Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-23
CAR MAKERS HAVE
PROSPEROUS YEAR
All Except Ford Report Good
SaIes-ReCord Pro-
duCtion Seen.
BY j. c. ROYLl..


Special Dispatch TO The Star
NEW YORK. December 23.-The
motor industry now is putting the fin
fishing touches on a year of big pro
duction II is certain that the output
before January / will exceed that of
1925. when 3.S35 sol passenger cars
and 500.4c trucks were manufactured
Production figures 50 far this year
have exceeded the outturn of the cor
responding period of last year by near
~ 10 per cent. There has been de
Cided slump in production in the last
two months and for the next week
many concerns will be busy with
changes and inventories. Tut these fac
tors will not serve to prevent the es-
tablishment Of new production rec
ords.
April was the banner month of this
wear. In that period 402 574 passenger
cars and SO ,26S trucks were manufac-
tured. Employment in the industry
reached It's peak in March. when the
records of the Detroit Employers AS
ISOLATION reported 274 .499 workers EN-
ployed. This number has fallen sharp
", until NJ present only few more
than 206. 900 workers are employed in
the great automobile center.
Curtailment Beneficial.
This curtailment. however. has been
decidedly beneficial, according to far
sighted automobile engineers. 1t has
1iven the market a rest. 1t has re-
suited in dealers stocks being sharply
reduced ana is the best assurance that
n brisk demand will follow the show
ing of 1927 models at the automobile
shows early in the coming year.
Stocks at no time during the wear
fn.,
turers have kept production III close
alignment with retail sales. and as the
year draws to a close the number of
cars In dealers hands in many cases
is below normal.
What this year has meant to the au-
tomobile industry and TO all other in
dustrial concerns may be gathered
from the fact that the wholesale value
of the motor vehicles which will be
produced this year Will approximate
1880. 900 900. In 1925 the wholesale
value of ears and trucks was above
5000 600, 900. and even If the 1926 We
iicles were no greater in number
their value was substantially greater
owing to the higher unit price of the
cars produced.
Higher Priced Cars.
One of the outstanding developments
=
higher priced cars. This has been
emphasized by the popularity of the
light SiX-cylinder models. A consider
able number of companies added light
skies TO their lines this year and one
new make, the Pontiac. was brought
out with conspicuous success. There
are now 10 makes OF skies selling for
less than ST. 900 and % makes selling
under 81 500 per unit, not including
duplicate lines made by some con-
Germs. OF the 81 manufacturers with
national distribution only three manu-
facture 4-cylinder cars exclusively.
Nineteen make 6-cylinder models ex-
cluSively and five turn out 8-cylinder
cars exclusively. This trend to the
higher priced cars has been reflected
in the tremendous increase in sales
volume of General Motors, which is
completing its most sensational year.
In the first eleven months of this year
this concern delivered to consumers
mot dealers) 1,163,097 cars, as COM
pared with 770,922 cars in the CORE
spending period of 1925.
The popularity of the higher priced
cars undoubtedly was responsible for
the falling off in Ford sales. The
proportion of the cars and trucks sold
by the Ford Co. to the total output
3Aco NONAAiiOO hAOAAi 81 pei CCHI 1oE7
10 42.8 in 1925 and to 35 per cent for
the first six months of 1926. On the
other hand the proportion furnished
to the whole business by General
Motors has grown from 16 per cent
in 1924 to 10 per cent in 1925 and 35
per cent for the first half of 1926.
Conservative statisticians say the
output of the industry is now roughly
divided into three approximately even
parts among Ford, General Motors
and the remainder of the producers.