Evening star., 1928-05-07
COMPETITION KEEN
|NMOTOR INDUSTRY
Designers Working at Top
Speed on New Models
for Next Year.
BY j. c. ROYLE.
,sna,oh 20 rha e,ar

Special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK. May EVERY auto
motive engineer and designer Is work.
ing at top speed on development OF
new and improved models. Compet1-
tion Is tightening daily In the auto
mobile field and sales of some of the
most prominent concerns. especially IN
| the medium priced field are falling of.
To combat the inroads of rivals, all are
engaged in trying to make their
products better and more attractive.
Some manufacturers are giving most
of their attention to development of at
tractive body types. but others are
striving for new mechanical perform
ance as we'll. E, c. Wilmer, president
of Dodge Bros, declares today that the
popularity of the present six-cylinder
car in the medium priced field was due
to the constant public demand for
something better" and the industries
efforts to meet that demand.
High Standard Necessary.
Manufacturers. he added, must
build to high standards il they are 20
be successful There is no middle
ground. In other words, car having
an ultra stylish appearance as its chief
marketing feature-at the expense of
dependability and performance--cannot
and will not continue for long to find
favor in the public eye.
1.-THE motorist OF today knows what
he can rightly expect In his automobile,
and the manufacturer who does not
build we'll will find success short-lived
OF course, those engaged IN making
and selling automobiles daily are ex-
pressing their views by word OF mouth
or advertising in an attempt to mould
popular taste into a demand for the
qualities inherent in their own par
ticular products. Doubtless as result
the average man or woman who Is a
car buyer no more is influenced into
believing or wanting what he or she
hears most frequently emphasized. But
unless the automobile possesses all the
requisites Of today's motor car, depend
ability, long life, outstanding perform
ance and eye appeal. the manufactures
eventually will pay the price.
Those within the industry are quail
fed TO encourage clear thinking as to
what the public Is entitled to and what
1t may logically demand Not long ago
automobiles were judged largely by their
ruggedness. their dependability and the
service rendered by the dealers who sold
them People used their cars until
the major part of their mileage was ex-
hauSted Then came the theory that
all cars we're dependable as such. but
that motor performance was the para
mount feature to be weighed. Next
followed a common suggestion that all
motor performances were adequate after
all. and that color. design. interior fin
ish and appointments-in word, style
was Of first importance In gauging the
desirability Of purchase.
Not Equally Dependable.
This suggestion that most cars to-
day are equally dependable Is certainly
a fallaey. and 1t Is equally wrong TO as
sumo that all of them are capable of
substantially the same performance. or
that one may safely select ones car
relying only on eye appeal. It Is an
emphatic and literal truth that cars
today are not equally dependable nor
are they all, by any means. capable of
the same high degree Of performance
There is evident today great and
growing disparity in the performance
Of popular priced cars. Several at the
low priced cars on the market have re-
Gently presented O performance far
greater than afforded by a host of
other cars within the popular priced
range.
with this marked advance in per-
formance by some of the popular
priced cars. Is 1t reasonable to suppose
the rest OF the field can long sustain
itself on eye appeal alone?
"Today's automobile must embody all
the attributes of yesterday plus a new
standard OF performance. More and
more the intelligent purchaser is ap-
preciating the fact that he should Sc
lect a car with an attractive design. a
chassis OF inbuiit quality and rugged
ness. and an engine equipment measur-
ing up TO the new standard OF impor-
tance."