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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1910)
TUESDAY. OCTOBER 11. 1910- 9 J MORNING OREGOXIAX, if ft 'C3B- iC3 i nd Guaranteed for One Year Absolutely There's a Line That Will Create a Sensation in Automobile Circles r.Vv vi Rotiik Dav" and "Automobilesaf Hatf Price" Advertisement You've Been Reading of Late. Also As Always We Make jt Openly-Take the Public Into Our Confidence and, tfaaut 'l Conceal. Tell Some JlS JUWays,. we.maKet vy . nz. jiti. iv FA Pfrfn Have Left Unsaid , WR WAVE S A tt t-titc; xT-c-Tircs rriiurirc A4 A SURPRISE TO YOU as a prospective buyer of an automobile, what do you suppost will be its effect on the ' trade-on competition? Nothing so sensational has happened in this industry since the first announcement, just two years ago, of the ?l-oU price of E-M-F "30'V-a price which, for a car of that, size and power and quality at that time, was little less than revolutionary. BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER let us say thFs advertisement is directed to business men men who are in the market for an automobile and who are looking for the best possible value for their money The possession of the wherewithal to buy an automobile, is the best evidence of the busi ness acumen and thrift of such men. We assume that you who read this are versed in sound business methods that you have met and overcome crises in your own affairs met competition of all kinds, fair and untair . intelligent and the reverse. SO WE ARE GOING TO TELL YOU frankly the reasons which have led . up to and the reasons why it is advisable, as well as possible for us to reduce the price of this sterling product $250 from the former price. Much said herein may be open to misinterpretation every frank statement is. But as we have said, we are not interested in the few super-critical tollc who may read this. We expect it will be received with disfavor by those whom it hits hardest our rivals ; but just so long as it meets the approval of men who know and men who want to know the true situation if, in short, it serves as a guide to you to buy right we are satisfied. SOME FOLKS WOULDN'T think this good advertising at all. One who read the original draft asked, "Aren't you advertising other concerns too much?" We admitted that might be so but" they are welcome to any crumbs of publicity, such as it is, they can pick from this. Another said, "Why expose inside affairs what business is it of the public s? NOW WE NEVER COULD FATHOM the philosophy of the ostrich nor see the sense of treating as trade secrets, matters that were patent to the. whole world. You fool nobody but yourself. Besides, it s bad advertis ing for it is palpably evasive. The reason E-M-F advertising has always been effective was because it was always frank and appealed to reason. IT IS A MATTER OF COMMON GOSSIP that you can buy many of the best-known makes of cars at prices ranging down to half the list price. (In this regard it is only fair' to say that "list price, with many manu facturers, has been a meaningless term it represented merely the maxi mum price they hoped to get for their product. E-M-F 30 has been one of the few cars that could not be bought anywhere at less than list price plus freight charges from Detroit to destination.) SUCH PRACTICES MISLEAD the average buyer. He is mystified. When price cutting begins he wonders where it will end. And when cars of such well-known makes are offered at half (list) price, he naturally won ders if it is not the same with all. One effect -has been to bring up the question, "Has the demand for automobiles fallen off?" The answer is easier than you might suppose. THERE IS NO LACK OF DEMAND for automobiles. The motor car has become and always will remain a necessity in modern life. There never will be a falling off in demand because the factories that will continue in business after the storm of the next few months has subsided, will be unable to more than supply the steady demand for good motor cars at right prices. Digest that last sentence it means much not only to the trade, but to vou as a possible buyer. It is a bad thing to buy an automo- ' bile from a concern that may not be in existence a few weeks or monkhs hence. BUT THERE IS A LACK OF DEMAND for obsolete models. There has been for some months. For cars with noisy, power-consuming, trouble making planetary transmissions, there is no demand among the knowing. Cars with overhead valves and other obsolete features have been a drug on the market for some time. It is a truism that cars that can be bought at half price are twice too dear and that term applies to obsolete models of any make. Better buy a second-hand car of modern design than such an one. STILL THAT ALONE DOESN'T EXPLAIN the panicky condition that exists at this moment. This (September and October) has always been, with us, the best selling season of the year. Weather and roads are ideal and everything invites to out-of-doors. Beside, the prosperous farmers who have always taken the larger part of our output, are just now reaping bumper harvests and realizing in gold for them. Why such price-cutting at this time, then? . IT IS A NATURAL QUESTION no one who is not familiar with the inside workings of things could answer it and few of those who could would dare, for they are fearful of hurting their own business. It doesn't touch us, however, and we think it will clarify the atmosphere the sooner to let in some light and ventilation. PROMOTION AND INFLATION is the answer in a word. Every good thing is imitated. Every business has its parasites. Every industry is plagued bv promoters adventurers. The more prosperous the business, the more does it invite the activities of such men. The automobile busi ness has been no exception. The public, as usual, was misled for a time, but every intelligent man inside the lines knew and waited for the inevit able. We did and we were ready for it, as this ad proves. THEY BECAME ENTANGLED in the meshes of their own manipulations. As a result they are now trying frantically to raise the wind to get money in any way just so long as it comes quickly so as to stave off in solvency for yet a little longer. One expedient adopted in this extremity is the "Bargain Day" and half (list) price sales you have seen advertised. If they had paid more attention to making good automobiles and selling them legitimately, instead of treating the automobile industry as a game to be played for big stakes, all would have been different. ximx rTT r-rnmcT? vnir T?.YPP".CT ns"tr sav that all this does not touch the E-M-F product at all. That would be the usual the ostrich- way. But we never do the usual that is not how big successes are achieved. Beside, you know better. You know that when thousands of automobiles, of any kind, are thrown on the market at half (list) price, it naturally affects a concern with an output as large as ours. Every car sold is one less prospect for us and the . fact that people who buy these so-called "bargains" will later find they have paid more than the market price for " lemons to use the vernacular does not help matters at this time. IT DOES AFFECT US; and, since we saw it coming and had time to trim our sails to take advantage of the gale, we decided it was a good time to meet steel with steel and set a price standard that will endure for a long time to come. For, observe, this is no temporary expedient. It is perma nent. We made it rock bottom at a stroke so there could be no doubt about that. NATURALLY, THE QUESTION ARISES in your mind: If the E-M-F Company in reduce the price of E-M-F "30" one-fifth from $12o0 to $1000 was there not an exorbitant profit on that car previously? Our answer is, there was not. We will tell you why : FLANDERS' FORECAST IN MARCH. 1908, at the first meeting of the shareholders of the E-M-F Company, General Manager Flanders, after describing the type of car the company proposed to manufacture, said : "Our strength is in quantity production. We have the talent, the capital, and we will have the factory facilities. We can man ufacture more automobiles of a better quality at a lower cost than any other concern now in existence, I verily believe. "Cars of the type I have described (E-M-F "30" five-passenger touring car, fully equipped) now command prices ranging from $1500, $1600, $1750 and $2000. I believe these prices are too high the value is not there. That is our opportunity. ( "Manufacturing in large quantities, we can buy materials to the best advantage. Having the cash to pay and take our dis counts, we can under-buy other makers.- Most of them are merely assemblers paying intermediate profits to parts makers. We shall manufacture every part of our cars cast our own cylinders, forge and stamp and heat-treat our own steel, make our own bodies and every other part. In this way we can reduce the cost of manuf acturing so as to be able to sell a better car than those I have cited, for about $1300. "Then if, as I firmly believe, the quality of the car, backed by , the reputation of our organization, will so appeal to buyers as to create its own'market, the selling cost will be so low, we ought to be able to cut off another fifty dollars and place the car on the market at $1250. If we can do, that the demand will be greater than we can possibly supply. "So much for the coming season. But we must build for the future. We here believe in the permanency of the automobile business else we would be foolish to invest so heavily in perma nent factories. We must begin now to plan for that future. E-M-F "30" has been designed with that idea' uppermost. We have embodied those features that will 'meet the needs of the greatest number and endure longest. From year to year we shall improve wherever possible, but make no radical changes. What ever other models we may from time to time see fit to bring out, they will be merely to fill out the line. E-M-F "30" shall remain our standard our permanent model. "The public has been saying prices of automobiles must come down. And while the public says many things without deep thought, and while this is said without a knowledge of the cost of making automobiles, the public is right, and eventually we hope to be able to realize that prophecy. But we shall not do it by making a cheap car in the sense that cheapness means poor qual ity. That would be fatal. "Once we have built and paid for our factories and equipment, standardized our product and perfected it to the degree that will make few replacements necessary to keep our guarantee good; when we have developed a car that we can guarantee for a year absolutely; by that time our customers will be many and they. will all, if properly treated, be our salesmen then I believe we can produce this same car in- its highly perfected state and sell it' for NOT FAR ABOVE $1000." - WAS EVER PROPHECY FULFILLED more completely than that bne?: ' Was ever a business forecast more accurate? Was ever a worthier ambi tion realized? - REMEMBER THAT WAS IN 1908 April, to be exact. So the plan which we announce in this "ad" to place E-M-F "30" in the hands of buyers, backed not alone by its gteat reputation there are over 18,000 in use today and every owner boosting but backed also by a full year's guar antee at $1000, was laid with the very foundation of this company at its first meeting. WE HAVE SAID WE SAW IT COMING. We did and were ready for it. ' One man s embarrassment is ouen anoiner s oppnuniy, juu tv,.. This is ours. WHY DID' WE NOT DO IT BEFORE? that's another natural question. Glad you asked it. Answer is: During the first two years this company had to expend large sums on factory buildings and the installation of machinery, tools, jigs and other equipment. Good business routes dictated that that cost must be absorbed by the output of those years. The price, $1250, was the lowest possible under those conditions, and, you'll recall, other makers predicted our speedy downfall, so narrow so dangerously, narrow did they consider our margin of profit at that price. ; TODAY WE HAVE $7,000,000 INVESTED in plants for making E-M-F "30" and Flanders "20" cars. We have practically unlimited financial re- - sources and everybody knows they are not furnished by our creditors. . Our problem now is not to pay for those plants they are all paid for but to keep them running economically-which is to say, topfull capacity the year around. Our capacity is, as you know, 80 E-M-F "30" and l-o Flanders "20" cars every working day. FIGURE IT OUT FOR YOURSELF. . Suppose we receive an average net profit of fifty dollars per car on such an output pretty fair day's pay, isn't it? And you would-i't mind paying that much "rake-off" to have the skill and experience of such an organization in the car you buy and its guarantee back of it, would you ? YOU SEE, IT'S VERY IMPLE when you strip it of all mystery and get down to brass tacks. The lower price will, we are confident, more than double the demand places this car within the reach of thousands who would otherwise have to be content with a planetary transmission abomi nation or do without or pay more than they feel they ought to pay for the car they want. Having the demand, we shall run our plants the year around. The "overhead" or fixed charges will be distributed over the ,large number of cars, making it a small item on each. Most important of all, we can keep our splendid organization intact. WE EMPLOY 12,500 MEN. These and their families depend on this com pany for their livelihood. They are the pick of the trade most of them have been with us from the first. Every man is an expert in his line, be that line of great or little importance. That's what makes it possible for us to make a better car than others one we can guarantee for a year. OTHERS ARE RETRENCHING JUST NOW. That's our opportunity. We shall double up the demand is there and will always continue. We haven't the slightest doubt about that. So you see our opportunity is also yours for the factors that make it possible and the confidence that actuates us in putting the price of this car at such an undreamed of figure also makes it possible for you' to own the best 30 horse power family touring, car ever made at the price you have always said a first class automobile should be bought for. UNTIL VERY RECENTLY this move was impossible much as we would have liked to do it for you'll remember we had it in mind from the-very first Last season when we bought materials and equipment for the 1910 model, prices were inflate;! beyond all reason. The promoters were at their zenith at that time. Legitimate makers found themselves bidding for supplies, against concerns we all knew could not stay in the business more than a year or two. Prices of tires and all other items went soaring, o we had to await the return of normal conditions and that is what we now have. Some timid folk think it is a slump. It isn't just water ' finding its level, that's all. TODAY WE CAN BUY materials at their intrinsic value. Paying the casK our wants get first attention. This, and the"other factors we have de scribed above, make it possible to realize our fondest ambition and give - you a car at a price and of a quality that cannot be equaled by any other concern on earth. - LET US IMPRESS THIS FACT UPON YOU: There is no change in the 1911 model. We could find no point to improve there wasn't a weak spot in the 1910 model. E-M-F "30" is today recognized as the standard American car. It has set the styles and the pace for nearly three years. We believe it will do so for at least three years more. THERE NEVER WAS A BETTER MOTOR MADE. Never a better chassis throughout. It's equipped with a Splitdorf magneto that never fails nor varies in efficiency. It is designed for hard work to be driven not by expert chauffeurs, but by owners. It has proven the most economi 'cal car to maintain that ever was made. Eighteen thousand owners will add to what we have said ask them. IF E-M-F "30" WAS AN UNKNOWN CAR a new and untried product - it would be different. This "ad" would not then be such a thunderbolt to the trade. But it is the best-known car in America today. It is in its third year in the present form. Never was a greater record of service and of satisfaction. j , . ; THE YEAR'S GUARANTEE which we announced some time ago on the 1910 model goes with the 1911 model also and at the $1000 price. And if you read that guarantee you'll find it is unequivocal it means just what it says we guarantee E-M-F "30" for one year absolutely. PRICE OF FLANDERS "20," 1911 Model, is also adjusted to the new condi tions. It is now $700 for Roadster and Runabout types ; Tourabout $725. We haven't said much about this car in this "ad" wasn't room. We will in another, though. Watch for it it will be enlightening. XOTE This ad is the first of a series of four that will be published in the next few days. Ko. 2 will be on the subject of Manufacturers' Guarantees and what they amount to. We'll let the light in on some things in that ad, too. The third will no be for general consumption addressed to dealers only. Ve believe in talking to them openly" of course you may read it if vou choose. Perhaps, on second thoughts, you'd better. E-M-F COMPANY, Automobile Manufacturers, Detroit, Mich. E-M-F BRANCHES: NEW YORK, If. T. CHICAGO, I I.I. PHILADELPHIA. PA. SA.V FRANCISCO, CAL. BOSTON, MASS. ATLANTA, OA. SACRAMENTO, CAL. OMAHA, NEB. PITTSBURG, PA. CLEVELAND, OHIO. COLUMBUS, OHIO. LOS ANGELES, CAL. BOISE, IDAHO. MEMPHIS, TEV.V. ST. LOUS, MO. SOUTH BEND, IND. INDIANAPOLIS, IND. LOUISVILLE, KV. SYRACUSE, N. Y. WASHINGTON, D. C. MILWAUKEE, WIS. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. FARGO, '. D. PORTLAND, OR. SEATTLE, WASH. KANSAS CITY, MO. SAN ANTONIO, TEX. DALLAS, TEX. . OKLAHOMA CITY, OKI, A. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, SIOUX FALLS, 8. D. SPOKANE, WASH. . J DENVER, COL. STUDEBAKER. BROS. CO., ..Portland Distributors for Western Oregon and Washington WHOLESALE AND RETAIL, CHAPMAN AND ALDER STREETS rcn 102.0