NEW BRITISH CARS

NZ Truth, Issue 1103, 20 January 1927, Page 14

NEW BRITISH CARS

' . '■ v Manufacturers Change Their Policy

The year 1927 is going to witness important alterations of. policy by British motor manufacturers,^ and strange to say it is the New Zealand market that has forced this change of |>pjicy'.

A few years ago anyone who had stated that the demand m New Zealand for motor cars would' have reacted on the British manufacturer. in> such a way as to.c ause .him to break away from' conservative methods followed since the inception of the industry, would have been' thbught at least unwarrantably optimistic. Such, however, has pro.ved to be the case. Enormous numbers of American cars m particular have been sold m New. Zealand, and thousands will yet be sold, but the English makers have determined to secure a' decent 'share of New. Zealand.s lucrative business. In order to do so they have had to scrap a lot of their methods and concentrate on new ones. ■ ' Undoubtedly the great obstacle to the success of British Tears here has been the small. size of the.ehgine m the average car v This has been due not solely: to lack of enterprise on the makers' part; but because the peculiar system of taxation m Britain' rhak^s it imperative that engine capacity shall be kept as low as possible. Out of this seeming, evil, however, has come good, for the English factories have m consequence gained a wonderful start m the coming race, for really economical, engines. Force-, by stern' necessity to keep their engines small, yet, as efficient as engineering genius could make them, nothing can; surpass the British power unit .for economical running and pulling power, per unit of size, These advantages, -great as they are to the owner of average means, have not been enough to secure more, than

a small share of the total trade offering. What New Zealand conditions demand ;is a moderate sized engine which will grive very high class tjtfp-'gearper-formanceand at the same time use as little petrol as can be made to do the work, the price of spirit here ;being as high as anywhere in ' the world. The reason for asking for superfine top- gear.work is that generally speaking road conditions out* side the 1 largest towns are from poor to very bad, and that the numerous hills encountered cannot ' on account of the road surface be . rushed. 1 ,T They have to .be approached at a slow, rate, and unless the car has plenty of reserve power, every hill means a change down., V • 1 .Here the New Zealand casualness creeps in" and plays its part. ( The New Zeallander does not like changing down. He likes a car that can take a moderately steep hill at slow speed without having to meddle round with levers that '.seem to have a mind of their own and protest abominably when interfered with. And m his search for the car of his ideal he has generally turned, to one that has an engine which is really too big for its job, but suits him by its performance. ' » At last, however, the British manufacturer has awakened to .the fact that New Zealand's capacity for buying cars m as large per . capita as any; nation, m; the world, arid having do).e so he is, m his thorough way, going-;6ut to get a fair slice, of the business; ' That's why. this year there is going to be a big boom m British cars.