Word: auto
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Robert W. Scrivner '57 of Kirkland House was elected new president of the Debate Council last night. The council also passed a resolution to give an annual award in memory of William C. Boydon III '57, who was killed in an auto accident over Christmas vacation...
...philosophy of mass selling brought greater sales than ever before to the U.S. auto industry. Dealers who once got markups of 25% now slashed profit margins as low as 3% per car. In the race for the No. 1 spot, Chevrolet turned out 1.8 million cars, edged out Ford by 65,000. But the comeback story of the year in the auto industry was Chrysler. After slumping to 12.9% of the market in 1954, President Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert poured $250 million into racy new styling, fired up his dealers to get out and sell the mass market. Result: Chrysler...
...costs. Throughout 1955 the price of labor rose steadily and material expenses edged up. A few passed on their costs to retailers; but most looked for other solutions. One good way to cut costs was by automation, and U.S. businessmen busily installed new pushbutton machines to produce everything from auto engine blocks to electronic printed circuits. To make carbon dioxide, Liquid Carbonic Corp. spent $1.5 million for a new, completely automatic plant in Oakland, Calif, in which two highly skilled technicians produce as much as was formerly turned out by 50 men. At the start of 1955, such automated factories...
...suit its well-heeled population. With better jobs than ever before, homeowners are no longer content with their first $10,000 to $15,000 "efficiency" dwellings, now want $20,000 and $30,000 homes. As a result, 1955 saw the growth of "trade-in" housing, where builders operated like auto dealers, swapped new houses...
...costs and prices rise, sales in some lines will slip. With tightening credit, plus the fact that consumers bought so much in 1955, both appliances and autos are in for a rugged buyer's market. With 710,000 cars on hand, dealers' inventories were already the highest in history in December, and some dealers report sales down as much as 40%. Auto production is already being cut, and output will probably drop to 7,000,000 units, 1,000,000 less than in 1954. Says a Portland, Ore. Ford dealer: "We're giving July discounts...