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Spotlight on Germany

26th May 1961, Page 33
26th May 1961
Page 33
Page 33, 26th May 1961 — Spotlight on Germany
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THIS week we are publishing a road-test report of a popular German heavy goods vehicle which, although not available in Great Britain, has had considerable sales success since it became available outside Germany earlier this year. The report appears for two main reasons: it gives a measure of the competition our makers are facing in export markets, and it indicates the current extent of German design progress.

It reveals two other points, however. One is that, good a vehicle as it is, equally fine machines are produced in Great Britain (thereby destroying the myth that everything German is without equal). The other revelation is the price in Germany—f3,230 complete with body. This figure suggests that were Britain to join the Common Market our vehicles would be less expensive than German products of the same calibre, all other things being equal.

Encouraging

This in itself is encouraging, so if British products are at least as good as and cheaper than German vehicles, why are German makers successfully selling against British concerns in common export markets? The answers can only be: promises of better after-sales service, and more lenient trading terms. The former is the easier to overcome. British and German sales organizations alike maintain vehemently that they cannot offer credit over a longer period thati two years, but that each other is giving up to seven years' credit, with low initial deposits.

The Germans admit that terms extending beyond two years will be offered in exceptional cases but even then, they say, only when dealing with foreign governments. Here, possibly, lies the key to German successes in Nearand Middle-East territories, helping to create the impression that German makers are government-subsidized.

Taking the vehicles themselves, whilst it must be admitted that sometimes the attention to detail and quality of finish evident on German vehicles is superior to that on British products, basic designs are tending to become more alike, whilst some German produ6ers are even more conservative than our own. For instance, German cabs may be better finished than some of ours, but in many cases they are decidedly more difficult to get into and out of.

Best Vehicles

Applications for stand space at next September's Frankfurt Motor Show have increased by 40 per cent. compared with the previous Show. It would be nice to think that much of this increased demand had come from British commercial vehicle makers—not purely from hopes of sales in Germany, but to show potential non-German customers visiting Frankfurt that Britain can produce as fine a commercial vehicle as anyone could wish for, and at a genuine price.

Only last week Sir Patrick Hennessy said in London that Europe was " the test" for export sales, and that if a company could sell vehicles there it could sell them anywhere. German vehicles are built to give the long life expected by German operators. Nevertheless, British products are just as well designed and built. The battle lies not on the drawing boards but on the financiers' tables.

Operators in this country should, in any case, take an interest in competitive foreign vehicles because, if they see facets of design they like. they can approach British manufacturers to see if they can supply similar equipment or modifications on British vehicles for home consumption.

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Locations: Frankfurt, London

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