Rush to Buy

Whatever ails U.S. auto sales is apparently not contagious. When the nine-day International Auto Show in Manhattan's Coliseum closed its doors this week, exhibitors totted up more than $25 million in sales, were so enthusiastic that some were raising their U.S. sales goals. From the very first sale only ten minutes after the show was first opened (a $24,985 Rolls-Royce), more than 200,000 visitors kept salesmen busy writing orders for the 60 cars of all sizes and shapes on exhibition from seven countries (U.S., Great Britain, West Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and Czechoslovakia).

Many of the cars were scooped up by dealers anxious to cash in on the sudden rise in the popularity of small foreign cars, whose chromeless lines are a far cry from Detroit's behemoths. But retail sales also zipped along at supermarket speed. Jaguar sold its entire yearly production of 2,100 of its new XK 150 ($5,000) and the six-month production of its Mark VIII sedan, decided on the spot that it will be able to sell 12,000 cars in the U.S. next year instead of the projected 7,500. West Germany's Autounion sold 762 cars, and France's Simca took orders for 26 cars in the over-$3,000 range. The smallest full car in the show, West Germany's buglike Goggomobil (starting at $1,095), sold 10,000 models at both wholesale and retail.

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