CARS TOO FAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22444, 13 June 1936, Page 17

CARS TOO FAST

MANUFACTURERS' VIEW

BETTER DRIVERS NEEDED PRESENT-DAY TRENDS "American manufacturers are not going; to make motor-cars any faster until drivers and highroads improve a great, deal." said Mr. J. L. Todd, assistant export manager of tho Nash Motors Company, Kenosha, Wisconsin, I nited States, who passed through Auckland yesterday on the Mariposa en route to Sydney. . Mr. Todd is accompanied bv Mr. C. C. KndclifFe, newly-appointed Australian and New Zealand representative of the company. Both are well-known figures in the motor industry in the United States. Most American motor-cars on the market to-day were capable of travelling at speeds that were much too high for the average road and the average driver, Mr. Todd said. Until more countries followed tho'lead of Germany and Italy in establishing high-speed arterial roads of the Autostrada type manufacturers did not feci justified in making cars any faster. The manufacture of low and medium-price cars that could attain road speeds well in excess of 100 miles an hour could be accomplished to-day, but the toll of deaths that would follow the placing of such cars on tho road would be horrifying. "Drivers as well as roads must be improved," Mr. Todd said. "Driving is a serious business, but many people take it too casually altogether. "If there was not an improvement in tho skill of the average man at the wheel buyers could not expect faster cars for a long time. The manufacturers had a duty to the general public in the matter." Flying Motor-cars ComiDg

Road vehicles that would be able to take the air and fly were not as far off as most people might imagine, Mr. Todd continued. When car drivers gained the mechanical knowledge necessary for the manipulation of such machines they would be produced in quantity. This, in time to come, would be a major factor in relieving traffic congestion, which was becoming more serious in the chief countries of the world.

Mr. Todd said America was becoming more motor-miiuled every day. Of the 30,000,000 cars in the world 27,000,000 were on United States roads. At the same time, the country was becoming thoroughly air-miudod. Ho had just completed a 23,000-miles aerial tour of the American republics south of the United States, doing business in 23 countries and touching on 26 in under four months. Such tours were made frequently now by business executives. Huge Production Figures The American motor industry, exclusive of Canadian plants, was aiming at a production of 5,000,000 units this year, compared with 4,000.000 in 1935, Mr. Todd stated. Ten per cent of the total output was intended for export. It might be thought that this 10 per cent did not matter much. However, it was of vital importance to the industry. In many factories production costs might absorb nine-tenths ot the proceeds from sales and all the profits would come from the remaining tenth. Mass production had to be maintained. In spite of tariff barriers everywhere the industry was more than holding its own in the export markets of the world.