Autos: Another $100

At the formal premiere of Ford's new Edsel in Detroit last week, Chairman Ernest R. Breech let the first cat out of the. Big Three bag on a subject everyone has been wondering about: the price tags on 1958's cars. Ford's prices, said Breech, are going up. Best guess: an average boost of $100 per car. The main reason is that "the public apparently desires significant changes every year," as Ford discovered in 1956, when General Motors' heavily facelifted Chevrolet left the competition far behind. To win its current lead in 1957, Ford spent a staggering $608 million on retooling. And to fight it out again with Chevrolet next year, Ford will be forced to spend almost as much--all of which, added to other inflated costs, means higher prices.

As expected, the word brought an outraged howl from United Automobile Workers President Walter Reuther, who only a fortnight ago demanded an "anti-inflation" cut of $100 on 1958 cars (TIME, Sept. 2). Thunderbird Reuther, announcing an appeal to President Eisenhower "to exert his great persuasive charm" on the "irresponsibility" of the automakers: "You can increase wages and cut prices and make money if production is increased."

A production increase is exactly what Detroit's automakers hope to achieve for the rest of this year and next. Despite a near-record backlog of unsold 1957 models. Henry Ford II upped his sales forecast of last May by another 200,000 cars, predicted a total of 6,000,000 this year. The company's dealer orders are bigger than the production goals in several lines. Chrysler's cars are still selling well, and even General Motors, whose 1957 Buick and Oldsmobile models have fallen behind, expects no real trouble preparing for major model changeovers. G.M. is leading in a huge $25 million autumn bonus cleanup campaign by the industry that will help Detroit enter November with a normal inventory of 200,000 cars. As for 1958, say the automen, the 7,000,000 customers who made 1955 a record year should now be ready for what most of them seem to want--lower, wider, sportier cars--and be willing to pay what it costs to build them.

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