Lucas Comments on Monopolies Report
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rOMMENTING on the Monopolies ‘ser Commission report on the supply of electrical equipment for vehicles, Joseph Lucas Ltd. has defended its support of resale price maintenance—which the Commission had recommended should be discontinued. The Lucas company says it has always been a staunch supporter of price maintenance, not in order to achieve higher prices, but in order to safeguard the trader who stocks and sells Lucas goods.
On the recommendation that manufacturers should publish prices and terms for all sales of replacement goods, Lucas says it does in fact publish its trade prices, including quantity terms, for the benefit of distributors but does not give details of trade prices to the public.
Lucas states that if, as the Commission recommends, the practice of collecting information about changes in competitors' prices, etc., by way of the British • Starter Battery Association were discon tinued, each firm would have to employ more staff to provide its own market research and security service, adding to overheads.
It has also been pointed out by Lucas, though not in the official company statement, that in overseas countries where the policy recommended by the Monopolies Commission exists, the public has to pay anything up to three times the prices asked for electrical equipment in this country, and both vehicle manufacturers' production economies and the ability to provide a first-class service has suffered from a lack of component standardization.