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hg hopes for show • • •

big manufacturers hope make converts from the :i-lorry brigade; some iybuilders find the NEC • expensive: others are trehensive. Steve Geary been listening to the intry's hopes and fears.

UFACTU RERS are looking ad to the first National ibition Centre Motor Show very mixed feelings as they :e final preparations for the ning next week.

)espite optimism from the iety of Motor Manufacturers Traders, some manufacrs are concerned that comng the commercial vehicle car shows will make it diffito do business.

krid that is what the Show is about for the commercial icle manufacturers.

k spokesman for ERF told that he saw a very real sibility of people not interid in the commercial vehicle Id coming to the Commercial w merely to make sure that get value for their admisi ticket.

lut he also saw a possible le off for the whole of the imercial vehicle industry — rators and manufaturers — ;Flowing the public what a Imercial vehicle is like.

n many cases for the first a, members of the public will able to look at a commercial icle not merely as something . is dirty and smelly, and now le maker's are looking to this le to provide a new outlook on commercial vehicles for the public.

NEC will be Britain's biggest. ever motor show — and the most expensive too, and it is here that some makers have their qualms.

A spokesman for the SMMT said that ths show is costing in all, around £20m to stage including the costs of the manufacturers in putting on shows on their stands but it is expected to attract around a million visitors.

A Ford spokesman commented that more visitors would probably go to the NEC show that might otherwise go to a London show. "It is in the centre of the country and it is far easier to get to than London for many people," he said.

"NEC has the space and it has the facilities, Birmingham is on the doorstep and we are expecting a lot of visitors from the car section of the show which will allow us to counter the antilorry lobby," he said.

But whatever the effects of combining the two shows and moving to NEC everybody is putting a tremendous effort into the exercise to make sure that it is a success.

A Scania spokesman commented that he thought the NEC show would be a more businesslike affair than some past London shows because the added expenses involved in attending and exhibiting at NEC would cut the numbers coming to merely look at the show. And Leyland agreed that there would be no frills or gimmicks on its stands and this was allowing Leyland Vehicles to keep its show buclet to around the same figure as for any other show. The CM Leyland competition is not a gimmick.

"Having the cars in the same show will be a test for all of us," said a spokesman. "We have got to be there as the number one British manufacturer, and already we see a lot of foreign

interest All the manufacturers have high expectations of NEC — mainly brought on by the very high costs of exhibiting. "Birmingham is an excellent showplace — it has been needed for years," said a Seddon Atkinson spokesman.

But he was worried by the crowds that are certain to be at the Show. "If we get a lot of people around the stand then it is going to be difficult to talk to the people that we want to talk to. I think that with a lot of car people about, the crowds could lead to some aggravation," he said, "What we really need is room to breathe and room to talk at this Show."

He was happy, though, to show the public what a commercial vehicle really is and like many of the manufacturers SA is hoping to win over some of the anti-lorry lobby to its point of view.

All the manufacturers are worried by the question of the cost of the mammoth exhibition. 'The cost is very frightening,'" said Volvo group marketing manager John Dennis. "But we are very proud of the NEC," he added.

Mr Dennis reserved judgment on the wisdom, or otherwise, of bringing the two sections of the motor industry together.

No one is yet sure what the effects will be when the two shows are combined for the first time but, as one maker commented -We voted for it when the SMMT asked us.

Despite extra trains and buses, transport to the Show for the visitor still worried Seddon Atkinson, -We are very apprehensive about people actually getting to the Show

Everyone is apprehensive about the prospects of moving to Birmingham and the impression put over by many manufacturers is one of performers waiting in the wings to take the stage on October 20.

And because of the apprehension and pre-Show nerves most manufacturers are making extra efforts over their displays and it is this that they hope will give them a good return.

And the industry's makers are hoping and telling themselves that the Show, with all its innovation, will be a success, but an LV spokesman added: "This will be the biggest challenge for the NEC as well."

For a lot of exhibitors the major problem is emerging as one of appealing to the market. Many are worried that the car displays will mean an excess of visitors spilling over to the Commercial Motor Show.

A Seddon Atkinson spokes

man commented: "I'd rather see three halls of commercial vehicles and two empty ones rather than combine the events like this.

But many have high hopes that the public will be educated into more acceptance of the heavy vehicle as an essential part of modern life.

On the passenger side Asco, Plaxtons and Van Hool all agree that the lack of demostration space at NEC is a serious omission.

And the cost of exhibiting has made a large hole in the budgets of many of the smaller bodybuilders and more still have been compelled to abandon any idea of exhibiting.

Cost has also been responsible for the contraction of many of the stands. Leyland has put all its subsidiary companies into the one stand, incuding its bodybuilders and the smaller commercial vehicle marques.

An SMMT spokesman admitted that the show as a massive gamble. "There are certain disadvantages, but we hope that the advantages of this kind of operation outweigh the disadvantages," he said.

The Society will consider the Show a success if attendances reach the 600,000 mark, he said — but a target figure of nearer one million people over the nine days of the show is thought to be nearer the truth.

The spokesman said that costs of mounting the Show and the Prices of exhibition space had been pushed up by costs including the building of a bridge over the railway lines at Birmingham International station which cost the SMMT £100,000 in rentals to British Rail.

''We just hope it is all justified,' said the spokesman.

But he was optimistic about the results for the commercial side of the show. "This show has generated a lot of interest in the commercial vehicle industry and it can do nothing but good for the industy if the public can see the trade show as well. "Some of the manufacturers have had qualms about the Show going to Birmingham — and a lot still have qualms but we think that those who are going to Birmingham won't be disappointed," he said.

But most of the makers and body builders are optimistic about the outcome of this Show. Many are worried about the facilities provided for passengers trying to get to the Show.

A Fodens spokesman summed it up by saying: "If you want to go to the Show — go by train, and avoid an ulcer."

Optimism is the note on which most of the exhibitors are going to the Show — but it is a note of cautious optimism.

The spokesman for Fodens added: "The people who are going to have the problems are the car makers — the commercial division is still going to be a trade show and it is not going to attract the same difficulties as the car division will when the day arrives.