Piccolo Six, Skoda Eight

"Against American automotive competition, Europe has just begun to fight!" Thus, vehemently, cried Minister of Commerce Anton Novak last week to Czech and Slovak motorists assembled in Prague for the inauguration of the Czechoslovak Automobile Club. Today U. S.-made cars imported into the Republic total more than one-third the number of cars produced within Czechoslovakia. Against this influx Czechoslovakia is struggling Piccolo withher home-made cars, the littlePiccolo Six ($800), the Zetka Six ($1,000), Tatra Two, Four orSix (top price $1,200), Praga Eight ($8,000 to $10,000), and the Skoda Eight ($8,000), made by the notorious old Skoda munitions plant, once the chief arsenal of Imperial Austria and still suspected of supplying arms to China. Czechoslovakia has bought the right to manufacture a lighter model of the internationally famed Hispano-Suiza Eight ($12,000). "Unless we raise our tariff against American automobiles," concluded M. Novak, "I fear that at least 20,000 workers in our new automotive Infant Industry will soon be out of their jobs." The Czechoslovak tariff on foreign motors is already 40% to 42%. The five U. S. makes which led, last year, in exports to Czechoslovakia were : Cadillac Packard Chrysler Ford Chevrolet trucks Soon the Skoda Arsenal will bring out a very light six in competition with Chevrolet, just as in China the Mukden Arsenal plans to compete with the British Baby Austin by building Baby Dragons (see p. 29).