GERMAN PRODUCTION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18382, 28 September 1929, Page 12

GERMAN PRODUCTION

AN INCREASING OUTPUT. Before real mass production of mo-tor-cars can begin in Germany there will have to be a material reduction in the number of types of cars manufactured in the same factory, remarks a writer in the Berlin “Vorwarts,” in summing up the annual report of the German National Association of Power Vehicle Dealers. There was a 39 per cent, increase in the output of motor-cars and motorcycles last year, the total being 290,200 and the value of the year’s production rose 21 per cent, to 1,050,000,000 marks, but the “Vorwarts” writer points out that, among the 27 plants turning out passenger cars, one is manufacturing 17 types, while two have eight and nine types respectively. Only eight of the factories limit themselves to a single type. There are 22 manufacturers of motor-trucks, and 18 plants making motor-cycles. The nationalisation of the industry has gone far enough, however, to effect a big increase iii the output of the individual workers in the shops, it having risen from 1.46 cars and cycles in 1925 to 2.82 in 1927, and to considerably more than 3 last year. In the meantime the average worker’s yearly wage has advanced from 2060 marks to 2380.

The increasing popularity of motor vehicles in Berlin is evidenced by the fact that on Ist April the number registered was 85,840, a gain of 2536 over the figures on Ist March. Of the registered vehicles, 17,709 were motor - and 40,338 passenger cars. The number of taxis dropped by 30 to a total of 9105.