MOTORING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15466, 10 March 1921, Page 4

MOTORING.

THE YEAR’S -PROSPECTS: AX’ AMERICAN. REVIEW . Of more than usual interest is a recent article in the New York Herald by Mr Charles Clifton, president of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, with regard to the prospects of the motor trade for the present- year. “The year 1921,” Mr Clifton states, “will be a . transportation year. Every business and every product is called upon to face its part in the reconstruction,, Waste must be cut-. Extravagance must be eliminated. Efficient methods must prevail. The salesman who goes afoot or depends upon irregular train service when he could double his productivity by usiifg a car must go into the discard. The real estate man who depends on 'trolleys alone will find his business seriopslv curtailed. The farmer who depends on a team to connect' him with the town will find his family discontented, his farm shunned by the. hired pian, a,l d his profits, reaohing the zero'point. “The farmer, moreover, is the heaviest buyer of ears, owning a third of all the automobiles registered. The rural districts purchased 60 per cent, of the ; ■1920 motor vehicle output. “This will be a year of conservatism, when the weak will uo to the.wall, and tho strong wifi become stronger. People ; -will -wailt cars; But they will not ask j as in the years gone by ; How much speed? How much prestige? How J much comfort? The test will bo: How 1 much oconomy in transportation? How much gain to mv business? 1 . “These are questions. which tho autoniobilo can answer to the sternest interrogator. In a year when efficiency 1 in transportation will bo essential, the i .passenger car* and truck will have an opportunity of proving their worth to a degree not -realised in tho times of super-prosperity. • ; “We may or may not see the volume of orders which piled into the factories •in the first half of 1920. Thai period represented tho demand of a market, which had been starved for two years', plus the immediate requirements of the day. Dn the other hand, each, succeeding year brings greater needs the hauling of goods and passengers, 'from place to place, greater economies in time. Consequently production schedules are likely to show a steady., growth as time goes on. ; * “We know that fundamental business conditions are sound. Wo know that the automobile is one of the primary transportation units. .Wo know 1 that tho owner realises to an increasing degree that the possession of a car is an extension of his power in business, as well as a widener of his social contacts.” t THE CRY OF WOLF. , An explanation by the president of one of the biggest car manufacturing firms in America throws additional light on the recent developments in the trade in that v-country, which it was thought here at the time plight lead to a general reduction in prices. In the past few months; ho said, a remarkable condition had developed : in tho motor car .trade. Many had cried “.wolf,” and had been loud in their claims flub tho . automobile industry bad reached saturation point. Yet 9,0C0,GC0 people continued to drive their.. cars, and, 9,000,000 cars were wearing-out. Last September, when one manufacturer saw fit to cut his price, ’buving suddenly ceased. The need and desire for transportation by car, however, did not stop. Every one immediately felt that further reductions on all cars were imminent. The history of buying repeated itself. Owners'of cars felt that the, price of new ears must come down. Yet they did not realise that, a reduction in the price of new cars meant a reduction pin the valuation of their old cars. ‘ Then, suddenly awakening to the ■position, they besieged their dealers and negotiated the best possible trade on their • old ears. , Dealers' quickly reached that stage when these tradings could no longer be considered on the" basis car owners desired. _ The result was • stagnation in the buying of cars. Factories stopped running, parts in a kerf stopped producing, dealers stopped selling. ► And still 9;OGO,O0O motor oars continged to wear out. Now the motor industry faced a future as bright _and big as any ever seen in the past. VWth tfio,, industry producing, only about per cent, of normal demand m the -last three mouths of 1920., with 9,030,030 cars continually wearing out, •wrtr transportation by car an economic fact —-was if anything unusual that a, prediction should be made, that the motoi . C ti industry must continue on its up- > ward swing