Dealer complains of impertinent survey
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EXTREMELY impertinent is how one of Britain's leading commercial vehicle distributors describes a nationwide survey now being conducted by Marplan Ltd for an unnamed nonBritish truck manufacturer. In a letter to Marplan's managing director, Mr D. A. Leibling, planning and marketing manager of Lex Commercials Ltd, says : "My colleagues and I take strong objection to . . the use of the word ' official ' in conjunction with the EEC, which Implies that the work was sponsored by the EEC itself or some similar organisation or Government department."
Mr Michael Hannah, a Marplan director responsible for the survey, was asked by CM this week to explain the significance of "official."
"The whole matter is a storm in a teacup. Our client is a commercial company and only eight of the 1,200 dealers to whom we sent forms have queried our wording," said Mr Hannah. About 30 per cent of dealers sent a questionnaire had replied and a report was now being prepared from the information they submitted. Questions which Mr Leibling found impertinent included : " If your geographical sales area is controlled by the manufacturer, is this control very rigid or is it a fairly flexible arrangement?
"How satisfied are you with your geographical sales area from the point of view of its size and competition from other dealers holding the same fran chise? • "How many commercial vehicles have you sold in the past year?"
The final question involved rating various manufacturers for performance in such matters as offering a complete range of vehicles, providing a good parts service and having very reliable vehicles. British vehicles named in this question are Bedford, British Leyland, Ford and Chrysler, while Continental manufacturers are Mercedes, Scania and Volvo.
A letter with the survey said that the information obtained might have a bearing on future EEC legislation and the whole area was one about which few real facts existed.