European Motor-Car Markets

Northern Advocate, 22 July 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

European Motor-Car Markets

The renewed activity of the British Government in encouraging trade with the Continent, as shown in a recent tour by the Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Trade, the British Trade Delegation to Rumania, and a visit of the Finnish Trade Delegation to Britain, is being effectively supplemented by British factory representatives. One who has just completed a tour of the North European markets, reports optimistically that in Denmark, in spite of greatly increased German imports, British cars are more than holding their own, the import figures shewing that whereas in 1938 Denmark imported 2183 British cars, the figure for 1939 is 3218. The British motor industry is so convinced of the value of the Swedish market that it has inaugurated a combined national advertising campaign designed to put British cars in the forefront of Swedish imports, and similar campaigns are being contemplated for Denmark and Finland. In Norway automobile operation is increasing as can be seen by the figures for the last three years in which now registrations numbered 9653, 13,043 and 14,269 respectively. Finland is regarded as being potentially interesting for British cars owing to the greatly improved roads and the very close economic relations which now exist between this country and Britain. Fresh negotiations between England and Denmark have recently taken place as a result of which facilities for increased imports from Great Britain have been granted. The most impressive of these markets, however, is Sweden, as there is little doubt that this country has been the most progressive in Europe in so far as motor transport is concerned, and evidence that there is as yet no falling off in its ability to absorb increasing quantities of motor vehicles is available in the registration figures for the first two months of this year, which record increases of 56 per cent, for cars and 29,9 per cent, for trucks.