MOTOR BODY BUILDING

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 966, 8 May 1930, Page 11

MOTOR BODY BUILDING

EXPANSION IN AUSTRALIA “Motor-vehicles sold in Australia today—certainly low-priced cars and trucks —are, to a very large extent, the production of Australian industry,” is a declaration by the directors of Garratt’s, Ltd., in their annual report for the year ended January 31 last. “During the last few years,” they add, “the trend of Australian manufactures, no doubt largely influenced by tariff alterations, lias resulted in an ever-increasing number of components of a motor-car being manufactured in Australia. Of today’s price of a Whippet four-cylinder sedan, no less than 82 per cent, remains in Australia, this representing Customs duty, expenditure in Australia, and costs of assembly and distribution. "Careless critics,” the directors state, “unencumbered by a knowledge of the facts, refer from time to time to the advisability of placing an embargo on motor imports. If this were done in the case of low-priced cars selling in this country, the effect upon Australian production would bo out of all proportion to the reduction in imports represented by the ‘stripped chassis. Such components of a motor-vehicle as must now be imported may be regarded as the foundation upon which rest many Australian industries, employing thousands of Australian workmen.”