BRITISH MOTOR-CAR INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19388, 14 August 1928, Page 10

BRITISH MOTOR-CAR INDUSTRY.

In tho latest report, prepared by -the Balfour Committee on Industry, and Trade, published - tnder tho title of "Survey of Metal Industries," the Committee discusses the. develppment, magnitude, and output of. the British motor-car industry since the war, and it is. pointed out that three-quarters of the output of the • industry is made by quiet a small number of concerns. A few of the largest firms in the industry have each on authorised capital of £5,000,000. According to the evidence of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the larger British concerns are efficiently organised, and British manufacturers are looking to American methods much more closely, and are buying American labour-saving machines, but the witness who gave evidence to the committee expressed doubts-a»;to the-de-sirability of the British manufacturer embarking on a system of mass production inch tis has been adopted 'in the - TTnited • B**>tes for automobile manufacture. ' He recognised" that price reduction might be achieved by such methods, but expressed misgiving as to the- possibility of exercising . sufficient control over the quality of the product ifthe output of .a single factory reached, a_ very hirh fieure. He stated, however, that the, motor trade is anxious to prosecute a[ of standardisation -so long as individuality of design is not endangered, ability of reducing as much as possible the nunreer of parts required to be kept in stock hy agents is recognised* .