51 replies to this topic

[Michael Ferner]

Another interweb find (from http://www.j-bradfor..._roaring13.html University of California):
 

 

	
		
			
				Motor Vehicle Production (Thousands)
			
		
		
			
				Year
			
				United States
			
				Canada
			
				France
			
				United Kingdom
			
				Germany
			
				Italy
			
				Czechoslovakia
			
				Russia
		
		
			
				1907
			
				45
			
				3
			
				25
			
				12
			
				4
			
				0
			
				0
			
				0
		
		
			
				1913
			
				485
			
				15
			
				45
			
				34
			
				14
			
				2
			
				0
			
				0
		
		
			
				1924
			
				3504
			
				135
			
				145
			
				133
			
				18
			
				35
			
				2
			
				0
		
		
			
				1928
			
				4359
			
				242
			
				210
			
				212
			
				90
			
				55
			
				13
			
				1
		
		
			
				1935
			
				3971
			
				173
			
				165
			
				404
			
				240
			
				44
			
				10
			
				97
		
	

 

Oh dammit, this forum software is just... yes, you said it! 

Edited by Michael Ferner, 14 November 2023 - 14:37.

[Vitesse2]

Thanks, targa!

 

It never really occured to me to search the newspapers (me, one of the 'pioneers' of expansive newspaper research for motor racing history! - double )

 

Anyway, meanwhile I have found something on the interweb, academic too (from an article at Cambridge University Press, dealing predominantly with Spain - https://www.cambridg...A201D2A70096897) :

 

First, total production:

 

 

 

Registrations:

 

 

 

Finally, per capita (by thousands):

 

 

 

 

Interesting figures! Mainly surprised by Canada's high ranking, but overall within expectations. Yes, I think you can say that Britain was underperforming, but perhaps not by as much as I would have expected.

The Canadian figures are distorted in that they will include a lot of American cars destined for export, but built in Canada with RHD to take advantage of British Empire trading rules and avoid import duties when they arrived in South Africa, India, Malaya, Australia, New Zealand and other colonial outposts like Kenya and Nigeria. Lots of Buicks, Chevrolets and Studebakers ...

 

I mentioned taxation above - as Michael Sedgwick argues in his book 'Cars of the 30s' (Batsford, 1970) the UK's system of taxation was 'the answer to the tax-man's prayer' as it created types of cars which were peculiarly suited to the British market, but seldom seen elsewhere - 'outside those areas which were marked in red in the jingoistic school atlases, British cars were little known.' ... 'British industry built for Britons'. LHD options were virtually unknown. Conversely, very few small cars built abroad fitted neatly into the RAC tax horsepower system, which was based purely on the bore and number of cylinders. He quotes the 3-litre Bentley and Opel Olympia as examples, both of which were taxed as 'Sixteens', even though the Opel's engine was only half the size and had - I would suspect - less than half the 'grunt' of the Bentley.