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Show vjlLMI MARK SET Bl AUTOJNDUSTRY Buyers Pay $1,088,028,273 in Year for American-Made American-Made Cars. AVERAGE PRICE IS $672 Farmers Are Best Customers Cus-tomers for Passenger Vehicles. With giant strides that have no parallel in the industrial progress of America, the business of making and marketing automobiles passed the 51, 000,000, 000 mark in sales during the year 1916, with no indication of a decrease in the demand -for the reliable, service-giving, power-j10 power-j10 driven vehicle that has taken an imnor-tant imnor-tant place in the work of transporting rapidly and economically a big proportion of the citizens of this and other countries coun-tries of the world. Alfred Reeves, general manager of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Com-merce, has supplied figures that are a veritable romance in business and wfiieh t show that the sales last year exceeded 3 .'OO.OOfl passenger and freight-carrying automobiles, with a retail value of more than Sl.OO'i.ooo.OOO and an average price of approximately The average for passenger vehicles was $605 and for (rucks S1S09. These vehicles were 'made by more than 400 companies and sold by 30,Hio dealers throughout the United States and foreign countries, for motor ear exports in lfilB will reach a value of more than 96,000,000 at wholesale, exclusive ex-clusive of parts and accessories. Competition Destroys Many. "While the manufacturer has supported in royal fashion the new creed of cooperative co-operative competition in the matter of standardization, simplifying and perfecting perfect-ing motor cars to be offered at the lowest possible price so as to interest the greatest great-est number of people," said Mr. Reeves, "the competition for trades has been of 1 CHRIS NOHR -7" " f7 i " I" s - . s . it fx r is f "&d With Capital Auto Body company. I J. P. FOWLER r -t President and manager J. P. Fowler Manufacturing company Regal, Monroe. the fiercest kind, the path during the past five years being strewn with the financial finan-cial wrecks of more than 400 companies, showing that only the strongest in men, methods, materials, money and machinery have been able to survive. "To be exact, the available figures compiled com-piled by the National Automobile Chamber Cham-ber of Commerce for consideration at the seventeenth national automobile show In Grand Central Palace, New York, shows a production for 1916 of 1,525,578 passenger passen-ger cars and 92,130 trucks or commercial vehicles a grand total of 1,617,708 vehicles. ve-hicles. The passenger cars were valued at $921,378,000, while the trucks show S166.650.273, or a total of 51.0SS.O28, 273. which Is the retail price paid for vehicles by American and foreign buyers. Of this number, exports for 1916 will amount to 58,000 passenger cars and 20,000 trucks, at a total value of $96,662,000, this latter being the wholesale figure. Farmers Biggest Buyers. "To those who study the situation there is nothing strange about the rapid increase in the sale of. motor vehicles, although al-though it Is a source of amazement to many people who have figured motor car sales in comparison with the number of people who had incomes of $1500 or more. They overlooked the tremendous advantage advan-tage of the motor car to salesmen, contractors con-tractors and others in general business, and particularly to farmers, who have been the biggest buyers of motor cars during the past couple of years. Thus we find a real answer to this automa-bile automa-bile trade prosperity In the magic word, 'service.' Just as long as the motor car fan transport the individual or transport freight more rapid ly and at lower cost than any other type of vehicle, just so long will this country and the balance of the world continue to use motor cars in increasing numbers. The automobile is now a public utility to be classed with street cars, electric lighting and the telephone, tele-phone, and rendering a service on a par with those important requirements of civilization. "Just how many motor cars can be used in this country, aside from the balance of the world, has been a source of discussion discus-sion in and out of the trade, with estimates esti-mates so far out of line that even the closest students of the Industry have given up the task. No one can really tell. At first we said 1,000. M0 cars. Then as cars got better and prices lower, we raised the estimate to 2,000.000. Then came the wildest kind of estimates and i the figures put at 3.000,000. but this has been passed, and now there are about ! 3. 500.000 automobiles running and regls- I tered in the various states, with apparent- ly no decrease in the demand. Trucks Coming Into Own. "There are increasing uses for pas-.senger pas-.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 the construction con-struction of expensive so-called 'feeder lines.' Motor vehicles must supplant a big part of (he 24,000,000 horses now in use in this country. "It is most gratifying to leaders of the industry to know that their efforts to supply the best in motor cars at prices within the reach of millions has been appreciated ap-preciated by an increasing number of buyers, very few of whom have a thought of leaving the ranks of motor car owners, own-ers, and with others more and more acknowledging ac-knowledging the need they have for power-driven vehicles. "Production Is certain to go on at a stronger rate, 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 companies 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." |