Production of armaments for national defense and for prosecution of the war became the No. 1 job for makers of automobiles and trucks during the calendar year of 1941, with the cumulative total of orders, including those under lend-lease arrangements, reaching $4,056,455,000 by Oct. 1. At the year's end considerable expansion was imminent, particularly in contracts for armored tanks, on which several companies were already working.
Each of these groups represents a large number of defense items. Military vehicles, for example, include ambulances, artillery prime movers, assault boat carriers, buses, passenger cars of four different types, and at least 15 types of motor trucks for carrying personnel, field equipment, weapons and for other specialized purposes essential to modern military operations.
The production of these vehicles in volume was reached in 1941. By the year's end a substantial rate of delivery also was achieved in other, less familiar defense products. But in general 1941 was a year of transition from a peace-time to an armament industry, during which capacity was created, through strenuous preparatory work, for true mass production. The reward for this effort will be evident in 1942 when airplane engines, bombers, armored tanks and other equipment pour from assembly lines in quantities which could not have been produced in any other way, nor in any other country.
Following its normal practices, the industry in 1941 farmed out a large part of the work to subcontractors and suppliers, an analysis of 104 random defense contracts showing 45 per cent of the dollar value going to outside concerns. The industry anticipates that an increase of the volume and variety of defense orders may extend work to additional thousands of United States businesses, big and little, which normally function as an integrated part of the automotive industry.
Factory sales of passenger cars from United States plants during the calendar year totaled 3,760,000, representing a wholesale value of $2,615,000,000. Truck sales of 1,060,000 units made a total of 4,820,000 motor vehicles produced and sold, an increase of eight per cent over the previous year. Wholesale value of trucks was $1,012,000,000. Government curtailment of civilian cars and trucks became effective in August, partly offsetting the strong market of the first six months of the year.
Motor vehicle registration on Dec. 31, 1941, was estimated at 33,675,000, a new high mark, including a passenger car fleet of 28,850,000, of which 39 per cent were on farms and in villages under 2,500 population. Forty-six per cent of the 4,825,000 motor trucks registered at year's end were on farms and in villages.
Data were developed in 1941 showing that 95 per cent of all cars are used partly or entirely for such necessity driving as going to work, business trips and family shopping. Fifty-five per cent of total mileage and 77 per cent of round trips made in passenger cars are for this type of use, with the percentages especially high among the 4,144,136 farmer-owned cars. A survey found 2,320 United States cities dependent upon automobiles, having no local mass transportation facilities.
Average employment during 1941 of 525,000 was provided by motor vehicle, body and parts manufacturing, with weekly wage payrolls averaging $20,600,000. Large scale employment also resulted from activities of 41,790 cars and truck dealers; $7,452 repair shops, and 400,000 retail gasoline outlets. Total number of bus and truck drivers is estimated at 4,300,000 for 1941.
Motor vehicle user taxes totaling $2,100,000,000, including $1,325,000,000 in Federal, state and municipal gasoline taxes, also set a new record. It was 11 per cent of all taxes paid in the United States in 1941, Federal, state and local.
Special motor truck taxes accounted for $550,000,000 during the 12 months, another all-time record. Motor trucks, of which 86 per cent are privately owned, continued to expand in economic usefulness, transporting 57 per cent of the livestock to market. There were 1,047,084 trucks on farms. Motor bus registration reached 145,000, and school buses carried 3,975,000 children to and from school daily. See also AVIATION.
No comments:
Post a Comment