The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-01-23, Page 7k
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31 Deo4. 1 O.967.b54
Public Library,
52 Montreal St., .
Goderich.,,. Ont. N71• 2G4
.S. slump: a factor
ro
uctl.on:
GDCI hosts eight teams
.o�
•t• .S
foretast is
• BY DAVE SYKES
The economic, prospecIs of the
automobile ,,industry for the coming
year, . are an important factor in.
gauging the economy of the province of
Ontario. Almost 90 per cent of the.
,Canadian automotive industry is
located in Ontario and 'is Invariably
affected by the'currerit slump in the
United States.
In the provincial trade figures for the
period Januar/ to-Sepfiember ' 1974
Ontario, ;imported vehicles and parts
worth $4.1 bi I Lion under the terms of
Canadian -l/.$'. auto pact while during
the same period had exports of $3.4
,billion under the pact. •
The balance under the pact with the
U.S. was; a deficit of $730 million fore
Canada d npared with a deficit of $177,.
million for the same period in1973.• In
fact the deficit undera the agreement
,could ,reach $1 •billion for 1974. •
What the figures ,really represent .is
trouble in the parts industry. During
• the, same time period• the parts tn-
dustry recorded a $1.2 billion deficit
while the vehicle manufacturers en-
joyed a surplus of_b.08 million.
With them.ajo.r car producers cutting'
back production, part suppliers a rn'ust
cut back considerably. In the parts
iodustry now 5,000. out .of 50,000 em-
ploYees have been laid off,. Patrick
Lavelle, president of. the .Automobile
Parts Manufacturing Association of.
Canada estimates that the layoff figure
could ,reach 10,000.' in '.February and
'cannot foresee any pickup in the parts
industry until the end of ,August.
• Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. in
Oakville --has had 1,000 of ,,its :18,000
employeeslaid off indefinitely and
11,0.00 :of its employees were laid off:
temporarily.for a period of up to three
weeks.',; .The total .". sales of motor
vehicles in 1975, is projected to be.
between 1.1.and.l.2 (Tiillion units, This
-figure is down from. the 1.25 million
sold in 1974.•
Roy Bennet, president of the Ford
Company estimates that the industry
should pick up within the year and
realize sales of '1.6 million cars ,and
lrucksi3y 1980. Now Automotive Parts
Manufacturers will look for a review of
the autopact .and a turnabout in the
_ industry may depend 'upon the , in,-
dustry's .. resurgence in ' the"'," Wilted
States.
4,
Increased sales
The `numb ,�;,of cars sold in Canada
rose by 4.54ci cent in 1974 but the sales`
in Ontario declined slj ht'fy During. the .:t
first two weeks of the new year sales
for the major car -producers was
headed for an all-titne, low since the
second, World War:-
'
ar --'' ExeCUtive forecasters • of the Big
• Three car producers' are optrm-ilti-c
"tha4 car, sales will start to rise during
. ° the course of the year. They expect the
rise to come about as the incomes
increase which they believe could stem
" from the tax cuts outlined in the
federal budget -and the wage increaspa
to be negotiated. Last year the average
wage increase for employees in in
dustry rose by 14.5 per cent as workers
attempt to keep one step 'ahead of the
cost of ,living" index:
But even with the slump in 'sales the
manufacturers' ' hands are tied:
Chrysler,, suffering the most of the big
three, has announced that it will
reduce.i& overhead by one third and
operate at a profit in a smaller Market.
Spokesmen for the auto•companies say,
they will hold the p ices and that in-
creases on the '74 an*`l5 r>hbdels'Were
not large enough to -offset production
`costs. -
With a demancLfor higher w -ages the
production costs increase,' and the
industty had been plagued with high
costs of steel, aluminum andm zinc.
9
00
Although the costs of these materials,
have begun to decline slightly in recent
months ‘it may not affect. production,
costs in the immediate future.
Then shouldn't the car m.anufac-
turers reduce'prices to stimulate sales
which would increase volume and
reduce the cost .of the product? Un-
fortunately. the industry is unwilling
and in a bad position to take such a
route.
The industry looks upon such action -
as. a big gamble. High prices forfood,
layoffs; high interest rates and dif-
ficulty,g�. in ettin
g ..credit- are. .th.aking
more Canadians,—,reluctant to, buy.. --To
stimulate spending the interest rates
.,and taxes must be cut=back to attract
the 4consunRer. • w •
However the strategy of the:industry.
is not to reduce their prices but to
,simply wart out the sales slump by,
cutting costs and production. But still
Canada' is not feeling the , pinch that
exists in the United States. Car sales.
• last year were 1.5 per , cent off '1973
while in the U.S'. they.oNere off almost
30 per cent.
In Canada .car sales were ',up , to
790,761 •from 73's sale of. 779;148 while.
fruck-,sales went up to 261;000. The dire,
straits that the industry finds itself in
south of the .border -will reflect on --
Canada but it does not mean that we
must go 'under as well:
9 a+ V
Goderich
The. Town of Goderich also reflects
the stability in sales in the Canadian
auto industry. Goderich ' automobile
'dealerships report that sales even
during , the notorious. bad months of
November, December and January
were good and in .some. cases better
than•anticipated and :there is no reason,
to expect a lag in car sales despite the
setback Jin ihe.state,,of the economy.
It is also interestingto note that
While the key word of our` generations
has become 'conserve' and consumers
are clamoring for compact cars that"'"
can stretch out the miles to .the gallon
of gas, the car buying public of
Goderich has a penchant for in-
termediateand luxury car models. The
economy and compact models of the
Ford GM and Chrysler companies
have begin hit the hardest with the price
increase in the last year, n.
The result has been that the .co
sumer now sees that 'the economy, ar
has become rfluch less attractive price
wise arrd'fh'at'the-tu p to inter - ediate
er even luxury models is n.' all that'
great. in tact the Goderich ar buyer is
making the .move .to '• uality which
Should In factiast Ion• -r and bring•in,a
better dollar come rade in time.
Truck sales . re reachi' g—hw
heights on the : nadian market. There.
has always b'•en a substantiar i'narket
'for them i Goderich. More.peopl.e°are,
buying;:1: creation vehicles and trucks
' have ecome 'an economicar" second
veIhJJ'.cle ora viable alternative to %art,
int`er'mediate priced car.
However some car dealers are ex.
periencing' a setback in the 'parts
department. The industry has been hif
hardest by cutbacks in prod' ction and
dealers are starting to feel the pinch as
availability -becomes scarce. Dealers
in Goderich must admit that the
borderline economy.' simply hasn't
loomed large,in local sales and isn't
likely to,
• The Canadian auto industry despite
some•shortcomings at,the present time
Will Pott suffer that much in the next
year. Those who could afford luxury
cars are not affected by. higher costs
and interest rates and will continue to
bi)y while others are now looking to
quality cars...
The depressing part of the economic
slowdown is that the affluent have a
terrible habit of passing on their
depressions -to the poor. 4,
• Th,q GDCI Vikings
.. wresfling team just couldn't
get any respect. At least•npt'
until Saturday. , Steve Moore of Goderich
pinned Chuck O'Connor .of
` h,e Vikings were anything Sarnia Northern to win the
', but hospitable hosts .as 'they 115 pound class: -Pete Willis
amassed a total of 1351/2 of Goderich outlasted Bruce
,points to cop top honors at Kargan of St. Clair in the 148
-the first double knockout pound- class.J'while team-
wrestling competitionheld at mates Gerry O'Brien and
the' school. The .Goderich George, `Duke' Sheardown
squad showed little respect topped the 157 pounds and
for defending, WOSSA unlimited class resnectivelv'.•
champions Sarnia Northern
ings
downed Rick Marshall of
Parkhill -to advance to the
final. . -
and defending Huron=Perth' Mike Jeffrey, , Steve
Stratford Central who had to Palmer, Larry Donnelly and
settle for second and sixth Dave Rodgers settled' for
place respectively. second place finishes 'in their
The Goderich squad weight categories while
racked' up five firsts, four Larry ,l?1a.etzer took a third
second place,, showings and place finish~in the 136 pound
one, third en ;route to the weight.division.
victory. ' the fi a1.,matclies —. , .,
,n .
ten points were allotted tothe Sarnia Northern ,took
winner' of a Weight class, second place with 1011/2
seven points - for 'second points on the -strength Af
place, ' four Tor third' place three firsts, two st pnds and
and two for fourth 'position. a third place' finish, The
Don Kirkcon.nell of remaining six teams in the
Goderich captured d'the-. 84 tournament were Sarnia, ,, - , 4.0-: '
pound' class defeatz»g Vince Huron '97 points; St Clair 75; Olympic 'style wrestling was featured at GDCI- Saturday th eight teams participating:
Winters of Sotl'th, Huron in., Parkhill 60, Stratford, 38, in a double knockout competition, the first such totkra(ment held at the school. (staff-
the final, •Kirkconneil Strathroy 33 and Clinton 20. ,- . -photo). —
Is•jfl,
•
.
•
4nTlese two wrestlers took a strange approach to their wregtling team „*capturing the' team
match in Satur'day's' action at GDCI: Eight teams par= points. (staff -photo)
ticipated in 15 weight categories With 'the GDCI Vikings
\\.\.%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%....a>.%..♦ %%%%%%%%%%N% ........%%%%N%%%%%%%%%
honors w'i'th :1351/2'
•
%%%% .... %•.'.. ' %%.%. %%%%%%%%%%% %%.
ejects
Terry , Dudley • sauntered
into the dressing room with4"
a gait 'peculiar to southern
hlacl, -tossed his sweater in -
the corner and sat down on
the : ' bench, , exhausted and
somehat detected.
He. .slowly, -raised .his head
and said, "Man we were
really terrible out there. It
*►wasn't a -,good' show. We
were off."
But' for the people who
•,.,.cro.w.ded-"""into' the GDCI
, gymnasium for the game
between the- GDCI senior
Vikings and the Hollywood
Rejects it was an evening 'of
fun -I sOprises • and good
hearty laughter, Throngs of
youngsters milled about the
team after the game seeking
autographs from hasketbgll ,
players,, whom ' they, had
never seen or heard of but
were not likely to forget for
a long time. ..
The Rejects led''the game
from start -td finish but the
outcome Was simply
acadettic. In the first half
,they played serious ball
most of. the time, treating
the .fans to an excellent
display of hall handling and
finesse. The ' second . half,
however, was •high'tighted by
(continued op page SA)
•
Mr
Playing basketball was not the. only thing the'
Rejects had on their minds os „evidenced by
The players o 1 w ays made sure that there was
Holly Vood
the phdto,"'
tlrne for a
little fun. The team took it upon thems*Tves
cheerleaders some new cheers. _(staff -photo)
to
teach the
0 -