FORGOTTEN CV • [ have just heard the President of the SMM&T on
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the radio extolling the virtues of the "Motor Show" at the NEC and I am not only mad but appalled that he did not once mention commercial vehicles. Even if he'd said Motor Vehicle Show instead of motor cars all the time I would have had a certain pacification.
I accept that the car boys are the biggest employers but does Mr Toy not know that the SMM&T have been pushing an advertising programme to get people to accept the commercial vehicle market as, "Part of our lives"?
We exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show for well over twenty years and only three times since the inception of the NEC combined show. The last time we were there was in 1982 and whilst we could afford it, I could not approve the substantial costs of the exhibition henceforth. It was those costs and lack of support that caused nearly all UK trailer and bodybuilders to withdraw.
Apparently the total advertising costs for cars in the UK is about £500 million — enough to reduce prices by £300 each. There is surely only one market size and the best penetrant into it is a lower price.
Thank God for Harrogate and "Tipcon".
T P Charlesworth Managing Director Neville Charrold Ltd Mansfield Notts.