H WILLIAM ALLAN

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on specialized equipment, ma-
chine tools, licenses and tech-
nical drawings. It is easily the
largest deal of its type nego-
tiated between the Soviet Union
and a non-Socialist country.

The Soviet Auto Plan calls
for 180,000 vehicles to be pro-
duced in 1969, rising to 600,000
by 1972. Half of this production
will be Fiat 124s, built specially
for rough roads and terrain. One
third will be Fiat 125s and the
rest station wagons.

France’s Renault first began
dealing with the Soviet auto in-
dustry in 1960 and since has
sold over $5.6 million worth of
transfer line equipment. Their
new agreement, signed recently,
involves the entire moderniza-
tion of the Moskvich works at
a cost of $90 million. Production
is programed to rise from the
present figure of 90,000 a year
to 300,000 by 1970.

In September, 1966, Toyota of
Japan was asked to submit pre-
liminary estimates for a factory
capable of producing 300,000
Japanese designed vehicles a
year by 1970 with an ultimate
capacity of 500,000 cars a year.
Toyota’s estimate indicated that
$392 in foreign exchange would
be needed. Negotiations are un-
der way. British Motor Corpora-
tion is also known to have ex-
pressed interest in a similar
type of project. In the field of
export of cars by the Soviet
Union, the main car will be Fiat
124.

U.S. auto company overseas
department heads, who are stu-
dying Soviet auto plans, say

Production lines at the Moscow Small Car Factory. Photo shows
assembly of the Moskvich-433 panel delivery truck and the Mosk-

vich sedans.

that the government now plans
to reorganize the auto industry
with a view to building 1.36
million vehicles annually by
1970. Half of them will be pas-
senger cars. By 1975, they say,
the Soviet Union will be build-
ing three million vehicles annu-
ally, two thirds of which will be
cars. :

Last available figures on world
auto production showed 20 mil-
lion cars, trucks, buses in 1964.
Some 56 out of 100 vehicles
built were being built outside
the United States, while back in
1950, three out of every four
vehicles built were made in the
U.S. To meet rising competition
abroad, U.S. auto companies now
operates 97 plants in 37 cour-

the future has been advanced by

the Soviet architect B. Landa. A
modern city is a complex sys-
tem consisting of thousands and
thousands of parts. Building up
such a “system,” architects
must proceed from its elemen-
tary unit—the “cell” of this gi-
gantic organism. What is the
“cell” at present? A. building, a
house. This is what architects
proceed from, and this has given
rise to the problems mentioned
above.

Landa decided to find a differ-
ent city ‘‘cell.” This proved to be
an ensemble, containing all that
man _requires. The. architect
builds up his new city from a

. number of such ensembles, thus

disposing of the old problems.
Imagine a valley through which
a stream meanders. On one bank
there is a forest, receding to the
horizon, and on the other a city.
An unusual city: one single
building. But what a building! A
skyscraper, a giant! It extends
for several kilometres repeating
the meandering of, the stream.
The building would blend with
the natural lay of the land, form-
ing an integral ensemble of nat-

ure’s and man’s creation. Here
is the solution found by the ar-
chitect: all the houses would be
built along an imaginary line,
with one on top of another,
forming a gigantic strip. Of
course, no one expects to actu-
ally put houses one on top of
another, the idea really is to
assemble the whole living com-
plex into a single whole. What
does the architect achieve by
this?

This building city would con-
tain no streets. Rather, it would
have only one—the thorough-
fare running along the building,
This means there would be no
need of building a whole net-
work of asphalted streets, with-
out which we cannot even ima-
gine a city today. This would
effect an enormous economy!
Next, the new city would have
no yards, so no money would
have to be spent for improving
them, there would be no need
for a whole network of various
kinds of supply lines. And now
you will probably ask, what
about industrial enterprises in
such a city. They will form the
same kind of strip situated in

tries outside the U.S. and in
1966 they spent on this type
of overseas production, $9.2 bil-
lion, an extraordinary 20 per-
cent higher than in 1965—with
outlays in 1967 expected to be
just as high.

The Soviet automotive en-
gineers are studying the pattern
being followed by the Japanese
auto industry, which is now
second in production of vehicles
in the world. All Soviet made
cars are fully equipped, reclin-
ing front seats, radio, heater,
windshield washers, and self ad-
justing brakes. American auto
company export heads, studying
models of the Soviet cars, and
after having visited the Soviet
Union and personally handled

parallel to the first. And between
them the whole set of architec-
tural “details” without which a
city cannot be called a city:
scientific and educational insti-
tutions, theatres, cinemas, stadi-
ums. They could be arranged ad
lib, for there would be more
than enough space.

What about the principal prob-
lems of modern cities?

The problem of architectural
“twins”: Each new city would
look different, (for the housing
strip and the industrial one too)
could grow both upwards and
lengthwise, it could curl into a
ring or a crescent. In such a city
the flats cauld be at two levels,
the roof of the lower flat serving
as a terrace for the upper one.
Here there could be flowers. or
playgrounds.

The transportation problem:
There would be no cars in the
future city. The only type of
transportation would be an ele-
vator. This would be like a
subway, or Metro, with pro-
grammed control. In the entry
of your flat you would press a
button, and in a few moments
the elevator would be at your

September 22, 1967

METS PLAN $3 BILLION AUTO EXPANSION

the cars, say that are dated in
design and lack the quality of
finish needed for success in a
competitive market, neverthe-
less have many virtues.

Soviet cars, they say, are well
equipped, even the low priced
models; are robust and well
suited to tough terrain and
rough driving. In some respects
they are technically ahead. Self-
adjusting brakes are standard
equipment on most models. So
are king-sized brake linings.
The Volga car still used a 2,500-
c.c. alloy four cylinder engine
that was very advanced when it
first appeared in 1956. It was
one of the first European en-
gines to have an alldy cylinder
block and a five bearing crank-
shaft.

The Soviet’ automotive engi-
neers are now testing an ad-
vanced 110-horsepower V-6,
also made in light alloy. The Za-
porozhets car has a_ robust
900-c.c. V-4 air-cooled engine
which has been in production
since 1959. There are now 28
factories in the Soviet motor in-
dustry. Three produce engines
and the remainder build either
vehicles or trailers. Twelve more
factories are in the process of
construction.

U.S. auto company overseas
scouts are telling their bosses
that the Soviet. Union’s target
of one million cars a year for
export in the next several years
is ambitious but by no means
out of range. You can buy the

Soviet “small” car the Moskvich..

on the export market at about
1,100 rubles wholesale.

door. According to the architect,
it would be most convenient for
such horizontally and vertically
running elevators to carry two-
three persons. Vertically they
could travel up to 15 kilometres
an hour (Landa estimates this to
be the best speed), and horizon-
tally twice as fast. As for the
stations, they would be in every
flat, all the theatres and cine-
mas, all the plants and factories,
at the stadiums and the beaches.
Calculating the ‘time it would
take someone to travel from
one end of the city to the
other, the architect arrived at a
figure of five minutes. Only five
minutes! And what conveni-
ence, to get to the theatre (in
your best suit) without going
outside, or to get to the beach
in your swimming suit. And
what is especially important,
you’ll not see any cars!

Such may be the city of the
future. It will only cost 20 per
cent more to build than an ordi-
nary city, and this mainly due to
the unusual form of public trans-
port. Specialists believe that
such a city can even be built in
our time.

= Va a

—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5

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