BUSINESS ABROAD: Autos in Paris

In Paris' Grand Palais last week, 105 automakers from eight countries put their prize products on display in Europe's most lavish motorcar exhibit, the 40th Salon d'Automobile et du Cycle. While car prices ran as high as $14,000, it was the "baby cars" that stole the show.

Britain's entries included 1) a new, boxlike Ford Anglia, with a four-cylinder engine capable of 50 to 60 m.p.h., which sells for about $1,100, and 2) the Standard Eight, a four-cylinder model that sells for $956. France showed off a tiny Rovin convertible, with a top speed of 50 m.p.h. and a $1,033 price tag. There was also a front-wheel-drive Citroën, one of France's most popular cars (it has a two-year waiting list), with a two-cylinder engine, maximum speed of 50 m.p.h. and price of $977. Also on display was Panhard, another two-cylinder car, which has a top speed of 85 m.p.h., costs about $3,700.

The most startling car on exhibit was a stubby, dome-shaped auto that runs on electricity. Built by two French brothers, Maurice and Casi Loubière, the Symétric-Paris has a four-cylinder, 45-h.p. gasoline engine that turns a generator which, in turn, supplies current to four motors tiny enough to fit inside the wheels. If the cars were on sale to the public, the brothers estimate that the price might be about $1,000, but the French Ministry of National Defense has other plans. It is putting the car through exhaustive tests that may result in its being adopted as the French version of the jeep.