LETTERS TO OVERSEAS READERS.
Page 24
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No. II.—Delivery Dates and Delays.
A-GOOD MANY potential buyers of British motor vehicles who are resident overseas have always nursed an impression that the British _ motor industry has regarded them, individually, as well as collectively, as far less important than the home buyer. The point of view is that the home buyer, being, so to speak, on the manufacturer's doerstp, can make himself much more thoroughly and effectively objectionable if he does not get what he wants when he wants it. The man at the far end of the earth is apt to picture the manufacturer, in receipt of his letter of -complaint owing to delayed deliveries, as being rather inclined' for the moment to send him a ear in order to keep him quiet, but as changing his mind a few minutes later when some equally angry customer from near by starts to pursue hini with vituperation and a hatchet.
I suggest that this type of .manufacturer, if he is not out of business already, certainly will be within the next year or so. The fact of the matter is that every man of intelligence connected with the British motor industry has come to a very full realization of the true importance of the over sea markets, but the trouble is that, despite this realization, he is, for the time being, more or less obliged to continue in such a way as to make his would-be friends at a distance believe that he is still in the ola unenlightened state which, rightly or.wronglys has been attributed to him.
Nowadays, the manufacturer must either let the overseas buyer think that he does not care twopence about him, by telling him point blank that he cannot supply his needs, or else he must offer to supply those needs, fully intending to do so, but recognizing that neither he nor anybody else knows whether the thing . can be done at the price and on the date specified. I remember that a couple of years ago, while tbe war was still in full swing, people were writing home blaming the British manufacturer for not sending out particulars and prospective prices of his post-war
models. Meanwhile, the manufacturer was doing everything in his power to get the Government. to let him have a few tons of miscellaneous materials and permission to make them up into one or two trial ears-. After months of -effort along these lines, hefinally got his permission to purchase and -use small supplies in this way, just about at the time when the Armistice was signed.
Generally speaking, the British manufacturer likes to be a man of his word. He does not care to give promises that have no foundation. He is averse to describing and Pricing an imaginary car that he has never built, just as if it were one of a—series 'being turned out daily from his works and, consequently, he has got into trouble for refusing to romance cn the subject of his post-war intentions while these intentions were still peculiarly vague. Had he taken the risk of 'romancing, as he was invited to do, he would now be spluttering under a yet heavier flood of abuse than that which is actually pouring itself over him. He would probably have expected that he would be able to build at something very nearly approaching pre-war prices and that, once the war was over, he would be able to get straight to work, and, once started, to make deliveries according to schedule.
After the Armistice was signed, the manufacturer hurried his plans forward as quickly as he -could and announced'his intentions as regards psoduction and prices. No sooner had he done So than things began to happen which upset his calculations completely. Wages, instead of going down, continued to go up in a series of substantial jumps. Material proved extraordinarily difficult to gets Labour troubles constantly disorganized his programme. He began to realize, more clearly than ever, that the motor industry is not an independent organization which can go its osim -1152 . sweet way, regardless of what is happening in other industries. Many manufacturers made promises of delivery at quoted prices, to -which they firmly believed that they would be able to adhere. In most eases, if not all, there svas inserted a protecting clause tooperate in the event of it being impossible to supply at the price quoted, or on the exact date stated. This provision was not very much emphasized, because it was not generally expected that it would come,into operation. The purchaser often. failed to notice that there was anything in his contract which allowed the manufacturer to vary his price. He noticed the main two items, namely, the price and the agreed date of delivery, and he regarded both as
his inviolable right. .
Most unfortunately, those very manufacturers who were amongst the first to realize how dependent British industry must now be lip-on the overseas markets, were probably the ones to commit themselves-most deeply as regards both price and delivery dates. Perhaps they are to be blamed for taking the risk, but, had they not taken it, they wouid have teen told that they were showing an obvious and total lack of interest in the overseas markets. Thus, they were between two stools.
The Effect of Sectional Differences.
The reader may say that all this is mere generaliza tion and, therefore, it may be well to consider briefly a specific instance of cause and effect. An example is to be found in the moulders' strike. Here we have a. case in. which the withdrawal of the labour of a few thousand men has come near to paralyzing the efforts of a few millions. Hardly any branch of engineering, and certainly not the motor industry, can do with
out the product of the moulder. If this product remains unavailable, the _motor manufacturer may go on constructing nine-tenths of any number of cars but cannot turn out a single complete car. In effect, -such a strike puts him back .by a period, at least, as long as the strike lasts. Even when the thing is over, supplies only come through at a normal rate and thewhole balance of the production of parts has been upset and remains upset. The effect on deliveries is just about as bad as if the whole of the motor manufacturer's own employees had left their work, • but, because the strike is not in the motor industry itself, it is difficult to ret people at a distance to realize how it affects that industry. As bearing upon the point under discussion, its effect will be that, for months to come, the clients of the motor manufacturer will go on blaming him for delays which are due simply to this one labour trouble occurring in -an industry over which he has not the slightest control. Even if he believed that the strikers were in the right, he could do nothing to redress their grievances. He must simply sit down and wait until the thing is sdttled.
This is, of course, merely one of many instances all tending to produce the same effect, but it is a good illustration of the fact I am trying to emphasize, which is that, if the overseas buyer dislikes delays in delivery of his motor vehicles, the motor manufacturer dislikes them still more, but has no more power than has the buyer himself to prevent them from oeCurring. The same sort of thing is, of course, liable -to happen, and is actually happening, in -other countries. Great Britain is not alone in suffering from delays, but we are always more candid in our criticism of our own people than of others. Perhaps, we take it too much for granted that others understand the difficulties which are so apparent to us. TEE lArANDEREE.