The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-12-14
MOTOR MAKERS
PRAISE CHANGE
IN OUTPUT DATE
Automobile Manufacturers
Surprised at Sales
in November.
This is the last of three articles on
the automobile Industry
BY JOHN w. LOVE
Times Special Writer

Cpctiai "hhNN
DETROIT, Dec. 14.-When the
motor dukes unanimously agreed to
bring out their new models in the
autumn a good many people had
their doubts.
True, four or five cars had always
come out in the fall, and their COM
panies liked the arrangement. But
nobody could be sure how it would
work with the whole industry fol-
lowing the saI1e idea.
Today there is no question that
the plan is grand SucceSS-th1s
time The novelty may be putting
it over, and then again the presence
of what looks very like an old
| fashioned cyclical recovery of busi-
ness is undoubtedly contributing to
the demand for cars.
Auto Shows Are Success
Manufacturers are waiting to see
how many used cars pile up in the
dealers warehouses before they will
be sure of the outcome of the ex-
pertinent. They won't know until
February. The sale of used cars is
more seasonal now than the sale of
new.
Despite all that, the companies
are surprised at the November sales
to customers. Chrysler's sales
through all divisions are two-thirds
of the way back to summers peak,
and climbing.
The New York auto show was
said to have sold more cars than
the one last January. Sales were
higher in the Chicago show also.
Of the 100000 cars the COM
panies expect to have turned out
in the last quarter of this year,
about 100000 are not expected to
be sold. These will be carried over
into 1886 to be ready for the peak
demand in the spring.
First Proposed in 1929
If this much of the years normal
spring production can thus be
turned out prematurely, in the win
ter, and employment stabilized to
that extent. the experiment will
have accomplished all that the man
ufacturers expected of it the first
year.
This effort to stabilize the indus
try was one of the fruits of NRA 1t
was suggested by Alexander Sachs,
NRA statistician. Years before, in
1929, John Scoville, economist of the
Chrysler Corp, had proposed it in a
Detroit News article. He suggested
doing away with the January show.
At the New York show Alfred P.
Sloan Jr., chairman of General Mo-
tors, is said to have told friends he
believed the industry would never
hold another January show.
An unlooked-for effect of the
earlier models and their earlier pro-
duction is the disturbance it has
caused in statisticianS' charts Of
business recovery.
Statistics to Be Altered
The earlier production of cars
has raised the demand for steel and
other materials at a time when
they and car sales are usually fall
ing. The statisticians had all this
taken care of in their charts by the
use of seasonal corrections, but the
effect now is in reverse, and shows
an increase much faster than it
would be without the correction"
So we are likely to think from
looking at chart that we are re-
viving faster than we really are.
The relationship of profits to
sales has been complex in recent
years, but appears to show that the
same volume of business can not
support the same profit. The pro-
portion of net earnings to net sales
was highest in 1928, at 1874 per cent
for the industry. In 1882 the in
dustry made a deficit, and in 1884
a profit of 81 per cent.
For several years, too many ia
record here, return to a 5000, 900
car production probably would not
yield Is per cent on the sales, but
the prices of shares might be higher
than they were in 1923.