Craftsmanship for Export
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F the many commodities and services which this country makes available in the overseas markets, none is more valuable than the accumulation of experience and skill in the handling of materials which has built up its reputation for craftsmanship. Export conditions in the past few years have turned attention to quantity rather than quality, but now that new factors are beginning to have their influence—including German competition —those manufacturers of products which sell primarily on a quality basis have an opportunity to re-establish and even to take a lead in overseas sales.
The standards by which products are judged these days have so changed that often the quality manufacturer may find that no comparative product exists by which his prices may be judged. It may also occur that the quality product offered, although expensive, is alone in its field, with no competitive article available, in a particular overseas market. In this case it often arises that the home manufacturer finds that the only available alternative overseas is so obviously less suitable for the work to be done that the question of high cost can be answered by the economy in operation which is possible.
This applies not only to specialized vehicles, such as the Land-Rover, which for a long time enjoyed complete lack of opposition abroad, but also to specialized applications of vehicles, such as sanitary and other municipal models. Here it is a case of Britain's longer experience in these particular transport activities ensuring that overseas competition can be beaten.
Although it is difficult to break into an overseas market with small quantities of vehicles, and more so with single models, there are methods by which this could be overcome. For example, it would be worth much if more enterprising British bodybuilders could make available examples of their craftsmanship for mounting on chassis in the country to which they are destined. Makers of horseboxes, mobile shops, ambulances, luxury' touring coaches, and a host of other special types would find that in many countries abroad competitive highly specialized bodybuilders simply do not exist. The market for such specialized bodies should be a rich one.