The Year of Multiplicity

With all five U.S. auto companies set to swing into production of 1962 cars, Detroit last week was talking of the "Year of Multiplicity." The 1961 choice of 352 different models was more than the ordinary car buyer's imagination could cope with. With the 1962s, the number of models on sale will hit an alltime high of 400--and more may come if the auto manufacturers follow through on their talk of bringing out Volkswagen-sized models later in the year.

Bargain Bait. Prime reason for the multiplication of models is that Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and Studebaker-Packard have all decided to introduce "intermediate" models bigger than their compacts but smaller than their standard cars. In addition, virtually every make will have a "pizazz" model (TIME, July 21) to satisfy the public's craving for bucket seats and floor-mounted manual gearshifts. All this diversity worries the automakers because it shaves their profits with higher manufacturing costs. Yet they are racing headlong into it in the hope that with a year of frank experimentation they can find one car size that suits the majority of buyers and around which they can stabilize future markets.

Some auto executives fear that instead of clarifying matters, the proliferation of names and models may merely confuse potential buyers. But despite 1961's model deluge, auto dealers are going into fall in the best shape in years. By the beginning of September, stocks of unsold cars are expected to be down to 655,000, v. 888,000 last year. And only 545,000 of the September stocks will be 1961--none too many to suit the dealers, who like to have a few of the previous year's models left as bargain bait for customers who do not like the new styles.

Smiling Seers. All that clouded the Detroit scene was the question of whether Walter Reuther's United Auto Workers would cripple the industry with a strike if no new wage agreements have been reached when the present contract expires Aug. 31. So far, the talks have not yet settled down to the bedrock issues of wages, pensions and supplemental unemployment benefits. The only company proposal--a form of profit sharing that the U.A.W. termed "interesting"--has come from American Motors.

But despite the approach of the contract deadline, the automakers stoutly deny reports that they have been reducing their steel purchases as a hedge against a shutdown. Brushing aside all strike talk, top automen confidently predict high sales for 1961-3 fourth quarter --partly because of buyer concern that the Berlin crisis may divert next year's auto steel to defense. And for 1962, Detroit seers happily foresee more than 6,500,000 car sales--roughly equivalent to booming 1960 and second only to 1955's record 7,200,000 sales.

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