Intrusions

Last week Austin Motor Car Co. was said to be three months behind in production and there were signs of other intrusions upon the U. S. automobile market.

In Lansing, Mich., William Crapo Durant recently startled citizens by appearing in a Mathis, small French car.* Last week he announced the resignations of the chairman, president, vice president of Durant Motors, Inc., as part of a complete reorganization. He then told of "prominent European motor car interests becoming intimately associated with Durant Motors ... a deal which will affect Lansing most favorably and be of great importance to the automobile industry as a whole."

Because of Mr. Durant's imported car, an inference seemed obvious. The Mathis has 9 to 12 h.p., sells at around $1,600. Regarding another intrusion, Argus, Paris automobile paper, last week was very definite. According to Argus, Ford Motor Car Co. will soon be manufacturing Isotta Fraschinis in Detroit, while Fords will pour in great volume from Isotta's Italian factories. To handle the plan, a new $5,000,000 company is said to have been formed in Italy, 51% owned by Isotta Fraschini Co. and the Italian Commercial Bank, 49% by Ford. In this exchange of licenses is perhaps the neatest tariff evasion yet devised.

*Not to be confused with Belgium's Miesse.

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