BIRDS EYE
Page 30
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Next year, sometime...?
The Press launch of the face lifted DAF F2800 Series was in all senses a sporting occasion. It also had that high professional gloss that one has come to expect on anything connected with DAF.
What could be more sporting than the sincere regret expressed by Phil Ives, managing director of DAF Trucks (GB) Ltd, at Fodens' plight? It would, he said, be a tragedy for the British commercial vehicle industry if that fine old maker disappeared. This was no glib valediction.
Phil also handed a compliment to Ford, whose economists' forecasts, he declared, always merited close attention. He wished fervently that they were correct in expecting an improvement in trade at the end of the year but he was less than sanguine.
Hino, however, was another kettle of tuna and one to which Phil's natural generosity would not stretch. He was worried about Japan's incursion through Ireland into the British heavy vehicle market. The basic ideologies of Japan and the West were, he believed, irreconcilable, and fair competition with and from Japan was impossible.
With Japanese lorry exports 51.6 per cent higher in July this year than last year, there is a reason to fear Hino.