French and Japanese trucks feature in import plans
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• A British finance company is currently considering a wide range of foreign truck marques, including some from Japan, which it might negotiate to import into the UK. Visby Finance Ltd, a holding company controlled by Tozer, Kemsley and Millboum, the City banking group, is considering several fields in which it might invest. These include the truck market.
Mr David Blackburn, managing director of Visby, told CM this week that his company was examining several foreign truck makes at present unrepresented on the British market. It was also considering some British makes, too. Mr Blackburn said that it was completey untrue to say, as reported elsewhere last week, that agreement was near with any particular one. Makes being considered included Saviem of France and MAN of Germany, together with several others, including some Japanese.
It will be "many months" and certainly not this year before any decision is reached. However, Visby has retained Mr Len Baxter, until this week truck sales manager of Vauxhall Motors Ltd, to advise it on a wide range of truck makes and types. As yet all sectors of the truck and bus market are being examined. Mr Baxter was formerly with the Normand company when they were Mercedes-Benz truck concessionaires.
Mr Blackburn is also managing director of BMW Concessionaires Ltd but he stressed that there was no connection between that company and Visby. He emphatically denied that commercial vehicles might eventually be sold through BMW's well established chain of car service
• outlets. This could happen "under no conceivable circumstances", he said.