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Show if IobileIiput " PAST BILLION MARK Increase of 1916 Over 1915 Equal to 80 Per Cent. CiANT STRIDES SHOWN Total Retail Value of Motor Vehicles More Than Billion Dollars. vVith giant strides that have no par-aid par-aid in the industrial progress of Anerica, (ho business of making anrl mirketing automobiles passed the bil-lien bil-lien dollar mark in sales during the yeir 1916, with no indication of a de-erase de-erase in the demand for the reliable, RfrvKe-giving, power-dj-iven vehicle tint has taken an important place in tin work of transporting rapidly and ecjnomically a big proportion of the ctizens of this and other countries of tVj world. Alfred Reeves, general maoager N. A A. C, supplied figures yesterday tint are a veritable romance in busi-nss busi-nss and which fchow that the sales 1st year exceeded 1,600,000 passenger ad "f reight-carrvlng automobiles, with a retail value of more than .$ 1 ,000,-00,000, ,000,-00,000, and an average price ot ap-p-simately $072. Tho average for "Msenger vehicles was $605 and for Welts $1800. These vehicles were m.do by more than 400 companies and sod by .10,000 dealers throughout tho l ited States and foreign countries, fo motor car exports in .19115 will re.ch n value of more than $96,000,000 atwholesale, exclusive of parts and ac-cesorirs. ac-cesorirs. "While tho manufacturer ha.s sup-pnted sup-pnted in royal fashion the new- creed ol co-operative competition in tho matte mat-te of standardization, simplifying and prfecting motor cars to bo offered at b lowest possible price so as to in-tcest in-tcest the greatest number of peoplCj" sad Mr. Keevee, "the competition for 1adc has lecn of the fiercest kind, the ptli during tho past five years being srowo with tho financial wrecks of irro than 400 companies, showing that uJv the strongest in men, methods, mterials, money and machinery have ben able to survive. "To bo exact, the available figures cmpiJed by the National Automobile camber of commerce for consideration a the seventeenth national nutomo-lie nutomo-lie show in Grand Central Palace, iw York, show a production for J916 o l,o2.i,o7S passenger cars and 92,130 ticks or commercial vehicles,' a grand t al of 1, 617.70S vehicles. The pas- snngor oars wore valued at $921,378,-000, $921,378,-000, while the trucks show $16ti,ti50,'J73, or a tot ill of $1,08S 028, 27J, which ia the retail price paid r"or vehicles by American aud foreign buyers. Of this number, exports for 1916 will amount to fiS.OOO passenger pars and 20,000 trucks at a total value of $96,fili2,U00, this latter bein; the wholesale figure. "To those who study the situation." continued Mr. lieeves, "there is nothing noth-ing strange about the rapid increase in the sale of motor vehicles, although it is a source of amazement to many people peo-ple who have figured motor car sales in comparison with the number of people peo-ple who had incomes of $1500 or more. Thoy overlooked the tremendous advantage ad-vantage of tbe motor car to salesmen, contractors, and others in general business, busi-ness, and particularly to farmers, who have been the biggest buyers of motor cars during the past couple of years. Thus we hnd a real answer to this automobile au-tomobile trade prosperity in the magic word 'service' Just as long a.s tbe motor ear can transport the individual or transport freight more rapidly and at lower costs than any other typo of vehicle, just so long will this country and the baJance of the world continue to use motor cars in increasing numbers. The automobile is now a public utility util-ity to be classed with street ears, electric elec-tric lighting and the telephone, and rendering a service on a par with those important requirements ot civilization. Four Million Autos. "Just how many motor ears can be used in this country, aside from the balance of the world, has been a source of discussion in and out of tho trade with estimates so far out of line that even the closest students of the industry indus-try have , given up.the task. No one can really tell. At first we said a million mil-lion cars. Then as cars got better and prices lower, wo raised the estimate to two millions. Then came the wildest kind of estimates and the figures put at three millions, but this has been passed, and now there are about three and one-half million automobiles running and registered in the various sta tea, with apparently no decrease in the demand. de-mand. "There are increasing uses for pass-senger pass-senger or so-called pleasure cars in every part of the country, while trucks are just beginning to come into their own, with the practical certainty that a few years from now great quantities of freight will be moved on the highways by motor trucks which will also act as feeders to railroads, making unnecessary unneces-sary the construction of expensive so-called so-called 'feeder lines.1 Motor vehicles must supplant a big part of the twenty-four million horses now in use in this country. "Tt is most gratifying to leaders of the industry to know' that their efforts to supply he best in motor cars at E rices within the reach of millions has een appreciated by an increasing number of buyers, very few of whom have a thought of leaving the ranks of motor car owners and with others more and more acknowledging the need they have for power-driven vehicles. "Production is certain to go on at a ! stronger rate;" said the N. A. A. C. manager in conclusion, '" and while standardized to a marked degree in many parts, there will always be a great variety of designs in motor chassis and bodies and a large number of com-; com-; panies supplying them. It is fair to assume, however, that with the keen competition, only standard products of established and' well managed companies com-panies can be expected to survive in this business, now so firmly established and so generally recognized as one of the giants of industrial America." |
