CARS TOO FAST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19044, 18 June 1936, Page 14

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. 1.. Todd, assistant export manager of the Nash Motors Company, Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, who passed through Auckland last week-end en route to Sydney. 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 the lead of Germany and Italy in establishing high-speed arterial roads of the Autostrada type manufacturers did not feel 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 the road would be horrifying. "Drivere 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 the 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 COMING Road vehicles that would be able to take the air and ily were not as tar off as most people might imagine, Mr. Todd continued. When car drivers gained the mechanical knowledge necessary for the manipuJation 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-minded 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-minded. He ' had justcompleted 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, exclu sive 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 of 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.