Accounting for inflation, the all-new hybrid Ford Maverick will be priced lower than the Ford Model T, but the price of that iconic vehicle saw drastic reductions over the course of its lengthy run. Ford produced the Model T from 1908 until 1927, selling more than 15 million models while bringing the latest technology at an affordable price to consumers everywhere.

“The Universal Car” started at $850, but lower-priced models began appearing in advertisements as early as 1912, with one listed as low as $590. By the 1920s, the starting price was $265, bringing personal mobility into reach for many Americans of regular means. As the price went down, the sales went up.

While the addition of the moving assembly line at the Highland Park Plant was a significant factor in the cost reduction of the Model T, additional efficiencies came in the use of interchangeable parts and other innovations. The success of the Model T could be traced to Henry Ford’s belief in producing a low-cost, reliable product for the masses, a commitment reflected in many statements he made over time:

“I will build a motor car for the great multitude...constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise...so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

Henry Ford stressed the importance of a mutual benefit for both the company and its customers, which he hoped would convince other companies to recognize. “Our principle is to make our work as profitable for the buyer as for the seller,” he said. “Unless there is a gain all ’round, the process is unsound. We keep our prices within the people’s power to buy, and we can exert our influence to have others do the same.”

Ford Motor Company took the opposite approach of many other early automakers that charged excessive prices for repairs. “We believed that when a man bought one of our cars we should keep it running for him as long as we could and at the lowest upkeep cost,” said Henry Ford. “That was the origin of Ford Service.”

He even went so far as to offer what is believed to be the industry’s first rebate – $50 for more than 300,000 Model T buyers in a one-year period between 1914 and 1915, at a cost of $15.4 million to the company.

Eventually, Ford retired the Model T, and though its successor, the Model A, did cost more to manufacture, the company remains committed to keeping down the initial cost and the overall cost of ownership of its vehicles.