SAVIEM Export Manager Reads Paper to IRTE
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THE sort of difficulties met with in I exporting commercial vehicles were well illustrated by M. Bechet de Balan, export manager of SAVIEM, France, in a paper he presented to the Institute of Road Transport Engineers at meetings this week in Yorkshire and London.
After a brief introduction to his company —SAVIEM was formed in 1955 by the amalgamation of Latil, Somua and the truck
and bus division of Renault M. Balan went on to talk of the progress made in recent years. An interesting point here was the forecast that SAVIEM will reach a production of between 28,000 and 30,000 vehicles this year, the p.s.v. content representing 57 per cent of total French production in this category.
The variation of regulations in different countries, said M. Balan, made the manufacturers' task difficult. The many aspects
studied in selection of designs for export v,,ere detailed and these were related to the sort of use commercial vehicles were put to in certain markets.
When the full specification of a vehicle suited to a certain group of countries had been decided, prototypes were built for test under appropriate conditions. Having studied the behaviour of the prototypes a "pre-series" of 20 to 30 vehicles was built and sent out to obtain acceptance by the local authorities and for sale to selected customers. When an adequate mileage of satisfactory service had been completed, the design was approved.
Great importance was placed by SAVIEM, said M. Balan, on training of personnel—both of his company's sales and service organization and of operators. It was usual for every SAVIEM branch to have a small technical school.