The Washington times., 1932-01-30
AUTO INDUSTRY.
STILL LEADSBY
VAST MARGIN

% hH~ NbbHu
Still a two-billion dollar indus
try and still the nations greatest
manufacturing enterprise.
That, Succinctly, is the story
Of the automobile industry as 1t
unleashes the full force of its
comeback during the year 1882.
1t is told statistically in table
Of preliminary facts and figures
compiled by the National Auto
mobile Chamber of Commerce
which reveals that, in 1881, the
total value of manufactured mo-
tor vehicle products was $2,lO1,-
100000.
In the IL months just closed,
the total number of passenger
} cars and trucks produced in this
country and in Canada was
2,465 900. Passenger car produc'
ton was 2,045,0O0 units while
truck output totaled 100000.
AS If these figures were not
sufficient to show that even IN
dull year the automotive in
duStry is a mammoth unit OF the
nations economic machine, they
are given greater emphasis by
being broken down into otner
totals. These reveal:
That the industry last year
gave employment to 100000
persons.
h That total motor vehicle
taxes in the country were
$1,022, 200, 900.
That rs per cent of the
worlds registered motor vehicles
are in the United States.
That this country has 25,94O,.
600 vehicles, out of a world total
Of S4,575,000.
That export of motor vehicles,
parts and tires last year had a
value Of 1852 100000.
That automotive shipments gave
the railroads of the country the
tremendous volume of business
represented by 100000 carloads
Of freight.
That IS per cent of the gaso-
line and SO per cent of the rub
ber consumed in the United States
are used by motordom and that
the automotive industry is the
largest single consumer Of the
products of steel, plate glass,
nickel, lubricants and several
other important industries.
It was not only the decline IN
production that reduced the value
of manufactured motor products
in 1881, according to the N. A. G.
c. figures. With every maker
cutting prices to the absolute
limit, slashes amounting to sew
eral hundred dollars in the upper
classes, the average price paid
for passenger cars shrunk to $765,
a decline of $35 from the pre-
YiOuS year.
: Despite these two factors, how
ever, the wholesale value OF pas
@enger vehicles was $1,175, COO, 900
and that Of trucks and passenger
cars combined was $1,435, 900 600.
Parts and accessories and service
equipment boosted the value OF
the industry's products another
$341, ,000, 900 and, with replacement
tires valued at 1926, 100000 for
the year, the industry's total
reached the huge figures of $2,-
1O1, 100000
A reflection of the conversation
of the taste of car buyers is
found in the fact that closed
car production attained the most
OprepOnderant proportion of the
total it ever has had. OF the q
cas- 900 passenger cars produced,
$780, 900, or 90 per cent, were
closed types.
While the production and value
of motor vehicles output showed
a general and uniform decrease
last year, the period was not
without it's record-Shattering fig
ures. Motordom set up new all
time high mark in the volume of
tax revenues it paid into the pub
tlic treasures of the States and
municipalities with an aggregate
contribution of $1,022 900 900. OF
this sum, $524,000,O 900 represented
collections of gasoline taxes. The
year was the first in the history
of this form of motor taxation
when the total exceeded the half.
billion mark. 1882 represented
the greatest gasoline consump-
tion in the entire motor era. The
] fact that the nations car owners
used motor transportation to the
afgreatest degree stands forth
clearly.
4 In that vast array of figures,
the mammoth stature. of the au.
tomobile industry, even in a
period of the most severe
economic stress, is clearly estab.
lished. The industry's leaders
are confident that in 1882 an
even greater economic significance