What Happened to Hotpoint Appliances? Why the Old Hotpoint Disappeared Inside GE

Hotpoint was once a fiercely independent appliance maker with its own plants, engineers and dealers, even though GE owned every share. This is the story of how GE absorbed its second brand, piece by piece, until only the cheaper label was left. The name began in 1905 with an electric iron from Ontario, California, whose heat sat at the tip. It grew into the electric ranges, washers and refrigerators of the postwar kitchen, sponsored Ozzie and Harriet, and climbed to third place in its industry. Then GE merged the divisions, the service trucks, the dealers and the factories, and a separate brand had nothing left to offer but price. You will learn: • How an iron with a hot point gave the brand its name • How Hotpoint rose from ninth place to third in five years • Why GE folded Hotpoint into its own appliance division in 1965 • Why the 2016 sale to Haier was not what demoted the name • How the British Hotpoint went a completely separate way If there was a Hotpoint range in your kitchen, you may remember lifting the coil burner out of its socket and lining the drip pans with foil. Share what you remember in the comments. Subscribe for more quiet, careful histories of the appliances we grew up with. #Hotpoint #HotpointAppliances #GEAppliances #GeneralElectric #VintageAppliances #ElectricRange #KitchenHistory #ApplianceHistory #OzzieAndHarriet #Haier