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At a Saturday-morning sales meeting, salesmen disconsolately kicked the floor or coughed nervously as the owner delivered a classic pep talk.
"Men," shouted Worthington, "you all know what we're up against! A subcompact gets 20 m.p.g. against 10 m.p.g. for a standard-size car, but we got to convince 'em that a standard's just as good. Throw some figures at 'em. Tell them that they're three times as likely to be injured in an accident if they're driving a subcompact.* Wait a little bit, and then say that with big-car prices down so much, they'd be foolish to sit cramped up in a small car ready to die ... Men, go out there and sell those big cars!"
The fiery speech did about as much good as halftime pep talks usually do; despite free Green Stamps, and cut-price kits allowing customers to convert their cars to burn propane gas, Worthington's Dodge Boys sold only ten cars that day v. forty on a normal Saturday.
Many automen hope, of course, that the current move toward small size and fuel economy is a passing fancy. "People like big cars," says GM Chairman Richard Gerstenberg. "The bulk of the people who buy a car want comfort and convenience, and they are willing to pay for it." The history of the U.S. consumer lends that view considerable merit —but a continuing energy crisis could change the taste of many buyers who might otherwise prefer a larger car. The automakers are acting as if that might happen; they are converting to small-car production as fast as they can. GM last week temporarily closed 16 big-car assembly plants and laid off 137,000 workers; meanwhile it is expanding production of subcompact Vegas by 40% in the 1974 model year. Chrysler Corp, is temporarily closing three of its big-car factories next month, and converting one from production of standard-size Plymouth Furys and Dodge Monacos to compact Valiants and Darts. American Motors, the smallest of the carmakers, has been prepared for the change all along: it has concentrated on production of little Hornets and Gremlins. AMC sales are running 27% ahead of last year, and executives say that only a shortage of parts prevents them from pushing sales gains still higher.
First Ripple. Even those auto executives wedded to the idea of luxury are learning to think small. At Ford Motor Co., Vice President Lee Iacocca scored a personal triumph in 1965 with the Mustang, a car that was 181.6 in. long and weighed 2,567 Ibs. Over the years, the Mustang gained 12 in. and 653 Ibs. For the 1974 model year, lacocca, now Ford Motor president, is placing the company's bets heavily on the Mustang II, a car about the size of his original Mustang and listing at $2,895. Luxury features make it difficult to find an actual Mustang that sells for much under $4,000, but even with the extras the car is supposed to deliver 20 m.p.g. lacocca asserts that the Mustang II is the first ripple in the wave of the future: the "luxury small car."
In the suburban research campuses that ring Detroit, auto engineers are working overtime on designs for even smaller models. Next year, American Motors will probably bring out a new mini-car that may be smaller than any existing U.S.-made auto, get more than 30 m.p.g. and carry a sticker price of about $2,000. Even Cadillac is