THE SMALL CAR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 21 August 1926, Page 15

THE SMALL CAR.

AM ERiOAX I NTKR.EST AROUSED.

The outsanding and contrasted success in. this country of the- small car is occupying the thoughts of American builders to- such a wide extent that tjjiere is now no longer any doubt that they are on. the threshold of attempting to make contributions to this latest division of the passenger car market (says an .English writer). It lias been created in its entirety through pre-war British enterprise, what time the Continental industry’s efforts in this direction were confined almost entirely to France, where what is called the cycle car engaged the bulk of attention. The small car proper is, therefore, a peculiarly British conception .

Those who would have our industry challenge the American one on the principle of reproducing exactly the type of middle size and large ears that America builds are, of course, in blissful ignorance- of the great disparity of conditions! that- obtains concerning operating factories, likewise building, marketing .and using cars in the -new world. In this country the building of a middle size car gives work for -a man and a hoy for a year. In America the output of factories —instance, Chevrolet’s- 4000 a day prognaanme—is such that each man employed represents approximately 80 cars built in a- year. In other words, America might pay wages ten times as great as we do in this country,- and still there would be less

1 money paid in wages per car produced I and marketed than there is in this country—-apart altogether front the fact that the U.S.A. industry is not taxed as is ours. Her home market, boo, which is colossal by comparison with our own, is effectively protected; whereas this country is the motor market of the world. Consequently, it would be financial .suicide lor us to -attempt anything of this kind in an ineffectively unprotected home market in a. war-impoverished country, lor wo have less than half the population of the -war-enriched United States of America. Instead, our only chance is to- exploit, better designs-, which .is what the leaders, of our industry do. 1 In like fashion, one of the biggest manufacturers in America- spent three months dissecting a. Morris-Oxford car, only to arrive at the conclusion that, if his firm, had to manufacture a machine of equally good material equally well, there, would: “be nothing in it.’’ Various other European designed small cars have been similarly analysed bv members of the American industry, which, unlike the generality of so-call-ed “expert’’ opinion in this country, never suffers from the delusion that it- can do everything better than we do. Therefore when it comes- to the proposition of building an American sm-a-ll car, we find that the basic trailsAtlantic idea of building a small car remains stable, i.e., America must design .small cars of her own, though, of course', experience with European constructions is not to be ignored, indeed, it- -should prove invaluable, but there should bo no question of complete copying. It is an open .secret that the U.S.A. Government has been urging the home industry to take up this work for over two years past; also that leaders in that industry have themselves voluntarily engaged in investigating the proposition for over four years. Yet no standardised American small, car is yet on the market. . Nevertheless, every now and again manufacturers in the United States express their opinions as to wh-a.t sort of machines can. and should, be produced. Therefore, it is interesting to note that the.ye ideas alter with the changing motor markets of the world. Thus the latest idea of an American small ear differs considerably from-th-at which obtained twelve months ago, when the , notion, was to produce machines of approximately the same engine -size as the small car we use in this country. As a result of the latest series of enquiries among local motor traders all over the States, with a view to discovering what their customers who cannot .afford middle-size .and large cars are really asking for, it has been practically decided -by .several Americanmanufacturers- that they will build smaller cars to. .supplement their present types, and that .such machines shall be designed -along lines which are, for them, new. Indeed, very great numbers of designs are being experimented with at the moment. Manufacturers already realise from their .sales in recent years that the trend of buying in America- is like .that in this country, and .in Europe; every year sees a wider demand for ,a. .lower priced ,inore 'economical -machine. They realise now, as we did long ago, thatyou can give away a large or a middlesize ear with a pound of tea, and that, you will find a very large number of potential motorists who- will he quite unable to accept it because- they will not lxav-e the wherewithal to .pay the tax, the tyre, the fuel and the housing bills, and -so- forth. In other words, the purchase price of a car is one part only of the financial responsibility involved. Running costs are -no less important to those of strictly moderate means, who -represent, and always -represent, by far the widest motoring public. ' Yet America -realises that the market within the United States for the typical European small car of the day, with an engine of anything from twothirds to l;i -litres, and coachwork of relatively cramped accommodation, i-s nob likely to be large, .at any rate, in the present .stage of that country’s evolution. It will be noticed, incidentfylv that so far the light car market is the only one that gives the -slightest opportunity to- the British constructor to export his machines to the United States yet not -a single car of such .a- type has been acquired by private motorists in U.S.A. In other words, at present the trans-Atlantic public has no use for our typical email, light oar* that .shall be cheaper to run than anything -available there to-day. Therefore American constructors are beginning- to talk about Americanised versions of European light cars, which: they hold will have a large sale there; whereas there has been no demand even for foreign, built small cars what time the American industry lias been making no: effort in this field of enterprise. There is no question of the - U.S.A. buying public being averse from acquiring a. British, or Continental built article; on the contrary, there is something of a, pride in American owners possessing what they call “imported cars.” Tt is merely that they have no use for the particular type of .small ear that is exploited by our industry. The plain fact is that the latest idea entertained —and J have every reason to suppose that from the. end of August onwards several American manufacturers will offer machines' of tin. 1 ; sort iu .standardised form—is to produce lighter ears with smaller -engines than, any yet forthcoming among the series made in America. But ' they . will really be only in. the nature, of building smaller and somewhat lighter models- of the type of cars already offered. But these 1927 American light cars will not have the narrow tracks which characterise so many of the European built small cars. They will have 48 inch wheel-tracks, so as.’to bo .able to go wherever larger cars have made- a track —a very important matter for the -export market in all parts ol the world, in that, much motoring has to he undertaken where there are no proper roads. So- soon as you make a car with a. wide track the whole proposition of its body-work is -altered, it being -possible to give full scale accommodation. Equally, if you widen your wheel-track you will need more power to turn the wheels. Therefore you must have -a somewhat larger engine to deal with as well as extra, weight of chassis and body. Tin? latest designs of the ti~.iu.sAtlantic industry will make the American light car oi the 1928-1927 season differ from the machines of similar wheelba-se already on the U.S.A. market, in having smaller, higher speed engines, that are proportionately much more economical in. fuel consumption. They will be able to travel at -a. greater average speed. Nor will they have such long wheelbases, nor so much overhang "aft. They will be vehicles of briefer overall length. Nor should it be imagined that- America will -be able to: put right .away oil the market such machines -at lower prices than those of current European small ears,' which do well] -enough, for us with a- narrower track, offering the opportunity for lighter constructions -and the more economical use- of tyres and fuel. Nevertheless the advent of the first American effort to enter the -light- car field 1 this autumn should occasion at leastacademic interest on the part of motorists in Great Britain, and all over the world.