DALLAS--Augusr 5, 2012: It was a hot Texas summer in 1969, when the pink Cadillac was born weighing 4,650 pounds, measuring 225 inches with a roaring engine and 375 horsepower. Today more than 19,000 pink Cadillacs have been in the hands of Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants. Currently, there are more than 1,200 Mary Kay pink Cadillacs on the road nationwide.
Mary Kay Ash didn't know it then, but when she requested pink as the color of her new Cadillac, she started something big. She had unknowingly created the model Career Car program for her dream company. In 1969, the top five Independent Sales Directors earned the use of a 1970 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
The pink Cadillac is the most coveted incentive awarded by Mary Kay. The modern day Cadillac comes in pearlized pink -- a color unique to the Mary Kay Career Car program. Qualified Mary Kay Independent Sales Directors who earn the use of a pink Cadillac can choose from the CTS, or SRX models. Other cars offered within the Career Car program are the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid, Chevy Malibu, Toyota Camry, Chevy Equinox and the newest addition, the Ford Mustang.
The pink Cadillac's baby sister, the Mary Kay black Ford Mustang, is part of the celebration also as it turns one year-old, and it is available to qualifying Independent Sales Directors for another year. There are 186 Mary Kay Ford Mustangs on the road. Mary Kay announced at its annual Seminar in Dallas this year that it was extending its black Ford Mustang program for an additional year -- through September 2013.
Fun facts about the Mary Kay Career Car program:
- In 1969 the retail price of a pink Cadillac was approx. $5,900. Today it's approx. $41,295
- Mary Kay Career Cars have logged an estimated 3.7 billion miles throughout the U.S. in the last 43 years
- Mary Kay Career Cars have (figuratively) circled the Globe 148,585 times
- Since 1969 nearly 140,000 Mary Kay independent sales force members have qualified or re-qualified for the use of a Mary Kay career car
- Today nearly 5,600 Mary Kay Career Cars are on the road, representing a retail market value of approx. $159 million