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Bob Turner
• The British and Continental motor manu facturers are sitting poised on stronc distributor organizations on their own side; of the water and eyeing each other warily the battle is about to commence. That it the challenging way in which Britain's entn into the EEC is seen by Bob Turner, recentls appointed marketing director of Britist Leyland's truck and bus division. He is busily developing a department which. to prolonc the military analogy, will provide the sale: troops with the information and intelligenct to wage an effective campaign.
In fact Bob Turner's main task is to estab lish a strong marketing base and efficien support services for trucks, buses and specie equipment in the UK. Dedicated to the theon that reconnaissance is never wasted, he is e great one for digging out the facts beton pressing the "go" button.
Operators will see the benefits from hi: activities most directly in, for example, reducer waiting periods for new vehicles (when norrna market conditions return) through centralize( programming of orders instead of factory-by factory scheduling; and in more efficien and productive dealerships as a result of hi: department's franchising and dealer develop ment schemes.
Bob was brought up in a householi dominated by journalism. His father was zealous reforming journalist who becami news editor of the Manchester Guardian but the ink did not get into Bob's blood Instead it was his father's family farmin background and a West Country uncle': Ford dealership which set him on a careerhe became fascinated by agriculture mechanisms and in 1947 went to Ford': Institute of Agricultural Engineering beton becoming involved in the. company's tract° sales and marketing for 1 5 years.
It was Lord Stokes' declaration, at the 1961 Royal Show, that BLMC was staying in thi Nuffield tractor business which led to Bob': joining the Bathgate team. As marketim and product planning manager he set u$ a whole new organization to launch a Leylarir tractor range developed in 11 months frorr scratch. And it was from Bathgate that hi moved to truck and bus hq, where marketini the Leyland National is just one of the nove chores he's tackling.
With so many mind-bending activities a work, it is no surprise to find that his leisuR interests tend to be manual-such as makinc furniture for a hobby. BC.