That cv advert Bedford replies
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YOUR issue of February 16 carried a letter from Les Wharton, managing director of Leyland Trucks, making a complaint about the Bedford advertisement which appeared in your previous week's issue.
We were surprised by his reaction, particularly as the advertisement was clearly not intended to highlight registrations of Leyland trucks (or indeed of Leyland buses) in The advertisement was derived from the SMMT UK registration data for total commercial vehicles. The SMMT statistics cover the market from light vans to heavy trucks and buses. The graph in the advertisement showed this statistical comparison and the body copy referred to light vans as well as to trucks.
The subject of the advertisement was, therefore, clearly total commercial vehicle registrations. In this context our use of the name 'Leyland' did not refer to Leyland trucks; rather it was used in the general sense.
Nor was the subject of the advertisement market leadership, but rather year-onyear (1984 v 1983) volume variances in the registrations of all commercial vehicles, thereby demonstrating the importance of Bedford as a contender in the total UK commercial vehicle market. After all, Bedford achieved the largest unit volume growth in the UK of any commercial vehicle manufacturer — for trucks as well as for total commercial vehicles.
DES SAVAGE Director of Marketing Bedford Commercial Vehuicles Luton