A S MICHAEL HESELTINE said at the weekend, what this country
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and its present Government need is an industrial strategy. It is not needed to control manufacturing industry, or to put obstacles in its path. It is needed so that the sort of ridiculous and damaging Farce which has developed out of the LandRover-Leyland affair can be avoided in future.
It may be that General Motors will come back to the table to talk further about Leyland. It may be that the Government will back down from the ludicrous position that the fear of a 'revolt' by up to 50 Conservative MPs ranks higher in the Government's priorities than securing a Future for two of Britain's three big truck builders. It may be that all the hot air about the importance of "Britishness' will be replaced by sensible discussion about what ownership and management will be best for each of the component arms of BL. But none of that will happen if the Government doesn't have an overall set of guidelines for industry.
If the Government actually had a set of principles which it could reasonably be expected to apply in a given set of circumstances, then companies like BL and their various partners and potential partners would have a rough idea of where they stood. Then they would not waste time developing solutions which they are not allowed to implement, and would be able to concentrate on doing what they know or feel is best for them in particular and the industry in general. As things stood on Monday, the Government's shilly-shallying over the proposed GM/BL deal had effectively scuppered the first opportunity in years do something positive about the overcapacity in the British trucks industry. Now such benefits must awai possible GM return, or the much more positive result of the still-tentative Ford/Iveco deal.
The more important short-term rcsu of all this nonsense is, of course, that o of the most important developments oi Land Rover-Leyland's recent history ho been completely overshadowed. What greater advertisement can any manufacturer have than the readiness o another highly respected manufacturer take its products and sell them as its ov That Dar wants to take Sherpas and Roadrunners to sell throughout Europe Dais is far more telling than any public campaign that Leyland could mount. It athounts to a huge vote of confidence f Leyland as well as making sound commercial sense for both companies F expanding production for one through expanding the range of vehicles offered by the other.
This is an example of an all-too-rare happening in the British trucks industr, — an outbreak of good news. It must some way towards dispelling the myth that Britain is not very good at buildin trucks. It is to be hoped that there will more good news — because it is in the interest of every user of commercial vehicles that the industry is stabilised al has a secure future.