Running Ahead at the Half

Although faced with rising prices, a tax increase, the Vietnamese war and the cost of civil rights strife, the American consumer is pouring out vast amounts of money for new wheels. With the year half gone, Detroit has sold 3,830,725 cars, a jump of 342,994 over the same period in 1967. And automakers were happily predicting that if 1968 does not surpass the alltime record of 1965, it will still be a 9,000,000-plus year--perhaps the second best ever.

Intermediate models are leading the way. Most of the sporty lines have failed to pull out of a year-long slump.

A notable loser is Ford's Mustang, whose sales have dropped an abysmal 24.5% since Jan. 1. The pull of the intermediates--about the same bumper-to-bumper length as the full-sized cars of eight years ago--seems to reflect a conservative trend in auto buying. In part, this is attributed to a more mature group of buyers: many youngsters, who would normally buy the hot-shot styles, are either in the military service or anticipating a call-up.

Detroit's positions at the year's half way post:

P:Chrysler is the leading gainer, with sales up 19% over lackluster 1967. Among its bestselling intermediates, the Plymouth Satellite enjoyed a 47% increase in sales over last year. Plymouth Fury, the company's high-volume car, has sales of 184,600 so far in 1968, compared with 157,300 in 1967.

P:Ford slumped during the first ten days of June but rebounded during the second, bringing overall sales for the first half 7.2% ahead of last year. Leading the way was the intermediate Fairlane, with an 87.5% jump in sales, half captured by the new Torino model. The Lincoln-Mercury division also had a winner in the Montego, whose sales are 67% ahead of last year.

P:General Motors still leads in vol ume, and the 2,070,270 units sold between Jan. 1 and June 20 were only 200,000 behind the frenetic pace of 1965. Buick (up 21.3% over 1967) and Oldsmobile (up 14.4%) were the biggest gainers. At the Chevrolet division, the Chevy II, a model that falls somewhere between the compact and the intermediate, had sales of nearly 90,000 units, up 45% from last year. Pontiac sales (up 7.3%) are once again being led by the intermediate Tempest.

P:American Motors, whose stockholders learned last week that the company made a net profit of about $4,000,000 in the third fiscal quarter compared with a loss of $17.9 million last year, had a 16.6% sales increase over 1967's Jan. 1-June 20 period. A.M.C.'s volume has been helped by the sporty Javelin, with sales of 17,211.

Detroit is counting on the last six months' being as rewarding as the first. In this mood, automakers are unloading heavy summer inventories on their dealers--some 2,920,000 cars against 2,270,000 last year. Nor do most automakers expect a setback when the 10% surtax nips at buyers' paychecks. Says Chrysler President Virgil Boyd: "The public has been oriented to the inevitability of a tax increase for a year or so."

Indeed, about the only grey area in an otherwise cheery outlook is foreign competition, which continues to cut into Detroit's market. The Big Four have not retaliated with minimodels of their own, but plans are on the drawing boards. Meanwhile, the invaders--led by Volkswagen, Opel and Toyota--are expected to sell 900,000 cars this year, up 119,500 from 1967.

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