A Far-Reaching Motorvan Coalition.
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We are authorised to announce an important development in connection with the manufacture and sale of the wellknown " J. and B." motorvans. The Lucre Motorcar Company, Limited, of 1-5, Poland Street, Oxford Street, W., of which Mr. Claude Browne is the indefatigable managing director, has concluded an agreement with James and Browne, Limited, of Westcroft Works, King Street, Hammersmith, of which Mr. T. Bousquet Browne is the managing director. The essence of the contract is that the Lacre Company acquires the concession for the entire output of " J. and B." vehicles, both private and commercial, for home and export trade, but the arrangement is not, in any sense, as has been rumoured in some quarters, a "combine."
In the course of an interview with Mr. Claude Browne, at Olympia, on Saturday last, we learnt that this step has been taken owing to the belief of the contracting parties that entirely separate organisations are desirable (a) to manufaclure, and (hl to sell. Mr. Claude Browne takes the view, however, that selling and maintenance can be combined advantageously, the maintenance department being made subordinate to the sales department, but that neither production nor disposal can he subordinated to the other. He is thoroughly opposed to the somewhat prevalent idea that it is the function of any company's selling department to arrange to offer whatever the factory chooses to send forward, and he strongly adheres to the opposite conviction, which is that, after the business department has ascertained the nature of the public's requirements, the works should, within limits, turn out vehicles to the specification so fixed.
Mr. Claude Browne has great faith in the policy of different sources of supply for each separate model. He takes the view that no. manufaCturing establishment, owing to its individuality and traditions, can, with success, fill all markets, or construct a large number of models. This belief, it will be observed, is only another example of reliance upon specialised production.
We learnt with pleasure, as we had expected to do, that the fresh arrangements will in no wise interfere with the sale of Lucre vans, or that the Lucre Company's relations with the Albion Motorcar Company, Limited, as its sole concessionnaire for England and Wales, will be prejudiced. In fact, Mr. Claude Browne informed us that the Albion Works, at Seotstoun, Glasgow, are, once more, being largely extended, in order to cope with the growing demand for the vehicles which are manufactured here. To this continued expansion, we are well aware, his company's efforts have contributed in no small degree.
There will be no clashing between the vehicles manufactured by James and Browne, Limited, and others which the Lacre Company *ill handle, the whole business being arranged to avoid that contingency; neither will the Lacre Company in any way depart from its practice of giving longperiod trials to prospective users. The immediate programme includes, also, the development of its export trade in all branches, and fresh announcements, in our pages, may be expected. it. is scarcely necessary for us to add our congratulations to Messrs. Claude and T. B. Brown upon the conclusion of the agreement.