BRITISH CARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 480, 9 October 1928, Page 6

BRITISH CARS

ENGLAND TOLD WHY SHE LOSES OVERSEAS MARKETS

British motor manufacturers were told some home truths in a pretty blunt manner recently. The attack is contained in an article headed “‘British Motor-cars in the

Dominions/’ published by the London "Daily Telegraph” f *om their New Zealand correspondent. Among other tilings lie says: “The British manufacturer sits in his office and waits for the overseas agents to give him ‘firm orders.’ It is suggested that overseas agents should go to the factories for the business. The Americans have got the trade because they go to the agents, make terms which are acceptable and put down an organisation to sell their cars. The days are past when trade automatically went to Britain; other countries send their representatives abroad and seek orders. More than that; by advertising and by subtle propaganda of every known form they create a demand where none existed and then, by their organisation, they see to it that the new demand is amply met and that it is maintained. They listen to the car owners: they constantly adapt and improve their wares instead of waiting for an annual show and then being six months late in the delivery of new models. In short, they create their markets. “A hundred pounds on the price of an inferior English car. slower in acceleration, smaller in horsepower, and '.eating capacity, and slow on hills, make all the difference to the customer. The average colonial has a big family. He has been taught to use a big car. He can afford to run a big car. scrap it in two years, and get the latest model so as to be up-to-date with his neighbours, and he buys a big car. “Without exception, the oversea Dominions want British cars and are prepared to pay a little more for them within reason. But until the British manufacturer turns out the right class of thing and lays down an efficient Sales and service organisation America will continue to dominate the market. “It is no use for England to wait for the trade: she must send out her best brains and fetch it. The overseas markets which should be hers are more than sufficient to absorb all her unemployment; but her leaders of industry have not had the breadth of vision to realise their possibilities abroad: they have been far too insular in the past—and they are paying for it in lost trade.” NEW G.M. CHIEF MR. McHARDY FORMAN Mr. McHardy Forman, who took over the position of managingdirector of General Motors, New Zealand, Ltd. on October 1, succeeding Mr. Walter E. Hill, is an Englishman who, for 14 years, was distributor of General Motors products in Southampton. To a large degree the merchandising of such cars as Vauxhall, built in Luton, Bedfordshire, has been success-

ful in the British Dominions, due to Mr. Forman’s knowledge of conditions and markets in the British Empire. This knowledge was secured first hand by Mr. Forman, who has made three trips around the world, spending the majority of the time in the British colonies. Since August, Mr. Forman, who has been assistant managing-director of General Motors, New Zealand, Ltd., has been devoting his time to a study of the possibilities of increasing the New Zealand content in the cars which are produced by General Motors, New Zealand, Ltd. Mr. Forman expresses his opinion of the possibilities of using more and more New Zealand timber, enamel, trim materials and supplies in the assembly of General Motors cars at Petone. “At the present time, 61 per cent, of the price of Chevrolet cars produced in New Zealand remains in this Dominion, and similarly large percentages of the price of other General Motors cars produced here. It is my desire to increase this percentage still further by the use of other locally produced material. Just this week we placed orders for New Zealand-grown and woven woollen material for upholstery, and for New Zealand miro timber for body-building.