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Page 10
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WOULD SIR LIKE THE CREDIT PLAN?
The truck as a washing machine! Now there's a thought to get your head round. , . No, we haven't gone bonkers at the CM off ice this week -we're referring to Volvo's latest interest-free finance initiative on used trucks and Oaf's offer on new LFs. OK, it's not quite on the same scale as a typical deal from Dixons or Currys, but it could mark the beginning of a trend which can only mean good news for truck buyers.
Truck manufacturers have often bleated on about making no money from truck sales and that the general idea is to keep the metal moving, thereby producing consumers of spare parts. Others have talked about adopting a full-on white-goods approach where trucks have a built-in obsolescence after say seven years, at which time you'd throw them away and buy new.
We're a far cry from that with Volvo's latest campaign and indeed, the truck it refers to the FL6 is hardly the latest rinseand-spin technology, to extend the metaphor, and Volvo clearly has a few to shift. And Oaf's move reflects the LF's close relation to the van market.
Employers must be enlightened and the unions cautious if we are to move forward as an industry"
However, with these manufacturers taking the lead in truck financing, others will be looking on keenly. Expect to see some reaction over the coming months.
• As our investigation reveals this week, there's a shift in power in the road transport industry. Drivers are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Some might argue it's always been that way, but the current spate of threatened strikes, refusal to drive certain trucks and legal actions against a particular manufacturer's seating slam homE the message that drivers are not to be trifled with.
All this against a severe driver shortage, and with the Working Time Directive on thE horizon, things can only get tougher.
Employers will do well to take an enlightened view of the issues, while to the unions we'd sound a note of caution. Teamwork and conciliation are the only way to move the business forward and with the challenges this industry is going to face over the coming months, we're going to need plenty of both.