Evening star., 1933-05-07
RISING PRODUCTION
OF AUTOS NOTED
Surge of Business in Industry
Shows No Signs of
Abating.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The star
DETROIT, May 6.-The automobile
industry continues to ride merrily along
on tide Of rising production.
The surge Of business that suddenly
engulfed the automobile plants soon
after the end of the national bank holi-
day, shows no sign of abating. In fact,
1t gains momentum as the days 20 by
and May will be, by all odds, one of
the best months In the last three years.
All on Band Wagon.
Practically all the motor factories
around Detroit have jumped aboard the
band wagon. The roster of the COM
panies that are injecting a few more
tonic drops into business would read
like roll call of the industry.
Output for May probably will pass
100000 units-and the 100000 months
in the last few years have been ex-
ceedingly small in number. Last year
the May output was 1885, and that
was the best month of 1882.
A month ago there was q quiet con-
fidence among executive in Detroit
that the automobile business was
ready to pick up where it had left on
when interrupted by the banking holi-
day-on the rising side. The best esti-
mate early in April, for the months
production was 100000.
Output Near 100000.
Actual output was closer to 100, 900
Not all were the most optimistic
guesses exceeded. but, it would seem,
the output of April. 1882, of 155, 5,136
was surpassed by fair margin.
To understand the significance OF the
figures for last month it is necessary
to point out that not since December,
1890, had the industry bettered its
record for the same month of the pre-
vious year. More than that, only in
the one instance of the last month Of
1880 had the industry, since August,
1929. improved It's monthly record for
the previous year.
On the basis of such An analysis,
the somewhat impressive record for last
month represents more than the usual
Spring upswing.
A month ago the talk of an improved
outlook for automobile sales was a
phenomenon Of the executives Offices
in Detroit. Now the same kind Of op-
timism is coming from the field. Fac
tory representatives returning to Detroit
after visits to dealers and distributors
say there is an unrepressed current OF
enthusiasm.
Dealers on almost every front are
saying: May sales are going to be
good" They are backing up their
judgment by calling on the factories
to increase advertising appropriations
and catch the public in buying mood.
There is no reason to revise earlier
predictions that automotive sales will
carry later into the Summer than has
been the habit in the past.
Higher Prices in Prospect
The prospect that automobile prices
will be raised before Autumn will send
many buyers into dealers sales rooms.
Higher prices are virtually certainty
within the next six months.
A good index for the immediate
future for the industry is always to
be found in the operations Of body and
accessory manufacturers. And right
now they are stepping along in the
march for greater production. One OF
the Detroit body makers has orders on
hand today that will keep plants busy
at top speed for the next three months.
With many old employees being called
back to work. there is only one ad-
ditional touch needed to give the au-
tomotive picture a highly rosy hue.
That touch is an increase in wage
scales-an increase that would strength
en- buying power not only in Detroit
but elsewhere in the country And
to tell the truth. one hears gossip that
a boost in wages in some of the Detroit
factories is not an impoesibility.
(Copyrieht, 1880