The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-05
LEADERSHIP IS
CAUSE FIGHTM
MOTOR WORLD
Price Slashes Make
Competition Clos
est in History.
BY PHIL s HANNA

Consolidated Press Correspondent.
Copyright, 1922, by The Argus.)
Detroit, Mich, Aug. 5.-A fight
for leadership is on in the auto
mobile industry. The verdict of the
financial district here is that the
price cuts now in the process of
being made have established closer
lines of competition than ever be-
fore in the history of the indus
try.
The General Motors interests are
striving for unquestioned leader
ship and the coming six months
should reveal whether the weight
Of financial strength and a large
combination of different producing
companies is destined to have the
advantages which the organizers of
the corporation expected. The
Cadillac is the peer of the General
Motors unit Buick has ranked
next but in a sense Buick rather
fell behind in the fiscal year just
ended. The Chevrolet, until this
year, was not counted a healthy
member of the General Motors fam
lily, but for the last four months
has been a star performer. The
Oakland and Oldsmobile companies
have made splendid cars but have
not quite kept pace with the pro-
cession.
Studebaker Moves Forward.
With this picture of the General
Motors in mind, consideration must
be given two large quantity pro-
ducers which have been making
vast strides, namely Studebaker
and Maxwell, the former bringing
it's annual production above 120,-
600 cars, and the latter from bank
ruptcy to a production which may
reach 100000 cars year. In ad-
ditiOn to these contenders in the
quantity field Henry Ford is in
creasing his annual production
from 100000 to about 100000. Ten
or dozen other companies who
have cornered large share of
sales the past six months might al
SO be mentioned. Competition has
set the pace and the fight for lead
ership is on.
Some idea of the closeness of the
prices may be seen by a compari-
son of standard four-cylinder, five
passenger cars. Under new sched-
ules Buick, at $685. for this model,
is down to the price of $3.50 set by
Dodge last spring and the price of
$SS5 set by the Maxwell last fall.
Whether the Dodge and Maxwell
will be cut further under the Buick
depends, it is believed, on the sales
response to these offerings within
the next few weeks. Studebaker is
now pricing it's light skies at 1915.
A peculiar feature of price cuts,
coming at this time, is that the ma
jority of plants are running at ca
pacity, but it is almost traditional
i that once the relation between
price is distributed other compa-
nies in the same price classes fol-
low suit.
Reductions Made.
While the reductions temporarily
may cut into earnings of some OF
the companies, volume production
over long period Of time is more
important for it means greater
profits. The reductions just an
nounced are substantial and en-
brace a wide list of prominent pro-
ducers. Buick cut from $50 to
5000: Studebaker, $40 to $500;
Cleveland, $50 to $500; Chandler
$40 to 5000; Nash. $50 to 5000;
Chevrolet, SIS to $3.50; Oakland
sl0O to $240; Oldsmobile, $50 te
$3.50; all according to various mod.
els. In addition the Jewett five.
passenger touring car has been re-
duced $40; the Chalmers tourins
$210, and the Haynes 55 model $10(
on the open and $500 on the closed