November 28, 1918 
LAND fe? WATER 
19 
On the Making of New Style Motor Cars: 
By H. Massac Buist 
THE carr^'ing out of the armistice conditions 
assures us that, come -what may, world warfare 
is at an end for this generation. Hence the 
majority of motorists are interested concerning 
the time at which it shall be possible for them 
to studv at first hand the progress of motor-carriage design 
which has been achieved as a result of the motor industry 
in Europe having diverged its activities to war purposes for 
full four years of unprecedentedly rapid and successful 
developments. The regular issue of standardised cars from 
British factories is governed by a variety of factors, the 
chief of which may be set forth briefly. 
.jScarcely two firms in the industry are finding themselves 
in precisely the same case as regards their contracts for 
war work. 
jNevertheless, all makers find themselves in the same case 
in regard to tlie cost of the labour for making post-war cars. 
Ta3y have baaa prepared for war rates to rule at least for 
the 1919 production season ; but they discover that an 
advance of anather five shillings a week has just been made 
coiiJjlsjry. This is utterly confusing in that such a develop- 
mjit affa:ts the cost of raw materials to an unknown extent. 
Tusrefore it is next to impossible to ascertain to-day what 
will bs the cost of miking any given type of 1919 car. 
As in time of peace, so during war and its aftermath, a 
very appreciable portion of the firms composing the motor 
irii-i-.tr/ doss not lead in matters of design. Such prefer to 
wilt a'id s^^ whit other mmufacturers are doing, observing 
wilt d23;ree of popularity each effort achieves. Conse- 
cjuiitly, it is a fact that to-day some British makers have 
no tras post-war motor carriages even in the experimental 
stage, though those will not necessarily be the last to put 
nsiv-mxde cars on the road. They may either have pre- or 
eirlv-svir miiils ; for example, those intended for introduc- 
tion to the mirket in November, 1914, when the yearly 
m )tor show in London was abandoned for the first time. 
Su=h typss of vehicles can be put on the road quite quickly. 
Problems of Lost Proportions 
• Obviously, the more highly skilled and the greater the 
reputation of a motor manufacturing enterprise in the pre- 
war period, the more important the part it has been able 
to play in bringing victory. Consequently, the greater its 
prob'.e.-n of changing over, as the process of bringing a factory 
bick to norrail conditions is styled. In this connection it 
mist be had in mind that there is scarcely a motor manu- 
facturing concern in the country that has not had its works 
completely remodelled, alike as regards equipment and the 
purpose to w.hich given shops are put. Even the pre-war 
proportions of departments one to another have been entirely 
upset. Most factories have at least double the capacity 
to-day they had before the war. Some have expanded 
untilthey are more than five times as great ; but not in 
ratio one department to another: On the contrary, new 
depart maits have been added, old departments have been 
entirely dismantled and put to quite different uses, and in 
not a few cases large numbers of specialists have drifted to 
other factories. Such are distributed to-day all over the 
couitry. Thus to return to the necess.vry proportions alike 
of michinery and of workers requisite for car production is 
a very big undertaking indeed. 
Every firm in the motor-carriage business before the war is 
kesn to retain, and even develop, its connection ; but the 
Government measures in regard to labour costs and con- 
tractors' liabilities leave responsible heads of industrial con- 
cerns no option but to consider each his own case and see 
what is the soundest course possible to steer for the time 
being. It must be had in mind that, certainly, the operation 
of the E.xcess Profits Duty does not tend to leave our manu- 
facturers in a financial condition at all enviable. This one 
can judge at any moment merely by asking oneself : What 
would be tht state of the said firms if, instead of being called 
upon to pay away such vast sums out of profits gained from 
dislocating their businesses and involving themselves in 
huge capital outlay, they had paid equal sums to share- 
holders by way of dividends ? Obviously, boards of directors 
acting in any such fashion would be dismissed from the 
olfi-:e at the earliest meeting subsequent to such procedure. 
Much More Capital Needed for Motor Making 
That this is no idle notion will be sufficiently plain when 
it is discovered in the course of a few months that a large 
number of our motor-manufacturing enterprises, in common 
with otherguess industrial concerns, will have to go to the 
public for "extra money to finance their undertakings on the 
scale to which they have been expanded. The Government 
has intimated that, up to last month, about /36,ooo,ooo had 
been advanced to firms for the purposes either of making 
munitions or of obtaining the materials to do so. Of that 
sum, j(|i7, 000,000 is recoverable as having been lent for the 
expansion of existing works or for the establishment of new 
ones. ;^7,ooo,ooo represents grants or other advances, a 
considerable part of which will be refunded to the extent 
of special allowances, which will be made to the firms by the 
Inland Revenue Commissioners under the Finance (No. 2) 
Act, 1915. 
Thus, at the conclusion of their war efforts, manufacturers, 
no group of whom is greater than those composing the motor 
industry, have to refund the Government some £17,000,000 
of money between them, largely for buildings and plant 
they have set up for Government purposes now lapsed. As 
an offset, they have only some £7,000,000 to be awarded 
between them all. Moreover, as none can tell what he will 
be allowed by the authorities, of course he cannot go to his 
banker and borrow money in advance to finance his present 
and immediate future enterprise. During the war one motor 
firm has borrowed as much as £10,000,000 from the Govern- 
ment. 
What are we to expect our more responsible motor manu- 
facturers to do in the circumstances ? They have orders 
that cannot be cancelled because the Government has yet 
a General Election to win ; therefore, it is currying favour 
with Labour, regardless of cost. They have four months 
from the commencement of the armistice in which to com- 
plete contracts in hand for aircraft engines, motor transport, 
and so forth. At the end of that period, work that has 
reached a certain stage of completion is to be finished. Thus, 
most motor carriage makers find themselves with practically 
six months' guarantee of the Government sharing their 
losses, if they have any. 
Six Months for New Style Cars 
In those circumstances, is it matter for wonder that the 
majority of the firms whose reputations as car-designers and 
manufacturers stand highest in this country will not be 
placing on the market standardised examples of their post- 
war cars for five and, many of them, for six months ; others 
even more ? The temporary loss of the market is a serious 
matter. It gives the opportunity to rivals. 
Many of the firms which are really going to introduce 
notable cars of the better qualities that will embody no pre"- 
war car scheme, but which will be in every sense of the term 
post-war cars, will not be able to entertain the idea of supply- 
ing the public for six months. That brings us to next 
summer. 
Plainly, therefore, the matter of importing cars will have'to 
be dealt with at an early date by the ne.xt Government. At 
the moment, however, we do not know what caste of politics 
is going to be elected on December 14th to govern the empire. 
On that will depend very largely the proposition as to how, 
under the absolutely artificial labour conditions obtaining 
in this country, motor-carriage makers will continue to 
produce vehicles which will compete in our own market, 
far less in the export markets of the world, with those made 
in other countries. 
At the moment the motor industry has no guarantee that 
it is to be regarded as a /'key" one. None knows whether 
American cars will flood the home market. They are about 
to issue in absolutely unprecedented quantities, in that the 
United States motor industry only turned wholly over to 
war work something less than eight weeks before the con- 
clusion of fighting. Consequently, the proposition of its 
returning to its normal activities is extraordinarily easy by 
comparison with the same problem in our own country, 
where our factories have been diverted for a matter of four 
years, at least. 
