Evening star., 1934-01-28

retail price, consideration which will
become all the more important with
the upward trend in gasoline prices.
The motorist may not be safety con-
scious when he enters the sales room,
but safety is the one thing that he
does want. Congested city streets, fast
travel on the open road and stops in
split seconds make it imperative that
the cars of today be designed to as
sure maximum safety for both oper-
ators and pedestrians That engineers
realize this is evidenced by the prog
ress that has already been made in
such things as four-wheel brakes, in
creased braking surface, non-skid tires,
improved steering, shatter-proof glass,
improved headlamps and lower centers
of gravity. They may be expected to
do more in the future.
The Importance of safety is en-
phaslzed by recent developments in con-
nection with speed laws. Twenty-Five
States have removed speed limits and
number have raised the maximum
speed. Naturally the motorist expects
car that will enable him to keep pace
with the traffic. 1t is encouraging,
however, to find that the manufacturers
are more and more stressing the speed
of their vehicles from the standpoint of
reserve power, rather than from the
standpoint of enabling operators to
move with the wind.
Appearance is also important. It is
usually the thing that first attracts the
eye of the prospective buyer, and causes
him to look into the other features of
new models. The result is that even the
lowest priced car Of today is much more
attractive than its blooded brothers of
few years ago. Streamlining Is, of
course the modern way of giving the
new cars sweep and dash never an
ticipated by the builders of bygone
years.
And when he buys a new car the
consumer expects adequate service. Far
too many dealers are only "new-car
conscious and devote practically all
their energy to selling new models and
trade-inS which tie up a substantial
portion of their capital Too little time
is devoted D seeing to it that the owner
is kept satisfied with his purchase
through the maintenance of a compe-
tent service department. From the
standpoint Of motor age, the making
Of sales quota" is perhaps less i'm
portant than satisfied customer. This
is consideration to which both manu-
facturers and dealers should give close
study, with every assurance that 1t will
be to their mutual advantage and profit
Obviously, all the things that the
new-car buyer is looking for cannot be
covered in the brief space of this ar
ticle. I have mentioned only the more
outstanding. But these are enough to
demonstrate that the motorist will go
into the market as a qualified and crit
ical appraiser of the new models. Let
me summarize what he expects in ex-
change for his hard-earned dollars. He
expects and, of course, will find pocket
book appeal" in every line. He will in
sist that his 1884 car be durable, de-
pendable and comfortable. He wants a
car that represents new achievements
in simplified operation. He will demand
that it be economical to run. That it
must offer the utmost safety for its
users and be smart in appearance goes
without saying.
The fact that the industry is cogniz-
ant of all these demands and is pre-
pared to meet them in the face Of the
necessity for heavy capital outlays is in
itself tribute to the foresight Of the
leaders in the countrys great automo-
tive industry.