European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 09, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine   do you thin Kim falling for that old line by John Barbour associated press Iven America s obsession with big wheels some businessmen Are con Vinced that gasoline Price Dat $1.00 a gallon will do what common sense has ailed to do make the wheels  big car Little car Deal is a Moun Tain out of a Molehill says Forrest Shum Way president of the signal companies who spent the largest part of his life in theol and Gas business. They Nave proven to everyone s Satis faction that you can make a very Success Ful Small Gold lined car. That s what the Seville is nothing More than a very fancy Small   he asks can t you make a Little Pontiac and maybe put Chinchilla on the inside or Gold fixtures. I Don t think it s the size of the car that determines the demand. I think it s the Type of  the dust is beginning to Settle after president Carter Laid Down us Energy proposals and despite differences of How the equation is worked out poll Snow the majority of toe american Public is convinced that there is chronic fuel shortage and something must be done. Some experts have been trying to teach that lesson for years. Roy Chapin. President of american motors which bet All its Nickels on Small cars Only to have the buying Public turn away is convinced there will be a change in the private car. He is just As convinced that one thing will not change that the private car will always be with us. I think we Are going to see a change i people s desires and the necessary Utility of  he says. There la Bemore of an emphasis on smaller specialized vehicles perhaps electric for Primar ily Urban use shopping getting Home from the office things like  will be diminished growth of travel Over Long distances by personal  also will be on improvement in interurban transportation buses trains and a continuing expansion of air travel if it does t Cost too much in Energy. There also May be a slowing Down of the trend away from the cities. I think we May find people More inter ested in living in a metropolitan area. I think we will inevitably see an improve ment in mass transit making mobility within Urban areas relatively simple and hopefully a lot More attractive than i presently is Chapin says. Shum Way whose firm divested itself of its Oil interests including North sea leases because the returns were not sufficient to justify the capital investment still is struck by the ironies of the situation today. There Are Only two ways to Deal with the Energy crisis says Shum Way first by pricing Energy so people will not waste , by getting rid of the big Automo Biles. The big automobiles Are the primary source of waste of Petroleum products in this country you just can t go on with cars on the Road getting nine 10 Miles  the idea that turning to Small cars will destroy Detroit. Shumway says is invalid. Look at the Little Mercedes he  re Selling like hotcakes at 04,800 out Here in Beverly Hill Sand you can practically pick it up. A four place car and it s smaller than almost anything Detroit makes " whatever Congress docs. 1 gallon gasoline Likely More is considered just a matter of Elmr. Listen it s  says Frank arb. Who tried to get Congress to listen for two years As president Ford s Energy chief. Dollar gasoline is bound to come in the next five years no matter what we  Chopin agrees. I Don t think it s going to come to pass overnight but 1 think it s very probable within the next  Shumway a Republican applauds the goals of Carter s program including Gaso line taxes. This country has been in a class  he says. European countries and others just As civilized As we Are have always taken a very dim View of wasting Energy. They be had very High gasoline taxes and High horsepower taxes on cars. That s Why All these foreign cars have such and two cars in Little engines. It was t because they could t afford it particularly countries like Germany and France. It was because they Felt it was evil to waste  Chaplin s firm already has built 300electric can for the . Post office As an Experiment and adapted som others for electric utilities. He says we can make a vehicle that runs on electricity  but batteries Don t last Long. Some new experimental studies ordered by the government ask for Only a 55-mile Range. Says Shumway whose subsidiary Gar rett a research has one of the contracts nobody s whipped that Battery  can drive one Iso Miles per hour Uphill but you have to plug it  says Chapin of his electric vehicle we re not Selling it commercially be cause there in t any demand. But i think there is going to  even then he says it May not be a big piece of the Market. More Likely is a variety of alternatives More diesels. Maybe Turbine powered cars. If some car buyers hear the contrary news that there is plenty of Oil and Gas enough for the next Hundred Yean they should t Bank on it As part of their car buying plans mos experts say. There s plenty of Oil and Gas left on the North american  says Shum Way. But it s deep and it s Tough to find and you have to have real incentives to find it. If you Are drilling with your own Dollar you Don t get a lick for  Frank Zarb agrees it s Tough to get tit. And expensive. There s plenty there but you get the plenty while what you Arenow producing is declining. So you re not adding. At the same time consumption is increasing. You re not going to find the country Balling itself out with new Oil  the Auto Industry is heading for the greatest period of change in its history. Chapin says but it will not happen  with higher gasoline prices. At to cents a gallon he says Gaso line Stu Comet to Well under half the Cost of operating a car because of Large Cost increases for repairs de predation and insurance. Despite these increases the automobile Stul is alive. If not Well. Part of the reason is that the private car helped build the suburbs and the suburbs and their disperse geographies now Nee the car. The far ranging american will be reluctant to give it up. But one Day the scene will be  of a fuel gauge the Driver May watch an Energy clock on his dashboard ticking off the minutes Between Battery stations. Or even with the better mileage expected by 1985, a Little Bell will ring in his mind every mile reminding him he has just spent another six cents. The stars and stripes Page 13