STEADY OUTPUT

Evening Star, Issue 25893, 10 September 1946, Page 4

STEADY OUTPUT

BRITAIN'S GAR INDUSTRY EXTENSIVE EXPORT MARKET (From E. G. Webber, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) LONDON, September 9. Although it will be some time before the demand for new cars in New Zealand can be filled, prospective purchasers in Britain are likely to have to wait even longer. Fifty per cent, of British car production, at present about half of what it was. before the war, must go overseas, and while that state of affairs continues British dominion markets, which can also supplement their requirements from America, will obviously be satisfied earlier than the British home demand.

At present the would-be buyer of a new car in Britain has to wait from .nine months to a year for his order to be filled, and it is estimated Very conservatively that 500,000 cars are required in Britain to satisfy even the immediate demand. It is estimated that replacements required within the next five years total 1,500,000. This does not imply that the outlook is regarded pessimistically by the British manufacturing trade. On the contrary, the trade this year set itself a target in excess even of the peak production figures attained in 1937, and, although it is recognised that this target ia most unlikely to be reached, it is expected that the improvement will be progressive. UNITED STATES IN MARKET.

The British motoring industry has considerable incentive to exert its energies, for with the world-wide demand for motor vehicles it has unprecedented opportunities of obtaining new markets and developing old ones. Even the United States, frustrated by labour troubles, has been clamouring for British cars. It is recognised, however, by British manufacturers that this American demand is merely a temporary symptom, and most of their energies are being directed towards building np established markets in the dominions and elsewhere. These are likely to be able to absorb their full export output for some years to come, and, so long as Britain’s urgent need for overseas currency balances continues, tile British Government is likely to do everything possible to foster the export drive. In the meantime, the British car user is likely to rank second best. A comparison between war production figures and those for the first six months of the present year reveals the amount of leeway the industry has to make up. In 1937, the best pre-war year, the British motor trade produced 389,633 cars, of which 67,329 were exported. During the period January to June this year it produced 82,695 cars and chassis, of which 89,675 were sent overseas. In this period New Zealand received just over 2,000 cars, compared with 17,181 during the whole of 1937.

PROBLEMS TO BE OVERCOME. The problems of the British motor manufacturing trade are formidable. It has more than a. normal share of post-war reconstruction to undertake, 1 shortages both of material and labour are serious,* and, like the remainder of the' British heavy and light industry, tit faces’a threat 'of fuel shortage during the; winter.- - ; " ■ If there is any comfort derivable from another’s misfortunes, it may > possibly be found in the fact that the American industry’s labour worries have been inuoh more serious than Britain's. The American trade recently estimated that 12,009,000 cars were required to satisfy its own immediate demand, and till this is overtaken American car exports are unlikely to be pressed. Estimates of the recovery period for the Continental car industry' are even more difficult to make. The French succeeded in retaining the Citroen plant intact, but they are extremely short of materials. In Italy the Fiat and Lancia faotories are . both producing, but at a very law rate. The German car manufacturing industry, for competitive purposes, has virtually ceased to exist. ‘ PRICES DETER BUYERS, 1 One of the chief deterrents to the would-be car buyer in Britain, as in New Zealand, is the rising . price. To-day in Britain 8 h.p. cars of popular makes, which could be bought before the war for £139, now cost £345, of which £75 goes in purchase tax. Models of 10 h,p>, which were priced before the war at £IBO, to-day cast £422, and the increases for the more expensive makes are in proportion. An inevitable result of the shortage of new cars has been the inflationary second-hand car market. To-day Morris eights, which cost £164 in 1939, are bringing £360, Standard tens, £lB5 in 1939, £385 5 Rover tens, £275 in 1940, now £650; Buicks, £615 in 1939, over £1,200; Rolls Royces, £1,845 in 1939, up to £5,000. These prices are taken.at random from a list supplied by a leading London firm of car dealers.

So inflated have prices become that urgent pleas are being made to the motor trade asking for official supers vision of second-hand car deals, The trade recently introduced a covenant into all new car sale agreements under which the buyer was prohibited from reselling in less than six months, hut so far no official protection has been given to the buyer of second-’ hand vehicles, many of whom are easy game to sharp dealers. The mushroom growth of firms trading in second-hand ' cars at inflated prices, many of which are sold in a non-roadworthy condition, is causing widespread concern. Recently the ‘ Financial Times 1 appealed to the authorities to insist that no secondhand car sales be permitted without a guarantee of roadworthiness,