INDUSTRY: Sellers’ Market Again

INDUSTRY Sellers’ Market Again In Detroit last week, automakers heard a welcome plea from dealers: “Send us more cars.” The market, swamped with cars only a few months ago, has done a complete turnabout. The National Production Authority reported that dealers’ stocks have dropped 20%, from an average of 10.3 cars on hand in June to 8.4 at the beginning of September. The biggest reason for the increase in sales, despite price boosts, is decreased auto production and fear of car shortages.

Sales have jumped so high in the past fortnight that Ford dealers have only one-fourth of their normal supply, lowest in the company’s history. Cadillac has orders for the next nine months’ output; Plymouth has an average of only three cars a dealer, Oldsmobile 3.5, and Buick 3. Instead of waiting for Big Three models, many customers are buying from Nash, Studebaker and Hudson, whose sales are up as much as 47%. Even used-car dealers have begun to feel the change. Automen do not expect the sellers’ market to ease up. They expect to produce 4,500,000 cars in 1952. Estimated demand: 5,000,000.