Prices: the Same or Lower

As U.S. automakers all but completed introducing new models last week, the best news for prospective car buyers was not the styling, which was little changed, but the price. Automakers are not only keeping the price tags the same for most models, but in some cases are cutting them or bringing out lower-priced lines.

Chevrolet and Oldsmobile joined Buick and Cadillac (TIME, Oct. 3) in announcing no price increases for their standard cars. Studebaker-Packard said it would cut prices an average of $39 on its 1961 cars. Chrysler Corp. held the line on its Plymouths and Dodges and all but two series of the Imperial. It reduced the tags on its Valiant compacts by $19 on the economy series and $34 on the luxury models; Chevrolet trimmed $35 off its Corvair line. Pontiac introduced its new four-cylinder Tempest compact, which has a transaxle--a combination of transmission and axle in the rear--that almost completely eliminates the front-seat transmission hump. It set the factory list price for the four-door sedan at $1,975, or $200 below prices of the Buick Special and Oldsmobile F85 sedan compacts.

Four-Door Convertibles. Ford Motor Co. held the price line on most standard Fords but announced a lower-priced line of Mercurys. Ford moved Mercury down from the medium-priced field, once more underlining the sharp decline in sales of medium-priced cars, which have slipped from nearly 40% of the market in 1955 to only 19.6% this year. Mercury's new low-price series--the Meteor 600 and 800 --are built on the Ford chassis, use six-cylinder engines. Their factory list prices will start at about $2,150 (v. $2,389 for the lowest-priced 1960 Mercury).

For its perennial race against Cadillac (which is little changed for 1961) Ford brought out a smaller, sharply restyled Lincoln Continental, which resembles the original Continental. Lincoln has been so hard hit by declining sales (down 22% so far this year to 14,000 cars v. 12% gain by Cadillac to 110,000 cars) that production for 1961 is limited to two models: a four-door sedan and a four-door convertible, the first car of that type to be mass produced in the U.S. since Cadillac and Buick dropped their Phaetons in 1941.

Year's Guarantee. Ford sprang some other surprises. It became the first major U.S. automaker to give a written, twelvemonth or 12,000-mile warranty on all its cars (v. the standard three-month or 4,000-mile warranty). Three days later, General Motors and American Motors said they would also put twelve-month or 12,000-mile warranties in writing. Ford also announced a lubrication system which requires greasing only every 30,000 miles -v. a recommended 1,500 miles for most other U.S. autos. The new system uses a puttylike lubricant which is forced into plastic cases that sheath joints and bearings in the suspension and steering systems. It will be standard for 1961 Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns.

Never before had U.S. automakers turned out so many models over such a wide price range to choose from. The question was, how many cars would be sold in 1961? While General Motors has predicted car sales of 7,000,000, including 450,000 imports, Ford was more conservative. It estimated sales of 6.500,000 cars, including 450,000 imports, about the same as this year.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.