The Evening Star MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1926. THE BRITISH CAR.

Evening Star, Issue 19436, 20 December 1926, Page 6

The Evening Star MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1926. THE BRITISH CAR.

During the first ten months of 1926 New Zealand imported 18,693 motor vehicles (excluding motor cycles), valued at £3,041,809. Though the number of cars landed was greater by 849 than the ten months’ importations in 1925, the money paid for them was less by £307,795, which indicates the downward trend of prices instituted by manufacturers. The motor tyres imported during the first ten months of this year were valued at £825,014, the motor spirit at £2,001,580, and the lubricating oil at £251,902. A very large proportion of the payment for there articles goes to the United States. Our disbursements to that country for the first ten months of this year totalled almost precisely eight and a-half millions sterling. A very few years ago New Zealand, along with Australia, was regarded, from the

standpoint of the motor manufacturer, as being little short of an American monopoly. The figures we have quoted do not indicate that the monopoly has been seriously broken into. But there are signs that it is being disturbed. Recently one of tho best informed authorities on British trade in Australia stated that “ the legend that the British car is unsuitable to the Australian market, which was probably largely the outcome of hostile propaganda, is definitely exploded.” That position may not have definitely been reached in' New Zealand also, but it seems now to be within measurable distance.

There appears now, from a perusal of British periodicals, to be a very active branch of the propaganda in behalf of trade within the Empire devoted to the interests of British car manufacturers with respect to the Australian and New Zealand markets. In this it is claimed that the reason why Australia and Now Zealand have virtually been monopolies for the American manufacturer is that British industry was prohibited by law from exporting during the war, and by circumstances from exporting during the years immediately following it. Meanwhile the whole distributing and retailing organisation naturally became closely I associated with those foreign manufacturers who were able to continue supplying the market. That is quite true, but it is not the whole truth. America captured this market long

before tho war, chiefly because of the greater suitability of her product for the road conditions existing hero. And since tho war British manufacturers have been repeatedly told that in order to capture a larger share of our business they must produce what we want. Latterly they have been inclined to listen. For example, many British makers are now turning out cars that have as much clearance from the ground as tho American type, the alleged deficiency of British makes in this respect having been one of tho principal arguments adduced for the preference shown for American cars. It is, in fact, now claimed that tho constructional requirements of the majority of motor car users in Australia and New Zealand are fully met in the latest British designs. Tho most convincing claim on behalf of the British designer is that he builds a high efficiency machine that gives a relatively high output of mechanical work over a lengthy iperiod for a given amount of energy. The engine is meant to run at a high speed, and this is a point not always understood by colonial users who aro not familiar with the British horse-power rating for motor taxation purposes.

Furthermore, the British manufacturer is striving hard in the special interests of impecunious owners. This branch of small car design is at the moment undergoing most intensive development in England. That tho effort is not unattended by success may bo judged from the fact that at the Olympia Show in October a good many small chassis of tolerable quality were staged, including two makes which were exhibited at a catalogue price of £IOO apiece. One of them is perfectly conventional, possessing a four-cylinder overhead valve engine, four wheel brakes, a normal gearbox, and electrical starter. There is no technical impossibility in the effort to produce such a machine at such a price, for Henry Ford long ago accomplished at least as much in the United States, where his cars have sold for as low as £75. The other, £IOO British car is unconventional, involving tho buyer making certain sacrifices of a sentimental character. The maker, in fact, challenges the consumer’s prejudices, there being no electric starter, the engine being of the flat twin typo, and the whole of the mechanism being concentrated at the rear of the car, which weighs only seven hundredweight. Other small cars were shown, ranging in price from £l4B to £275, the latter being for a fastidious owner willing to pay for a high-class article, provided that the subsequent running costs shall be extremely low. As our roads in Now Zealand under the influence of tho Main Highways Board gradually approach the standard of roadmaking prevailing in Britain, it is highly probable that the number of small British cars to be seen on them at some future day will astonish those who have come to regard the American grip on this market as unassailable. But before that day comes stretches of roadway in such a deplorable condition .as aro to be found, for example, in Bruce County,’ must disappear, and be remembered only as a horrible nightmare. A man who starts in business against a large and highly-organised concern already in possession cannot expect to gain the bulk of tho trade immediately, even if his product is superior. Before he can do this he must convince the majority of the public, and in tho early stages this hits to be done in opposition to the advice and influence of all those who make a living out of the established organisation. Nevertheless, for tho first time since the war, tho principal competitors of the British motor industry are realising that they must light strenuously to hold tho position which they occupied without difficulty during tho war and consolidated with almost equal ease during the period of postwar reconstruction, when tho output of the British motor industry could not cope with tho home demand in Britain. An American investigator reports that, comparing the first six months of 1925 with the same period of 1924, British cars imported by Australia increased 139 per cent., the United States cars showed an increase of only 11 per cent., and the imports from Canadian factories of American companies actually decreased by 10 per cent. In 1923 Great Britain exported 2,012 motor vehicles to Australia. In 1924 the figure had risen to 3,950. In 1925 it had again risen to 10,418, and during the first four months of 1926 British exports to Australia amounted to 5,062 vehicles—a rate well over 15,000 per annum. The case of Australia is not unique. British car exports to New Zealand in 1925 were just double those of 1924, which again were more than double those of 1923. .Still more recently there have boon distinct signs of a tendency to swing over from foreign to British motor vehicles. A change in mental or commercial outlook cannot be instantaneous, arid it must proceed much farther than it has before it can be hoped that the bulk of the needs of Australia and New Zealand will he met by the importation of British cars.