The Field for BRITISH BUSES IN UNDEVELOPED COUNTRIES

11th February 1930, Page 142

11th February 1930

Page 142

Page 143

Page 142, 11th February 1930 — The Field for BRITISH BUSES IN UNDEVELOPED COUNTRIES

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THERE is a tremendous market overseas for British road passengervehicles, yet it cannot be denied that there exists amongst certain export shippers and overseas-sales departments a tendency to concentrate efforts upon what may he termed the developed countries. The British coach chassis or bus chassis is such a highly refined piece of machinery in every respect that it is

n o t invariably thought to be suited to the many

up-country a e rvices which connect towns and villages in the more remote quarters of the globe.

Britain lost much valuable headway to America in the years immediately following upon the close of the war, and we are still suffering seriously — gravely, in fact

— from the position which developed then. It 5s the object of our article, however, by giving some generalized information on the marketing conditions in these comparatively undeveloped countries, to show that the British machine is eminently suited to this class of service.

The close of the war found the British industry disorganized, but the American automobile works were ready to enter upon a campaign of increased production. America's big output for her domestic market was the most important factor in helping manufacturers to keep down their production costs, and the prices at which American light commercial chassis were offered in all markets of the world attracted attention to them. Heavy production permitted standardization of models, cheapness of spare parts and the feasibility of establishing wellequipped service depots in the markets concerned. Extensive and aggressive campaigns were, therefore, promptly

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put into operation by the Americans and developed with extraordinary success. That is how America Came into the pre-eminent position in all overseas markets

E o r commercial vehicles.

A note must be made here regarding the private-car business. In this, America's advance was contributed to by the imposition in Britain of a horse-power tax, which had the result of encouraging makers to produce high-efficiency vehicles with small engines. It cannot be seriously disputed that the horsepower tax has done much to retard overseas sales of British motorcars, but the same excuse cannot be made by the manufacturers of commercial vehicles.

Certain • aspects of the development of what we may call " jungle-bus " services, that is to say, mail, passenger and goods services between up-country towns and villages, are common to most of the comparatively undeveloped lands. To give an understanding of the position as it is to-day it is essential to explain the phase that has been covered during the past 10 years, an interesting point about it being that the fundamental conditions, to which we will refer, in countries half-a-world apart, have a common quality. One of the conditions (te which reference has been made above) was, of course, the inroad of the American vehicle. A con tributin g feature, and a very important one, was the ignorance of native owner-drivers, whether Negro, Arab, Mongol or Hindu, as regards depreciation and interest, those two items of the bus operator's accountancy which form the stumbling block of the small operator, even in this country.

This ignorance paved the way for the advance of the hirepurchase system. This system spread over the world, penetrating, along with the sales thrusts of motor-agency houses. into the most remote of up-country bazaars. It encouraged enterprising village men to run vehicles at rates which meant financial ruination. Such owner-drivers—if the word "owner" can be applied to one who is purchasing an article by instalments—allowed, in their primitive mental arithmetic, for payments of the monthly hire-purchase instalment, for fuel and oil, perhaps for tyres. Insurance of the vehicle and against third-party risks, was generally made a condition of the contract and therefore was allowed for,

but there was no such thing as garaging, and the big items•of maintenance, depreciation and interest were ignored.

Is it not perfectly plain why this type of road-transport operator purchased the cheapest vehicle available? Keen competition developed and rates were cut to the minimum.

It was not until the first big batch of vehicles sold during the hire-purchase campaign of the early post-war years began to fall to pieces that there arose an understanding that no allowance for depreciation meant no money for replacement. In many eases an initial deposit of one-third of the value of the vehicle had been paid to the company financing the hire purchase contract, and, although that company's balance had been received in instalments, the original deposit, which bad been raised by loan from a native moneylender, had never been repaid. Thus the operator found himself with a vehicle that was practically beyond repair and no money with which to replace it—on the contrary, he was still in debt to the moneylender.

Experience taught this lesson, and during the past five years there has developed, even in village centres of remotest Africa and India, a realization of the first fundaments of road-transport book-keeping. With this has grown an understanding that slower depreciation of the vehicle, representing the capital sum invested, means more economical running. So it is that 1930 sees thousands of native operators in the Sudan, the East African Dependencies, the Rhodesias, Nigeria and other West and Central African countries, the Near-East countries, India, the Straits and China, to mention but a few of the markets that are concerned, replacing the very cheapest vehicles with good rolling stock.

Here is Britain's chance. The British chassis is suitable. The question is what is the type that should be offered? Different working conditions call for different chassis, but, for the class of passenger and light. goods transport with which we are dealing, two or three types of chassis, at most, ma.y be standardized upon. The two main classes required are the light six-wheeler and the 16seater or 20-seater four-wheeler, the six-wheeler being particularly suited to service in countries where soft ground has to be tackled, in a subsequent issue we shall deal in some detail with the features of design that are most impertant in the production of chassis for junglebus services.

The requirements are not of a complicated nature. It is, indeed, as well that they are not, for the British vehicle in standard form is already more expensive than its American competitor, and if special equipment had to be added to make the home-service machine suitable for duty in countries of the nature to which we are referring, there would be less opportunity for sale of the British product.

The essential features for service in undeveloped countries are simple and inexpensive enough, yet many of them do not occur to us, at home, as being of value, and designers who have not had experience abroad are liable to overlook them, or to underrate their importance.

We wish to plead for the attention of British manufacturers to the markets afforded by the undeveloped countries, and to emphasize that, with the passing of the post-war phase that has afflicted road transport in these countries, an altogether brighter prospect for the British vehicle begins to appear. The opportunity should not—mlist not—be missed.

The Field for BRITISH BUSES IN UNDEVELOPED COUNTRIES

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Page 143

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