Shuffle & Cut

While labor negotiations at strike-bound Ford and the other auto companies wore on last week, a finale of sorts was reached in another regular Detroit drama: the annual reshuffling of new-model prices.

American Motors Corp., which had been the lone holdout in announcing its 1968 increases, led off the week's price play. The company declared an average 3.8%, or $89, boost in its compact Americans (now $1,923 for the two-door model) and medium-sized Rebels ($2,420 for the four-door sedan). Tagging its new Javelin sporty car at $2,459, A.M.C. also boosted the luxury Ambassador line by some $120, to $2,671, including now-standard air conditioning. With that, the company loosed another breezy salvo in its new ad campaign: "Either we're charging too little or everyone else is charging too much."

On the High Side. Within hours of the A.M.C. announcement, Chrysler trimmed the average $133 increase that it had set two weeks earlier to $101. The Chrysler shuffle, however, was less a reaction to the A.M.C. price schedule than an effort to get back in step with General Motors, which has a 53% share of the U.S. auto market and generally controls price trends. Both Ford and Chrysler set their prices before G.M. last year, only to be forced to double back when the leader came out later with a smaller increase. This time G.M. followed Chrysler's original 4.6% increase with an average boost of only 3.6%, or $110, which Ford cautiously matched with an increase of 3.9%, or $114. Despite Chrysler's lead in price jumping, it has been enjoying brisk 1968-model sales. So it was with no small reluctance that Chairman Lynn Townsend finally conceded that Chrysler prices were "a little on the high side" and ordered the 1968 increase cut to 3.5%.

Not only the price tags are rising. The cost of such options as push-button radios and tinted glass is up all around. And one sleeper involves changes in warranties. Now, first owners will get warranty protection as before, but second owners will have to accept limited coverage (in the case of Chrysler) or pay an initial $25 inspection fee plus a $25 deductible payment for subsequent warranty work done for full coverage (with Ford and A.M.C.). Third owners are out of luck altogether except with a G.M. car; if it is less than two years old (or has been driven less than 24,000 miles), the warranty will be continued as long as the buyer pays a $25 transfer fee.

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