Autos: Changeover in Detroit

In Ford's large and clangorous Wixom plant just west of Detroit, the first 1966 autos—restyled Lincolns and Thunderbirds—rolled off the line last week. Throughout the industry plants closed down their production lines and began the changeover to the 1966 models, which will hit the showrooms beginning in late September. So insatiable is the national curiosity about Detroit's new models that the industry has, as usual, begun to be besieged by leaks, peeks and broad speculation. With the new models ride the automakers' hopes that the nation's most important industry can continue in 1966 the spectacular successes of the past four years, which have contributed as much as anything to the record advances of the U.S. economy.

The auguries are favorable. Industry reports last week showed that auto sales in July rose 18% to a record, and that production set a new high for the eighth straight month; even in the turnover month of August, production is expected to climb 58% over last year. Some auto plants have been working three full shifts, seven days a week, yet still cannot outpace demand. For the full year, U.S. automakers expect to build 9,100,000 cars for the best year in history; that would be 18% more than last year and 65% more than in 1961. Such a spectacular year has 1965 been that to come even near it in 1966 would be quite a feat. Detroit hopes to do at least that.

Fading from the Scene. The whole auto market continues to change. The percentage of U.S. families that own more than one car has increased from 18.8% in 1962 to 23% now, and continues to climb. The hottest U.S. buyers of both used and new cars—youngsters aged 16 to 24—have grown in numbers from 22 million in 1960 to 27 million today. The rate of auto scrappage has moved up from 5,600,000 last year to 6,100,000 this year, which means that Detroit can now bank on an annual re placement market of more than 6,000,000 cars. More and more people are also tempted to trade in their old cars for new ones because used-car prices are high; sales of used cars in June rose 3% to a ten-year peak.

Consumers' intentions to buy new cars in the next few months are just as high as ever, reports the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center. Whether they will remain high will hinge largely on how well the '66 styling goes over. Unwilling to tamper with styling that has worked so well, Detroit plans no big dramatic changes. The trends will be to even more luxury options (example: a push-button system that enables the driver to set his car to a given speed and cruise without touching the accelerator), more powerful engines, longer bodies, less chrome. One of the major changes will occur in Ford's Falcon, which has borrowed liberally from the successful Mustang, with a short rear deck and a long hood; like most other Ford models, the Falcon has also adopted the hop-up, or gently swelling rear-fender curve, pioneered by General Motors.