THE £l00 MOTOR CAR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 23 January 1926, Page 3

THE £loo MOTOR CAR.

DESIGNS READY. MARKETS THAT SHOULD BE BRITISH. The following is a message received from the London correspondent of the Now Zealand Herald : "There is a potential market in this country alone for between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000 motor vehicles,” said Sir Alan Burgovne, ALP., in a paper read before the Royal Society- of Arts on the future of the motor car. Thanks to the ridiculous methods of Government taxation, Sir Alan said, British designers had been forced to develop the small-bore, long-stroke, high-speed light-car engine, and in this sphere they undoubtedly led the world. But with all their virtues their cars did not and could not stand up to the rough-and-tumble work in the Dominions and colonies. This fact, coupled with their high relative cost, left the large, square-engined American car in almost undisputed possession of markets that should he ours. For export overseas, British car 6 must be developed on American lines and sold at competitive American prices. He held out hopes for even cheaper cars in the future, and said that he knew of two firms with designs ready for a small four-cylinder car to sell in the region of £IOO. The car oi the future, he said, would have _ interior heating and cooling and nnsplintera ole glass. It would he disastrous' if the Road Fund were to he rifled by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Some assurance should he given by the Government on these points : That (a) after a •ertain figure had been passed the amount of the Road Fund applied to roads would he on a proportionate basis, and (b) any surplus should he devoted to the relief of motorists in the present heavy cost of taxes on their cars, a cost which was highly damaging to the British export trade.