*Big decisions
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I gather that Monday of this week saw one of the top-level meetings to hammer out the physical pattern of the Leyland-BMC merger. My guess is that, despite both BMC's and Leyland's history of allowing makenames to continue, several are going to disappear in the next two years. BMC's "badge engineering" on the car side reflected the traditional dealer set-up, and now that this is being streamlined the way is open for some rationalization. Already, the trucks have become "BMC".
But it is models more than makes that will be cut to a new pattern to avoid wasteful overcompetition. In Amsterdam last week LMC's sales director, Trevor Webster said he knew there had been criticism about lack of ration
alization among LMC products, but this was the year when rationalization was going to take place, and the fruits of this would be seen at Earls Court in September.
I wonder whether "Daimler", for all its highly respected history and the undoubted goodwill attached to it will be quietly dropped because it is inescapably the same name that father Gottlieb bequeathed to Stuttgart-Unterturkheim's famous company, and with which Leyland has fought mighty export battles?