The " people's car " with which Herr Hitler was
to enrich and gratify his people has never materialised, and the money extracted from the workers in advance in payment for the Promised vehicle has been impounded for general war expenses. In spite of that discouraging precedent the British Govern- ment might, I suggest, think seriously of arranging for the production of a simple standardised car to be sold as cheaply as the present cost of materials will permit. The production of new cars, except for export, is quite rightly prohibited. But the need for a certain amount of motor transport is recognised —as witness the supplementary-petrol-ration provision and the help-your-neighbour scheme. But old cars will not last for ever. As they age breakdowns and costly repairs increase. To permit existing makers to resume production of cars of scores of different sizes and horse-power would be folly. But to standardise a single low- or medium-powered car of a type that would be serviceable to the army if ever commandeering of motor vehicles became necessary, and have it made on a cost-plus-percentage, or at any rate a strictly controlled profit, basis, would be of certain benefit to the community and potential benefit to the army. The fact that standardised spares could be obtainable everywhere would be an immense advantage. No doubt the output would have to be limited through more urgent calls on steel and other material, but a policy of no-new-cars-for-the-duration can hardly be con- templated.
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