ranking manager to a competitor was extremely unusual in the circumstances. At Ford, Knudsen was in internal competition with Lee Iacocca , who in turn had ambitions for the position that Henry Ford II gave Knudsen in February 1968. Knudsen did not bring any of his previous GM employees with him. That made his position at Ford difficult because he was largely isolated; on the other hand, critics blamed him as a failure that he had not succeeded in poaching other top managers from GM. Knudsen's work at Ford ended in September 1969 after only 19 months. He was fired by Henry Ford II.

White

In 1971 Knudsen became President of the White Motor Company in Cleveland , Ohio . He held this position until he retired in 1980. Under Knudsen's leadership, the initially ailing truck manufacturer developed into a profitable company that was taken over by Volvo a year after Knudsen left .

The Knudsen nose

"Knudsen-Taunus" with a Knudsen nose

Although Knudsen was not a trained designer, he repeatedly influenced the design of passenger cars. On his initiative, among other things, the division of the radiator grille by means of a vertical strut went back, which had been a characteristic feature of all Pontiacs since the late 1950s. Knudsen noses were mainly found in US cars and especially in Ford models from 1969 to 1975. The best-known car made in Germany with a Knudsen nose is the Ford Taunus TC presented in 1970, the front design of which was directly influenced by Semon Knudsens goes back. Even contemporary German-language literature used the term Knudsen's nose in connection with this vehicle. Today the term is so established that the Taunus TC is commonly referred to as Knudsen-Taunus.

literature

  • Semon Emil Knudsen . Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography: The Automobile Industry, 1920-1980. Pp. 260-264.
  • Knudsen, Semon E (mil) . Current Biography, 1974: pp. 204-206.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d John Holusha: Semon Knudsen, 85, Dies; What Prominent Auto Executive. www.nytimes.com, July 9, 1998, accessed November 22, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b biography of Semon E. Knudsen , www.gmheritagecenter.com, accessed on November 22, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c d K.C. Caine: Bunkie Knudsen's big gamble never paid off . Automotive News from June 16, 2003.
  4. ^ A b c d Daniel Strohl: Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen . Hemmings Magazine, July 2007.
  5. ^ Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . Beekman House, New York 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 , p. 589.
  6. ^ A b Christian Steiger: Rheingold . Model history of the Knudsen-Taunus in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 6/1995, p. 11 ff.
  7. ↑ Henry Ford II. The last of an era. In: Handelsblatt . No. 188 , October 1, 1987, pp. 14 .
  8. ↑ Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930–1980 . Beekman House, New York 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 , p. 593.
  9. ↑ a b Dirk Ramackers: Vanishing Point Cologne-Kalk. Purchase advice Ford Knudsen-Taunus . In: Oldtimer Markt, issue 6/2007, p. 40 ff.
  10. ↑ Automobiles / New Ford Models: Knudsen's Nose. In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 1970, pp. 59-60 ( online ).
  11. ^ Christian Steiger: Rheingold . Model history of the Knudsen-Taunus. In: Oldtimer Markt, issue 6/1995, p. 8 ff.
  12. ^ Description of the Knudsen-Taunus on the website www.autobild.de (accessed on November 2, 2016).
personal data
SURNAME Knudsen, Semon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knudsen, Semon Emil (full name); Knudsen, Bunkie (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION american engineer
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Buffalo , New York
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1998
Place of death Bloomfield Hills , Michigan