What does "edsel" mean?

Any unwanted product or commercial failure, especially one given much publicity.

Edsel

Common synonyms include: advertising example, automobile, car model, case study, cultural reference, model.

name, noun, slang

name, noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
Any unwanted product or commercial failure, especially one given much publicity. US, informal
"Tom Paris: Harry… I think we built an Edsel. Harry Kim: A what? Tom Paris: A lemon. A disaster waiting to happen."

Proper Noun

1
A male given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Etzel.
2
An automobile marque that was planned, manufactured, and launched with great advertising hype by the Ford Motor Company in September 1957, but was a notorious failure. historical

"Tom Paris: Harry… I think we built an Edsel. Harry Kim: A what? Tom Paris: A lemon. A disaster waiting to happen."

The automobile marque is named after Edsel Ford (1893–1943), son of Henry Ford. Compare German Etzel.