THE NEWS FROM DETROIT Publication: The New York Times Byline: Walter Boynton Dateline: Detroit, Michigan Date: 16 December 1928

CHRISTMAS shopping has been a factor in retail sales in the Detroit territory for the week. Detroit has had an opportunity to get a first view of several of the important pre-show exhibits, and these have increased the impression that the industry has once more been able to turn out more cars for less money. The Whippet fours and sixes, the Chrysler Imperial, the new Packard de luxe eight, the new Reo Mate have been inspected and approved.

With the new Big Six Pontiac just around the corner and the unveiling of the new Roosevelt set for Dec. 19, public interest will have little chance to cool off. The mysterious White Prince, too, is in the offing, and other surprises are in store for the motoring public.

With many of the important lines cut and prices for next year announced, a pretty fight for business is seen. Manufacturers and dealers are prepared for a struggle.

Ford's estimate for 1929 is 1,800,000 cars and trucks in the United States and Canada, with an additional 300,000 in the overseas territory. This will be equal to, if not in excess of, the company's peak year of 1924, when something over 2,000,000 units were made and sold. Ford is now running at the rate of close to 6,500 units a day, a very material step-up from the record established in November, and in November itself 105,891 units were produced from assembly lines in the United States. Canadian and foreign production, at 7,591 and 7,555, respectively, brought the November grand total to 121,037. Ford's first year of production of the new lines totaled close to 705,000 units.

Taken over a period of eleven months, the passenger car registrations in Wayne County totaled 79,541 for 1928, compared with 50,300 for the same period of 1927. This shows a gain of 29,241 cars, or 58.1 per cent.

Chevrolet led all other makes, with total registrations of 14,949 cars, or 18.8 per cent of the total. Ford was second with 11,133, or 14 per cent; the combined Hudson and Essex registrations were 11,120, or almost exactly those of Ford; Oakland-Pontiac and Chrysler-Plymouth were very close to a tie, with 6,584 and 5,829, or 8.3 per cent; Buick accounted for 4,791, or 6 per cent; Whippet and Willys-Knight, 3,845, or 4.8 per cent; Graham-Paige, 3,690, or 4.6 per cent; Dodge, 2,976, or 3.7 per cent, and Hupmobile, 2,557, or 3.2 per cent. The most important percentage gain was of course that of Ford's, amounting to well over 300 per cent.

December registrations in the county so far show a healthy increase over the November figures, with a gain of close to 95 per cent. The first five in rank are as follows: Ford, Buick, Hudson-Essex, Chrysler-Plymouth and Oakland-Pontiac. A curious feature of the picture is that the miscellaneous group showed unusual strength. This was the result of spectacular price-slashing locally in order to make a clean-up before the end of the year.

Resumption of manufacturing activity in plants closed down for inventory, rearrangement or expansion has had a heartening effect on the general employment situation, though in Detroit proper another weekly reduction in pay-rolls was reported by the Employers' Association. This amounted to 2,294, bringing the total down to 272,103, which is still 73,451 above the figures for the same week in last year. Out in the State, Olds Motor Works and the Fisher Body Corporation at Lansing have resumed operations, giving renewed employment to about 6,500 workers.