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Inspection of the Show revealed refinement, not revolution. Nowhere was there any major new departure such as, in their day, were the Self-Starter, Four-Wheel Brakes. Free-Wheeling or Floating Power. Instead the industry's net progress and chief attractions were in its perfection of these departures and its emphasis on design and dollar's-worth. Streamlining was the outward keynote. Slanted windshields, longer fenders gave conservative models a more rakish air. Actually tonneaus were wider but the Ylike radiators and more pointed hoods gave the new bodies a teardrop or pear shape, accentuated in the rear by converging fender lines. But looks were not the reason for streamlining. Higher speeds and fuel saving dictated it. Carried to its ultimate possibility, streamlining can save 40% of a car's fuel at high speeds.
Biggest exhibitor was General Motors, maker of 43% of all U. S. passenger cars. The GM exhibits underlined a major mo tor problem : What to do about the medium-priced car? Through Depression, sales of very cheap and very expensive cars have held up best. The in-between classes suffered heavily. GM's total sales of auto mobiles in 1931 were 1,074,709 units, off 99,406 from 1930. At the Show last week the expensive Cadillac remained much the same, the 16-cylinder model in small production, the twelve selling well in the luxury class. At the other end of the GM price-range, Chevrolet showed nothing new internally except Free Wheeling, stood pat on the chassis that outsold Ford last year. But in the medium-priced range GM did several things to boost sagging sales and profits. The new model brought out last November was Buick's first new bid for popular favor in three years. With new body lines and heavily advertised "Wizard Control" (making use of the clutch pedal practically optional) the exhibit drew a big crowd though it was no longer a novelty. Buick's December shipments totalled 11,629 cars against 4,092 in the same month of 1930. New too was an Oldsmobile Straight-Eight to compete in the $1,000 class, and a Pontiac V-Eight at $845. Gone from the GM family was the name Oakland, dropped this year so that its factories might turn out the new Pontiac, not compete needlessly with the new Oldsmobile.
Back of GM products stands the genius of Charles Franklin Kettering, tall, bald chief of General Motors Research Corp. Inventor of the self-starter, chemist of ethyl gasoline, perfecter of Frigidaire and many a less prominent invention, he has defined research as "a method of keeping everybody reason, oly dissatisfied with what he has." Last summer he scolded business for not developing something new. Said he: "There is a horrible thing in this world known as monotony. When we continue to produce the same things, the same model indefinitely . . . the people don't want to buy it. ... We are suffering today from that thing called standardization." Apparently GM, with plenty of Kettering ideas up its commodious sleeve, had been largely content to consolidate its position as leader of the industry and let others try to startle the public into a new buying mood.