Shall the Show be Annual ?
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The older members of the industry appear to want a show once every three years, and not oftener ; those who are willing to take a middle course, and to effect a compromise with the newer and less-established members of the industry, appear to be in favour of a biennial show ; others are avowedly in favour of a show once a year. A. decision will have to be taken, later in the year, by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and we believe that the idea of an annual show will be rejected. It may not, in point of fact, find more than three supporters on the present Commercial Vehicle Committee of that body. A big show, of the kind which was provided at Olympia last month, is known to cause a considerable amount of dislocation in ordinary routine trade amongst manufacturers. Numbers of intending buyers, although the tendency inthat direction is not so marked as it has been in respect of pleasure-ear shows, hold over their orders, during the month or two which precedes such a show, in order to place them while the exhibition is in progress. This factor has certainly been a. serious one, on the pleasure-car side of the industry, for some years, but the. gradual disappearance of the yearly model, as design has become more and more standardized, has rendered its incidence of less importance. One point to be considered, in connection with the care for an annual show of commercial motors, is a possible repetition of this disconcerting pause, and we have heard conflicting opinions and expressions in regard to it. Our own belief is that the seasonal model will never exert an influence upon buyers of business motors. An annual show, therefore, would mean a net gain of new business, and would not impose the obligation to lay down new models. A real objection thus disappears. Fashion does not change on the heavy side of the industry, as it used to do on the lighter side. Proof of good performance in service carries much more weight with the purchaser of a utility vehicle, than does the assertion that it is the model of the month, or of next year. Sales are largely made by the judicious use of testimony that has been secured from satisfied users, and not by the parading of ingenious and often unneceSsary alterations in minor points of design, accessory combination and bodywork, nor by other details which influence the private buyer. We cannot seriously entertain the view that an annual show would defer more than a comparativelyinsignificant volume of business. Tt is certain that it would cause none to be lost to the industry as a. whole, and the effects of a few transfers of custom would cancel one another.
The other principal objection to an annual show, of which we have been informed when the matter has arisen in conversation with members of the industry, is that of staff difficulties. We know that both the works and sales organizations do have to yield in various directions to the exigencies of demand for first attention to the show exhibits and the show propos
ganda. Are these facts, however, in any sense harmtul, and is there not ample compensation for them in other directions '?
By what means, other than a show of great magnitude and admitted influence, can a manufacturer hope to collect so many new inquiries as he does in the course of eight working days? By what other means, we also ask, can the public at large be simultaneously educated and impressed to the degree that is known to be achieved on the occasion of such a wonderful collection and display as that which has recently been seen at Olympia'? Again, how, at so little expense per head, can scores of existing customers be seen, under favourable and enticing conditions of environment, and thereby the productions of the manufacturer kept high in their good esteem, and fresh business induced on the spot 1 There is no comparable means.
We do not for one moment deny that there is something to be said against an annual show in the industry with which we are concerned, and the exceptional pressure which it places upon that industry does not find an exception in the Editorial office of this journal. A show of the kind involves a special, costly, and strenuous prefatory campaign on our part, as our readers will have appreciated during the past three months in respect of the recent show. Neither is there any immediate return for us, any more than there is for the manufacturer who accepts the extra labour and responsibility of preparing an exhibit and staging it. Money has to be spent freely by everybody, and equally by THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR in common with all whose interests are typified by it. It is not the immediate result, at the show, but, as is pointed out in various expressions of opinion which we publish this week, the later accessions of trade that count. They can be got no other way.
It is when the cost and disturbance., due to such a show, are considered in due relation to the fresh impetus to sales which is rendered apparent after it, that one of the &lief advantages of an annual show become apparent. The private-car industry was helped forward enormously, particularly in the years 1905 to 1907, by the annual shows which are approved in that section of the industry. The heavy section, to-day, stands very mush at the point that the private-car section did in 1905, in that vehicles on the road are, by their good results, selling others. It is just at such a juncture of events that several annual shows might with advantage be approved. The hesitating prospective buyer succumbs to the cumulative effect of the massed evidences of all-round employment, and above all to the visual proof of the adoption of commercial motors by large and small business houses whose names are known to him, and for whose judgment he has respect. In very many cases these new additions to the ranks of owners fail to disclose themselves on any occasion other than the holding of such an exhibition. We want to see the number of owners largely increased during the next few years. It will help the movement to get favourable legislation to have several annual shows in succession.