AMERICAN MOTOR-CAR NOTES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18308, 16 February 1925, Page 14

AMERICAN MOTOR-CAR NOTES.

(By Walfer' P. Chrysler.)

Thp American automotive industry,, at the close, of 1924/^1 'find.itself;in : "better'physical shape than it has,w any time during ,;the• past five years. Production has been reduced,t6 a ponat in' accord with. consumptive,.demand. Inventories ' are small. • -Dealers aro not loaded. Retail sales compare favourably with wholesale deliveries. The used car situation which .has/ been a serious problem in,the. United. States aid still is, improves constantly. • Prices are now the main consideration.—There few. reduction's,»but they mean little because lit-is difficult to, understand, how ; a. price, reduction can, be .made these' days without a sacrifice,in,the quality •of the car.', dumber and steel .have 'advanced recently in; price and;, the price tendency of: these luiportant components'of the automobile is.still up-. ward. ~ " j J /•''" • {Despite . extraordinary production, retail sales during the first ten,months, of the year were considerably, in excess. of-- factory- sales.-. ■• v '■■'■'-''"■' 1 , -I "Passenger car/ production reached.its peak .in March. October, normally .a period, of decline -in production, • was almost equal to September:-and report-' ed -more passenger cars built than anjr month eicoptiiig and September. The Federal >\Re6enve : Bank of Chicago reports that the number of and value. ~of new oars on ,hand at the end of October,was less 'than t'.thoEe r bf' the, preceding month and of, the tive month of the preceding year. , A study oft the statistics? indicates I 4hat'the public is paying- considerably more *on : the average; for cars than «• 'year, ago." Gars, retail in.October were slightly less in number thanthose that-went into ultimate hands in September, but the value was 11.5 -per cent; higher.':. ■ •> . ' v. This may suggest a'reason why the total volume of business done by-the industry" this year wUl'be' very much better than is 'suggested.:by comparison with the total number of cars delivered with the records of previous yoars. : "While retail ; sales-''are. considerably below" those of a year'agb, exports jsontinue tp show increase., Exportsof trucks this fall approximately, double the record of a year ago. ~- It may be of interest to know that■the people of the United States, are confident that the next four years will be years of "sane prosperity "and good,, sound business.. There will be no ■ :boom but there will be good times. The United States is essentially an agricultural nation and it is encouraging to note that the prices of farm products have improved and that the farmers of the country are enjoying better times than they have for some time. When the fanners, are happy most of the country is prosperous too. It is getting increasingly common in the United States for various organisations to hold traffio conferences •and conventions which have as thoir purpose the working out of traffic relief and the formulation of city planning programmes. It is evident in America that tho future of the motor-car industry cannot be separated from city planning. This,-is the age of motor-cars and cities must be adapted to this accepted means of transpor-'i tfttion. ■ ■ ■ .

Hotv many countries have preserved the,first automobiles manufactured in those respective countries? In America there is a movement to have all of the first motor-cars and first aeroplanes and the first railroad trains housed in a national transportation museum .at "Washington.