May Last Three Years.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1790, 8 November 1919, Page 5 (Supplement)

May Last Three Years.

Shortage of American Cars.

Manufacturers here believe the shortage of cars will continue at least three years (says,a dispatch from Detroit, U.S.A.). Even if production in most of the plants is doubled next year it will fall far short of meeting the demand. With all the General Motor Car units preparing exceptionally heavy production schedules for 1920, with Max-well-Chalmers, Hudson, Liberty, King and other firms building plants permitting them to double their facilities, 1920 will see the greatest output of cars in history, but eveii this increased output is certain to fall several hundred thousand cars short of the demand, a "Motor Age" correspondent predicts. In 1918, it is computed, 1,044,754 cars were made. In 1917 the production totalled 1,737,151 curs. la 1910 the factories turned "out 1,493,617. Ford production is not included in these figures. They reveal a normal annual production increase of 40 per cent. However, war restrictions made the 1918 production subnormal. Had normal conditions prevailed the 1918 output would have totalled 2,750,000, or twice what it really was. Thus January, 1919, saw a shortage of 700,000 cars, and with this shortage steadily growing, owing to the inability of the companies to shift from war to peace production, it was nearly five months before all the companies were back on peace schedules; Even now production in some of the plants is not normal. This condition, which prevailed 1 in the industry until a few weeks ago, saw sales orders piling up and production lagging, so it is now estimated that the 700,000 car shortage in January has grown to be nearly 1,000,000 in June. It is estimated that the average life of a car is five years. Basing an average upon the production figures for the last five years, it is safe to figure that 1,500,000 cars are scrapped annually. Thus 1919 opened with an estimated shortage of 2,200,000 cars, and this shortage may ' possibly reach the 2;500,000 mark.