BRITISH CARS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19451, 26 October 1928, Page 7

BRITISH CARS.

Ak;lk;ND OVERSEAS MARKETS. DIFFERENCES IN REQUIREMENTS. (khom otra owy coßF.r.srojrnE.v.'.) LONDON, September 21. Major H.' 0. D. Segrave, who writes of motor matters in the *' Daily Express/ 5 refers to the motor-car industry as ono of supreme importance, giving employment to hundreds of thousands of workers, of whom nearly 30 por cent, are highly skilled craftsmeu. In England one can visualrse the time when "the point of saturation" will be reached. That point, he says, is fixed by two factors—the number of people who can afford.to own private motor-cars and the capacity of tho roads to carry the traffic. Already we are nearing the figure of total private ownership, and when the limit to road improvement is reached the point of saturation will be at hand. World Markets Imperative. It 13 imperative, therefore, for the British motor manufacturer to find new world markets. During tho past two years the British manufacturers —or at least the most enterprising of them—have been invading the overseas field. The great markets of the Empire Dominions are, however, virtually an untapped field. They are held by the American manufacturers, who can be beaten. From timo to time deputations have gone abroad from this country to the Dominions to study conditions and report thereon for the benefit of the British motor trade. No matter how much a British manufacturer may wish to act on the advice he has received —"How to Capture the Empire Markets" —he is handicapped by conditions at home. The policy of the British Government with regard to motoring has been laid down as no reduction in the horse-power tax. The direct result of this is to stagnate the efforts of the British manufacturer in his endeavour to beat the American abroad. Tho motor-car which is required in the Dominions is not the one which, generally speaking, can be sold at Home. The manufacturer has to design a car of relatively low horsepower and small petrol consumption; a car particularly suited to the tax conditions of this country and to our excellent roads, but one quite unsuited to the requirements of the potential purchaser. in the Dominions. I What actually happens is that the I British manufacturer who means to get a share of trade overseas must design fryvo different types of cars —one for Home, one for abroad. The American manufacturer, on the other hand, has the same conditions to meet in his own country as in the British Dominions. The car he builds for his own people to buy he can sell with equal facility in the Dominions to a man who would rather "buy British" if he could get the British car he wanted. This dual , production programme of the British manufacturer—a car for home, a car for abroad—piles up 'all his costs, his overhead charges, his wages bill, and everything. He cannot concentrate on cheap and' efficient production. I have seen frequently how this condition operates. Two Kinds of Oars. Consequently the manufacturer has to recast the whole of his works programme. He has to design another car which will sell at Home, but which, will not sell abroad. It simply amounts to this: If you have to produce two kinds of cars for two different markets you must lose either one market or the other. The British manufacturer naturally cannot afford to lose the chief market, which is at his door, and therefore he drops out of the competition overseas. There is something wrong here. Frankly, it sems to me that the people who decide the Government policy do not take the broad outlook—they are concerned with' balancing their budget and not with the future of a splendid British industry. If a British motor manu-. facturer is to succeed in the Dominions he must be able to produce one type of car for Home and for overseas. Otherwise, the great opportunity of the Dominions' markets will be thrown awav and the British industry in timo will have to exist only on home replacements, concludes Major SegTave. It is interesting to mention that one man, eminent in the motor production world, has admitted that a car, specially designed for use overseas, yould also be good foi use in this country; whereas a car built for Britain's requirements is seldom useful for overseas needs. Then, surely, the obvious remedy should be to build the car that be useful everywhere by just reversing the present procedure?