BRITISH MOTOR TRADE

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 110, 6 November 1919, Page 19

BRITISH MOTOR TRADE

THE OVERSEAS MARKETS

ENDEAVOUR TO RECAPTURE THEM

Major R. E, Goddard, of the Royal Air Force, is at present in . Wellington as the Overseas Commissioner of the Association of British Motor nnd Allied Manufacturers in conjunction with the British Government (Overseas Trade Department). He ie not selling or "pushing " cars, but is on a tour of the world interviewing the motor traders.. Plainly put, he is inquiring into the possibilities of reoovering for British manufacturers their trade in internal combustion engine-powered vehicles and implements', which they began to' lose in 1910 and finally lost in 1914, -mlieh the war broke out. Then they.had to.turn to munitions, and the trade had to go: the war had to be won. It was won, and now they are concentrating on recovering their lost ground. . ; Major Goddard hai come to New Zealand from India and Australia. He recently reached Auckland, and - from there covered much country—quite typical of the north, of the North Island, including the Wairaki and Rotorua: districts. He saw for himself what the roads were like—"some good,] some bad," he describes them., and saw! them ,from the viewpoint of the British vehicle manufacturer, who is anxious to meet all local conditions. The roads, of the part of New Zealand,he has'so far motored over were better, he said, on the whole than those of Queensland and New South Wales. Still, they leave much to be desired.

The first thing for a country, he holds, is good roads. Tlie' Romans fully recognised that fact. Their roads stand today. For New Zealand, so far as he had been able to see, he thought main roads in parts were of more- importance than railway extension. This was with special reference to sparsely settled country: They could take a serpentine course and be served by niotor 'lorries, which ' were not obliged to run to schedule as trains were. They could open up country and act as feeders to ,tha railway lines. When'the places served by motor lorries became more 'settled then tho railways, could be put through,, cutting out the curves. The value of, the motor lorry had been fully demonstrated^ in a way not looked for during the railway strike in England. Except for good roads that service could not have done what it did in supplying the needs of the people when the railways were not working. • A curio\is thing about a 1 good1 road system was that it was regarded with better feeling 'than a railway.- -Everyone fgels: personally interestßd v in.-a road; not so in a railway, about :which one feels he's paying for something he does not get. .. „, - Speaking of American 'cars, ,_ Mai or Goddard said the cars made in the States, owing to "mass nroduction, Were cheaper thfin the first post-war British cars. This was accounted for by the lower gear ratio and higher average horse power, which necessitates less gear changing, of the Amorioan car ; and it is far easier for the non-mechanical man to drive. Afso it gives the impression of greater flexibility than the British cars—made for good roads- But owing to British .taxation being ph horse power instead of price the British manufacturer set about producing a low-powered car to suit his roads, say 11.to 15 horse power, whereas the American oar to correspond in type-would be of' 20 to 25 horse power. The,extra h.p. was necessitated by the bad roads making it necessary to change speed more frequently than with a lower powered car. But the British manufacturer was now try ing to .find a standard suitable for all countries. He would succeed A British company had just been formed to produce a car at £200 f-o.b. suitable to comply with all or any of the conditions of any American car; in fact, a general utility car. " I beljeva in sentiment in busmess--impenol sentiment," Major Goddard remarked. ""I believe that in New Zealand, as I found in Anstralia, 90 per cent, of the traders, and. probably the same percentage of potential car buyers, would prefer and do desire to purchase, goods made in Great Britain rather than, those made in foreign countries, providing the British manufacturer can offer an article which will compare in nrice and poWer with that made outside the British Empire. My'business is to discoved exactly what that article is. Major Goddard conceded that prices were high in Great Britain, but he believed that in nine or twelve_ months there wou'd be a decline in prices, but he also believed that in the near future prices would be even up in the cape of both- American and Italian cars. Shipping freights also would be moderated with respect to British cars. Concluding, Major Goddard said he was convinced that the view that it was sound, economy to spend' money within 'the British Empiro than outside M> would' receive endorsement ■ from New Zealanders. New Zealand exports paid for "British imports. When the foreign car wore out it was gone and the gold paid for it? too, was lost. A New. Zeaiander's ; purchases of • British goods were made 'with New .Zealand produce and the gold, stays in this country. "He may," he said^ " have to pay a little more for the British-made article. Even so; but if he does so he's only paying out pt one pocket money that;is coming into the other (for exports to Great Britain); whereas- if he pays the money for a foreign f.i'cle as. a British subject he is increasing the great British Empire debt. After all, it is an' economic .truism, that imports are paid for by exports. My object is to do a little bit in the grand work of consolidating the British Empire. One way, it seems to mc, that we can help in this is to keep our trade in our family as much as possible."