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The World's Their Oyster
Page 63
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THE past year has given evidence of anew determina tion by British commercialvehicle manufacturers to capture the world's markets. One of the most significant trends of development has been the production of special high-powered goods and passenger vehicles for fast travel with exceptionally large loads. Models with engines of up to 333 b.h.p. are now available, enabling gross train weights of up to 100 tons to be moved rapidly. '
Foreign competition; particularly from America, is , being met also in the production of an increasingly wide range of British dumpers of larger capacity than ever before. They are intended primarily for site work, but are • physically suitable for use on the road where Government regulations allow it. With industrial development expanding all over the world, there should be a growing market for this type of vehicle.
For Cross-country Work New multi-wheel-drive cross-country • vehicles of light and medium capacities have recently .been introdnced. One of thern has a simple rubber suspension system that is remarkable in its effectiveness over bad surfaces and requires no maintenance.
Suspension is a matter that is closely engaging the attention of British designers. Development work on air suspension has reached an advanced stage, but with characteristic British caution, manufacturers have not been hasty in incorporating it in their vehicles.
They are undoubtedly wiser than some of their foreign competitors, who have exhibited at Continental shows air-spring designs that have not been fully proved. In Britain, the use of pneumatic springs has so far been confined mainly to trailers and semi-trailers, but when the system is generally applied to powered vehicles, operators will be assured that it will be successful.
Oil engines continue to grow in popularity. The latest development is a 11-litre,, unit running at a maximum of 4,000 r.p.m., which provides almost the performance of a petrol engine with •far greater economy. It is smooth and quiet in operation and affords reasonably lively acceleration, with a high maximum speed.
Its ecomimy on stop-start work is exceptional, and its dimensions are such that it can replace without difficulty the petrol engines of a number of popular makes of light van, hire car and taxi. This new unit opens up realirts of economy hitherto unknown to operators of small commercial vehicles.
Another significant trend is the growing use of fully automatic gearboxes. So far they have been restricted to passenger vehicles, but their incorporation in goods vehicles may be expected. They are likely to have a particular advantage in extremely heavy vehicles, which manual manual gear-changing takes so long that valuable forward motion is lost and undue stress is thrown on the transmission when the clutch is re-engaged.
The use of power steering is being extended and progress has been made in braking design. Britain is far more advanced in the development of disc brakes than any other country in the world. Split-circuit systems for commercial vehicles are providing greater safety by isolating the brakes on individual axles, so that if one set fails, the others remain effective.
World effects of the Suez incident last year had discouraging results in reducing both production and exports below the high levels of recent' years. Frustration was, however, only temporary and the current year shows a strong resurgence of demand. Output for the first quarter of this year was 30 per cent. higher than in the first quarter of 1957. Production rose from 66,473 units (64,130 goods and 2,343 public service vehicles) to 86,315 (83,689 goods and 2,626 public service vehicles). Output for March (32,869 vehicles) was by far the highest this year.
Exports Up 23 Per Cent Exports show a similarly encouraging story, with an increase of nearly 23 per cent. in the first three months of the year. Exports rose from 29,216 units (27,613 lorries and vans and 1,603 buses and coaches) in the first quarter of 1957 to 35,893 this year, consisting of 34,261 goods'and 1,632 passenger vehicles.
The ever-widening range of British commercial vehicles isemphasized by the specification tables published in this issue, which occupy 35 pages, compared with 15 pages 10 years ago. Much of this increase is the result of the greatly extended range of works trucks and tractors now available, but evidence of growing specialization is found in the many extra models for road work, and particularly-articulated outfits.