Evening star., 1932-09-23
USED CAR MARKET
SHOWS SHR|NKAGE
Auto Dealers Encouraged by
Rapid Disappearance of
Old Machines.
BY DAVID ]. WILKIE.

DETROIT, September 23.-When
consumer demand in the automobile
industry again approximates a normal
basis, sales executives expect to be IA
vcred by one condition growing out of
the last two years of restricted neW-car
sales. There Will be less competition,
they say, to meet from the usedcar
market
Admitting that virtually every sale
made during the last couple of years
has involved a trade-in, these eXecu-
tives point out that there now are few,
if any, heavily overstocked used-car
dealers, and for the most part the re-
tail organizations have avoided loading
up with secondhand cars that could
not be moved.
Coincident with the currently better
condition in the used car field, sales
directors point out. hundreds of thou
sands of the used" vehicles still in op-
Grafton will have to be abandoned en-
tirely and go to the junk heap rather
than to the used-car lot or to the new
car dealer as part payment on a new
model.
Many Machines Junked.
The Junking of cars goes on quietly
but relentleSSly throughout the industry.
Some Of them, Of course. come from the
dealer who has accepted them as part
payment on new Car and found it i'm
possible to resell them. In other in
stances the dealer has accepted them
knowing they no longer could be turned
over, but has been satisfied to share his
profit with the buyer Of new car
rather than lose a sale entirely.
The sales directors, however, are not
apprehenSive Of return of the trade
in evil that caused the demise of
numerous dealers in 1929. At that
time, under the pressure of high-speed
production programs, the dealers, In
many instances, made eXorbltant allow
anceS on the used vehicles. with the re-
suit they found themselves with huge
stocks of out-of-date cars and impaired
capital. The result was that not few
were forced out entirely.
This is q condition the industry has
made very definite plans to avoid when
normal purchasing power IS again re-
leased in the automobile market. There
viii be, of course, sales directors say,
certain local conditions in different
communities that will influence dealer
complete a neW-Car sale. Generally,
however, they believe the 'trade-in" evil
is definitely thing Of the, past.
This is one of the things the direc-
tors, in their contacts with the dealer
organizations throughout the country,
have emphasized as essential to res
toration of prosperity to the industry.
They have pointed out that the new
policy Of controlled production-output
gagged entirely by demand-haS re-
lieved the merchandising division en-
tirely of the pressure previously exist
ing when the dealers were expected to
keep pace with the manufacturer.
Retail Activities.
At the same time the merchandising
division is being impressed with the
fact that the recovery Of the industry
lies chiefly in the success with which
retail activities are carried out. Sales
prospects, the retailers are being told,
will not crowd the sales rooms as they
do the automobile show floors; they
will have to be sought out and urged
to listen to the various selling argu-
ments of the salesmen promoting a
specific model
Manufacturing activities continue un-
der restricted production programs In
most plants. RumOr has it that one,
and possible two, companies at present
confined to the medium or high price
field, are contemplating the production
of a low-price car. So many manu-
facturers have entered the medium and
low price fields during the last few
months that the trade expects every
producer soon will have at least one
model available for the campaign for
business in the low-cost bracket.