Evening Star Newspaper, January 27, 1929, Page 101

T L e 'WILLYS FORESEES CONTINUED GROWTH ' Saturation Point in Car Sales Looks Like Vanishing Mark, He Says. Continued growth of the automobile industry may be expected for many | years to come, in the opinion of John N. Willys, president of the Willys-Over- land Co: and chairman of the foreign trade committee of the National Auto- mobile Chamber of Commerce. Numer- ous factors, he declared, have combined | to make the much-discussed saturation | poilnt look like a vanishing point at present. Specifically, the Toledo manu- facturer cited the discovery that used cars could be accepted as part payment on new cars, installment selling, re- moval of the excise tax, car-per-person ownership, and the recent swift expan- sion of sales in foreign counbries. “It was all of 15 years ago that the “saturation point’ began to be regarded with interest and alarm,” said Mr. Willys. “Each year at automobile show time the question of saturation come: up for discussion. Meanwhile, how- ever, the market has continued to ab sorb more automobiles. The industry passed the 4,500,000 production mark in , 1928, and has an excellent prospect of reaching 5,000,000 in 1929. Whenever the mythical saturation point seems to be near, some new impetus arrives to drive it away. _ “The first sales stimulant of impor- tance was the discovery that used cars could be accepted by dealers as part payment on a new car, and that a market existed for the used car. In the train of this discovery came the dem- onstration that owners were willing to trade in their cars, even while the ve- hicles still possessed good transporta- tion value, to acquire up-to-date mod- els. This factor has had an extraordi- nary influence on volum:. Good Roads Great Aid. i ‘Good roads campaigns formed an- other great ald to the growth of the | automotive industry. Invariably where good roads are built the sales of motor | cars increase. To date the United States Government has borne half the ! cost of 71,000 miles of hard-surfaced | highways, and the States and counties, without Federal aid, have constructed | many thousands of miles of additional good roads. Annual highway appro- | priations are likely to increase rather than decrease, for good roads have | proven themselves to | most important public benefits. “Development of a workable financing i*nlan for the installment buyer has been ot untold value in enlarging the motor | market. Between 50 and 60 per cent of the cars sold in the United States are paid for in installments. I recently | observed that Lord Beaverbrook of the London Daily Express is advocating t wider use of the typical American THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, JANUARY 27, 1929—PART AUTO BRIEFS | Lambert-Hudson Motors Co. an- nounced this week the appointment of the Neumeyer Motor Co. as associate dealers, selling Hudson and Essex auto- mobiles, ~with showrooms _recently opened at 1344-46 Connecticut avenue northwest. TWO.CARFAMILY {Two-Home Owners Find Transportation Needed for Business and Recreation. In the fast changing panorama of our national life, the luxuries of today often become the necessities of tomor- row, according to Harry J. New, &s- sistant general sales manager of Dodge ros, Owning a single automobile not so many years ago was virtually synony- mous with the height of luxury. This idea soon gave way to a realization that demands made by modern business and social obligations could not be met without speedy transportation. i ‘Today approximately 23,000,000 cars {and trucks are being operated on United tates highways, and in the general process of automotive evolution, America :sml;(-‘comlng a Nation of “two-car fam- Moderate Price Car Favored. ‘This transition traced to the advent of the high-grade automobile in the moderate priced field. Prosperity has popularized the motor car which com- bines sturdiness, dependability and beauty with low price, economical op- eration and comfortable riding qual- ities. ~Quick acceleration and easy handling in city traffic also are dis- tinguishing features. This is the auto- mobile the average owner is buying to- day, and in most familities where one high-priced car served the transporta- tion needs of the entire household a few years ago, a definite trend has been established toward two or more less expensive automobiles. With the “two-car family” came the growth of the outdor movement and development of the “two-home fam- ilies"—city residents who have their week end homes in the country within a reasonable distance of the large urban centers. ‘They are not all wealthy. As a mat- ter of fact, a majority are in moderate circumstances. They have apartment homes in _town. Several hours away they spend their week ends. Two cars make it possible for both homes to operate independently with automotive transportation, without the complicated and tedious trips by train or steamer. Often these retreats are built by the owners; perhaps a one-room shack, its main beauty an open fireplace. Access to these places has been made easy by development of the automobile. The amazing in_the outdoor finance plan in the British Empire. ' Viewed in its broadest economic as- i pects, installment selling effects a real economy, for with it volume has been increased so that prices of motor cars have been reduced to figures that far offset; the comparatively small financing | ,, The = the costs. “The industry enters 1929 with an advantage- that has not existed for 10| This years. I refer to the entire elimination of the excise tax on passenger cars. is equivalent to a reduction in price without loss to the manufacturer, the dealer, the salesman or the buyer. “In any discussion of the saturation |t | point we must not overlook the increas- g tendency of families to own two or | more cars. This is a big source of | increasing business, as are fleet sales, ! rly to companies who have i sales forces traveling by motor car. Export Sales Expand. “Now we are entering a period of el in the vast foreign markets. Few realize that in | the year just en the manufacturers of American automobiles exported 10 | times as many cars and trucks as they | produced for both domestic and foreign markets in 1908. American quantity | production methods have given this country a leadership in the automobile i field that cannot be challenged. “The responsibilities entailed by this ! intetnational leadership, I am happy to say, are being gravely regarded by the directing heads of America’s individual | automobile manufacturing companies. Export departments under competent ! men are backed by managing executives : who for the most part make it a regu- ! lar practice to visit foreign countries, , In the development of foreign trade the American automobile industry is conducting itself in a manner that is winning friends and willing customers in all parts of the world. What the ; motor industry has done for America 1t can do for Europe, Asia, Africa, South + America, Australia—it can conquer deserts, turn the world’s wildernesses o into farms, and bring nations to a bet- ter understanding of each other. “In March Herbert Hoover becomes | President of the United States. He is America’s first public leader to bring | into the White House an international | outlook and an extensive international experience. His South American tour | is an advance indication of the kind of ! sympathetic assistance the Nation's ex- ) mrt. activities will receive. Directly and i indirectly the world-wide knowledge possessed by Mr. Hoover may be ex- | pected to have an impressive and last- ing influence on the relations between American industries and the people of | other countries. “With all these active and varied in- | fluences at work, the shadow of the saturation point has been pushed back | until it appears to be nothing but a vanishing point.” EUROPE BUILDING HIGHWAY SYSTEM Spain and Italy Making Strides to Perfect Road- ways, Two developments of utmost im- portance are now taking place in Yurope, reports Frank L. Hambly, ex- port manager of an automobile com- + pany, who has returned from a three- month tour of Europe, during which ! he visited foreign representatives of the company and attended the two great international automobile shows, the Paris Salon and the Olympia Show, in London. European countries, Mr. Hambly said, are now engaged in tremendous pro- grams of highway development which growth movement has followed the marketing of the moderately priced car. Linked with development of the “two-car fam- ilies” has been the rise of suburban property values for miles outside metro- politan centers. two-car family is not confined to urban centers, but is prevalent also in the small town and rural districts. was shown by the large number of owners with two cars in their s, who pointed out - the advantage of owning two or more automobiles by the same manufacturer and having but one dealer ind one service department to New York Car Deaths Drop.. . Pitisburgh-has the best comparative record, with 170 fatalities this year, compared with 209 a year ago. New York for the first time had a decline in its motor fatalities, dropping from 1,095 to 1,071, Detroit registered a de- crease from 398 to 351, San Prancisco from 159 to 135. - MOVEMENT GAINS “GOLDALATED" CAR ‘SUORNED BY RAH 7John Willys Declares Auto Is Necessity Today, Instead of Being Luxury. TOLEDO (#).—An Indian mahara- | jah's scorn of press accounts which at- tribute novel characteristics to_his royal automobiles typifies to John N. Willys | the spirit of world-wide acceptance of motor vehicles as necessities instead of luxuries. The Toledo automobile manufacturer, who, as chairman of the National Au- tomobile Chamber of Commerce foreign trade committee, has completed a sur- vey of export conditions, says the future of the motor industry hinges upon the recognition of automobiles as necessi- ties. In order that American automobile manufacturers may not,have any fanci- ful ideas as to the tybe of motor ve- hicles purchased by the ruling princes of India, one of the maharajahs wrote: “We ruling princes of India cannot buy a standard motor car without after- ward reading that it has an ivory steering wheel, a jeweled carburetor or a completely fitted cocktail shaker in the rear axle. “The automobile is mot a pleasure car. It is something which we buy for utilitarian purposes.” “In that statement,” Mr. Willys says, “is summed up the whole philosophy of a major change which has been taking place the last few years in the world attitude toward the motor vehicle. “That the Indian prince is not alone in his viewpoint and that our export | trade in motor vehicles has become sta- | bilized along business lines are facts | capable of demonstration. In the first eight months of 1928 approximately 360,000 motor vehicles manufactured in the United States were sold for ex- port out of a total production of about 2,700,000 units.” In other words, one out of every seven cars built here was distributed around the world . for adaptation to transportation uses of other people in other countries. This volume could not have been maintained, Mr. Willys be- lieves, if the automobile was purely an article for pleasure. “The influence exerted by this move- ment on the stabilization of employ- ment here and the continuance of a large domestic output cannot be disre- garded by any student interested in the continuance of sound general business conditions,” he says. CONTINUED U. S. LEAD IN CAR OUTPUT SEEN Ability to Produce Machinery at Lowest Cost Is Given as Reason. | | ‘The impetus that new transportation methods have bestowed on twentieth century civilization establishes still more forcefully that the three prime fundamentals of education, publication and transportation underlie, in great measure, all human progress and de- velopment the world over, according to E. C. Morse, head of Chrysler exports. “It devolves on the United States to motorize the world,” he said. “Not only. will this country continue to sup- ply the vast majority of all automobiles, but also the motor trucks or lorries, as they are mostly known overseas, and airplanes. “The redson is simple. The United States leads.the world in the produc- tion of m:zm"eryn lowest cost. There- fore it can supply better machinery- made articles of this nature than any other country. The last word in the natural law of economics is that the best at Jowest cost is always sought for and in demand. “With this tremendous opportunity before them, American . manufacturers Driving Ease Is Held Significant Of the 1929 Automobile Development Many innovations in automobile de- sign will capture the fancy of the mo- toring public now that the curtain has been raised on the complete line of cars the wheel of the latest model will the real significance of 1929 progress be- come evident. It will require actual ac- quaintance with these new products to focus attention to the fact that never before have automotive engineers been so skillful in meeting the problem of simplifying driving. Motordom recognizes that with traffic already a J:mblem and new responsibili- ties placed on the driver dally it is no longer good business to expect him to keep his mind on details in the opera- tion of various units of the car. Guided by this thought the engineers have con- centrated on making the controls and operation of the car more automatic than ever before, while the manufac- turers have attended to their job of bringing these new developments to the public with no premium by way of higher prices. “When a driver has so many respon- sibilities while at the wheel, why ask him to be an expert in the operation of so detailed a control as the carbu- retor choke?” motordom asked. The industry quickly responded by offering several 1929 models with an arrange- ment that prevents the driver from get- ting into difficulties by overchoking the engine. If he does the wrong thing the control mechanism itself corrects this, with the result that instead of the en- gine going into a prolonged stall it goes into action just as though it had been operated by a skilled mechanic, Automatic Choke, Another large manufacturer of cars offers an arrangement whereby the choke automatically sets the throttle during the cranking process. If the driver forgets to open the throttle a little, or is inclined to open it too wide, his inexperience in this respect will have no bearing on results. The instant he pulls out the choke valve the throttle is set at the efficient point. If the en- gine fails to start it is noct because choke and throttle have not been han- dled properly. Both of these arrangements have dawned upon motordom with the turn of the year, but probably it will not be until the motoring season is fully ad- vanced that their full significance will be sensed. The trend of the times is such that within another year many of the favorite tricks with skilled drivers will be about as superfluous as knowing how to crank an engine by hand. “Double clutching,” one of the most for 1929, but not until America takes |ds son why spark control has been made automatic on so many cars is because the driver of today is given headlight control in its place. When a means of controlling the lights automatically is evelo] motorists probably will wit- ness the passing of the headlight lever on the steering wheel only to find some- thing new by way of controlling an even more important matter in driving. Several years ago those who took demonstrations in cars were sometimes surprised to watch the antics of the salesman when the engine stalled, a situation that was apt to happen if a car had been standing for some time in the service station. He would step on the starter for a minute or two, but, oddly enough, would not touch the choke or the throttle. To the inexperi- enced this seemed like making a very senseless effort at recranking the en- gine, but after this period of mere cranking the salesman would suddenly pull out the choke, raise the gas lever and the engine would start. Perhaps he would explain that he was automatically refilling an emptied vacuum tank, or he é?‘l‘gl;t Just leave the passengers mys- led. ‘Today the widespread use of fuel pumps, and the use of double or triple capacity tanks, where vacuum systems are retained, renders this occasional gas shortage virtually impossible. The car- buretor gets its gas automatically at all times and no skill is required of the driver in the process. Through the use of springs in tne drive line, and various cushioning de- vices, the operator does not need to be so gentle in engaging the clutch or feeding the gas. This development is not offered as a license to abuse the car, but it does serve to enable the driver to give his undivided attention to the more pressing problems of to- day’s driving without penalty of a re- pair bill should he let in the clutch too suddenly. “Rideproof” Clutch Seen. ‘There are those who see in these de- | velopments early introduction of a {clutch that will not be damaged if the driver “rides” it. Since the earliest days operators have been warned against keeping the left foot poised on the clutch pedal, the habit being especially ‘harmful to plate or disc clutches and always a strain on the clutch throwout mechanism. Many drivers, however, feel that they like to have the foot ready for action. “A “rideproof” clutch doubtless will be forthcoming. An experimental braking system which has attracted considerable at- i tention has the outstanding feature that it is not damaged by being used while the car is in motion. This not only makes forgetfulness less costly, but DOWN THE ROAD—Actions You Instantly Regret. WHEN YOU DECIDED TO TAKE. A CHANCE AND PASS A CAR ON A BLIND CURVE, g (Copyright 1929 by Pran) AND MET A TRUCK. 27777, i e ) should make a careful and scientific analysis of the overseas markets with a view to standardizing engineering and production operations, sales and ad- vertising methods, and finance or credti procedure. Only by these methods is it possible for American manufacturers to deliver to the overseas markets the best possible product at the lowest pos- sible cost. This not only rebounds to the advantage of the American manu- facturer, but is helpful to the overseas markets, which are in need of American motor cars, lorries, tractors and other equipmrent necessary to the greater de- velopment of their resources.” FOUR LEFT OUT OF 31. Survivors of First Auto Show in| New York Described. Four makes survive of 31 displayed at New York's first auto show 28 years ago. Eight were steam driven, eight electric | and 15 by gasoline motors. Twelve of the 15 gasoline cars were fitted with single cylinder motors, two with two cylinder and one had three cylinders. In this year's display there were 300 different models of 46 different makes. D. . EXPERT URGES Capt. Whitehurst Says Auto Traffic Is Forcing Revision of Streets. Complete revision of street-buillding principies is being forced by moders automobile traffic demands, sécording to Capt. H. C. Whitehurst, head of the city officials’ division of the American Road Builders’ Association and Assist- ant Engineer Commissioner of Wash- ington, D. C. ‘Twenty billion square yards is given by Capt. Whitehurst as the total volume of improved streets over which from & few hundred to thousands of cars travel daily. Capt. Whitehurst urges that accurate cost records be kept so cities may know whether or not street appropriations are belng spent to the best advantage, and so that the most efficient and eco- nomical construction and upkeep meth- ods may be selected. In this connection, highway authori- ties are agreed that the poor pavements permitted to exist in nearly all cities are costing more through excessive up- keep and car costs than if they were to be replaced by surfaces more in keeping with present-day traffic. Detours are held to be even more costly to city motorists, through lost time and inconvenience, than they are to rural motorists. Practically all cities could relieve traffic congestion through the smooth paving of parallel I arteries, it is pointed out. CAPITOL IS USEFUL. Wisconsin Edifice Used for Social and Legislative Purposes. MADISON, Wis. (#).—Wisconsin's capitol is used for everything from uni- versity proms to a ski 3 Ordinarily, of course, it is used for political programs: Inaugurations and legislative sessions, For many years it was the scene of the junior prom of the University of Wisconsin. This Winter snow was piled high on the northwest steps. Madison -boys took 1.1:“ intage of the steep chute for ski- the thrilling Airplane feel of the new FRANKLIN now presented at amazing low prices Franklin—always the pioneer—has again announced a revolutionary advancement in motor cars. This time air-cooling has made possible the most astonishing performance motorists have ever known. Here, in an entirely new line of cars, Franklin presents a new thrill to youth—to the seasoned road driver—and : - even to the aviator. For in the tremendous reserve power, the rocket pick up, the zooming road speed, the soaring smoothness and the cloud-like riding comfort, there is a different 2180 24%") air-cooled motor. Sedan price-§2180 at factory. The One-Thirty A spacious car of tradi- tional Franklin quality; powered by a high come- pression, six-cylinder (8% 2485 cylinder, air-cooled motor a%”-g!i'fi. ‘The Sedan priced at $2485=at factory. and astounding performance that actually has the fee/ of driving an airplane. Even in the take-off of the Franklin the new silent transmission affords instant speed and extreme quietness. With its greatly advanced performance, its modern beauty and its sensational new low prices, Fraoklin is easily the most outstanding value at the Show. See bodies; added lux: ally commedie wide 2775: this beautiful car—and arrange to drive it. You'li then learn the airplane feel of the Franklin—the most unique and thrilling driving experience today. The One-Thirty-Five wheelbase; larger The One-Thirty-Seven types — ammswa sllont transmission: pewered larger mioter. Sedan priced at §2775—at factery. difficult, feats for the average driver, is | blotted out of the picture altogether by | the advent of iransmission gears that | means that overworked brakes will not prove to be impaired in efficiency when used in an emergency. may be expected to bring about a still greater increase in export sales from this. country by permitting more pop- ular use of the automobile abroad. “Within the next few years Spain will possess a highway system which will compare favorably with any in Europe,” he continued. “Also making rapid strides in this direction, Italy is . busily engaged in the construction of a number of high-speed roadways be- tween important cities. These ‘auto- strada,” as they are known, are smooth and wide, permitting travel at high speeds in comparative safety. A fur- ther margin of safety is obtained by the elimination of cross-roads, access 1o the through routes being gained only by toll-gates along the way.” can be meshed with nothing more by way of skill than pressing down the clutch pedal and moving the gear shift lever to the desired position. This ap- plies whether one is driving uphill or down. The speed of the gears to be meshed synchronize themselves auto- matically, so that the driver is not obliged to press out the clutch twice, at the same time speeding up the engine while passing the shift lever through the neutral position. Plenty Left for Driver. ‘The new development does not mean that the driver will have nothing to do at the wheel. It is recognized that he is being given new duties and that irf — . A National highw system will re- duce the cost of living and promote National security. order to perform these properly he must be relieved of those which can best be taken care of mechanically. One rea- ~ i Everything is being done to make it easler to recrar’: stalled engines. One car features a magnetic starter button on the instrument panel. Another uses the horn button as a stdrter, the driver merely pulling up for cranking instead of pushing down as for horning. Very 'iew motorists realize that the increased power of brakes has resulted in more frequent engine stalling than has pre- vailed for several years past. Edsier re- cranking is thus a new problem. ‘Trained not to press out the clutch until he is just about ready to stop, the average driver with the latest cars stops so quickly his car is stock still before remembers to press out the clutch. But 1929 cranking saves the day. Never before has the automobile in- dustry taken the driver into account so successfully, FRANKILII & NEW AIR-COOLED CAR WATH THE AIRPLAME FRANKLIN MOTOR CAR CO. ON DISPLAY AT THE AUTO SHOW ALL THIS WEEK HARRY W. BURR SALESROOM—1517 CONN. AVE. N.W, SERVICE—1909 M ST. N.W.