El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-08-26

"HOTGH il is pretty generally rec
ognized that Fl Paso is now one
u of the big automobile centers Of
the country the total or the amount OF
money To he paid for new cars in tie
l. months starting August 1st. last,
and based on the dealers contracts as
TO the number Of cars. viii prove sur
prisingly large to even those who are
reasonably close in touch with the mo-
Tor situation.
While 1t has rot been possible to
get at the exact number of cars con-
tracted by each dealer. The Herald has
gathered fairly approximate figures
IN most cases. the basis of estimation
has been about 20 percent below the
number of cars dealers have announced
they VIII take. II often happens that a
dealer contracts for more cars than
he sells and the figures used in this
article are on the conservative side
5000 New Cars Coming
There viii be approximately 5000
new automobiles handled by FL Pas"
distributors in the business year now
starting The figures Of The Herald
estimate are 1921 These include 80 DIFF
ferent makes of pleasure cars and no
consideration has been given TO trucks
or TO army orders for pleasure cars
which are not placed through FL Paso
distribution.
mate. II is known that there will be At
least three other agencies in Fl PaSo
in the very near future and these cars
have not been figured in the estimate
The REQ. for instance. is not now ac-
lively represented in the estimate buc
il VIII have an agency here very soon
and the new dealer should account TO-
a large number Of cars
Distributing Territory Varies
II has been impossible 10 separate
the figures for Fl Paso from those for
the entire distributing territory The
distributing field of the Tri-State Mo-
tor company. for the Ford, may BE
cited as one instance. Il covers -
counties. The Franklin Motor car com
pany has recently had its territory Tor
the Franklin increased and covers an
even larger field than the Tri-State-
The Euiott-Garrett company, on thu
other hand. has . rather restricted
territory fOr the Studebaker but "a
large territory for the National Tho
large territory for the Grant SIN
while the new contract Of the TOltelE
Motor company for the bort calls Tor
distribution for the entire state Of New
Mexico and for a large part OF west
Texas II Is, therefore. impossible 20
arrive 1T an average sales field
The total retail price Of the 1871
cars in The Herald estimate Is S6-'"@.-
go The figures appear .staSserlnS
bur they by no means end the autOmo-
bile bill Of the southwest They mere
y figure as the initial expense %
each owner and include no estimate
OF upkeep. etc
The average retail price OF all cars
sold in the southwest is 500 The
hundreds Of FOrds. retailing at around
$500. are balanced by large number of
heavy ears selling at in excess. OF $1,000.
Cars Around $500 Popular.
Leaving aside the FOrds. the popular
cars of the southwest are those retail
ing at between S625 and 5000 In all.
the new contracts call for around 1900
cars in this price class
Nulti-cyliuder cars are not very pop
ular in this territory The estimate
includes only s. cars Of more than
six cylinders There are Fights" and
-twelves~ in this classification and
seven different makes Of cars are iI,-
cluded in the figures.
OF four cylinder cars. the southwest
ern contracts call for a total Of $50
cars. In the six cylinder class. there
were 1921 cars taken into the esti-
mate.
The average price of the four cyl