BRITISH TOUR DE FORC
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• Over the past five years, demand for commercial vehicles in Europe has dropped by about 16.5% but economic predictions for the near future indicate a small growth.
One of the major talking points at Paris was how individual manufacturers propose to reduce their continued losses and who is best placed to take up the share of the British heavy truck market vacated by General Motors.
Philippe Gras, president and chairman of the board for Renault Vehicules Industriels, said that his company has solid reasons to look ahead to a brighter future on its home market; that it had turned the trading position round into profit in Spain and that it should still be possible to do so in Great Britain. The level of persistent losses would have caused many companies to withdraw, however, and remains unbearable. Despite the financial position generally, the cv manufacturing industry continues to invest in the development of its products and the Paris show includes several new models to emphasise the point — more than might be expected are British.
Eby Bill Brock