FORD
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
1. In actual volumes of freight carried by trucks we 'see a considerable expansion over the next 10 years. However, unit sales of all new trucks and the total number of trucks in use at any one time, will, I think, expand at only a moderate rate. The exception is in the over-28 ton bracket, which we foresee expanding considerably by 1980.
Road ton-mileage in this country increased from 61 per cent irr 1960 to a record 76 per cent in 1967 — but then it started to come down again — since the then government began to take measures to push freight back on the railways. Last year, 74.8 per cent of all British transport ton-mileage was by road, and we believe this figure will now fluctuate between 70-74 per cent for the next 10 years.
2. Plans for a major expansion of our commercial vehicle sales activities in Europe are now well advanced and each of our overseas companies will be making their own marketing announcements in due course. However, I can say that Ford plans to offer the European operator a complete range of vehicles from 6 cwt light vans, through Transits, right up to the top of the weight scale — whatever that may be.
3. The Western European commercial vehicle industry could well have consolidated by 1985 down to six or eight major manufacturers.
4. Our "ideal" is, first and foremost, harmony with Europe. Britain has always been considerably down on gross tonnage compared with the major European nations -all of whom fix different gross weight and axle limits. So complete harmony is the ideal we are looking for in the long term, with the EEC recommendation of 40 tons"gross as the sensible figure in the immediate future. Personally, we do not regard the axle weight as the predominant factor and would be quite happy to accept either a 10or 11-ton limit. What we do not want is for Britain to have a completely different set of rules to her European neighbours.
5. We believe that new techniques of noise measurement and vibration frequencies will be subject to intensive development over the next 20 years, with the aim of producing a heavy truck as quiet as a saloon car. These developments will, no doubt, include new diesel engine designs, the gas turbine and automatic transmissions.
As a parallel, cabs and controls will improve out of all recognition to give the truck driver of the 1990s standards of comfort at least equal to those he expects from his weekend leisure vehicle.