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25 JAIIUARY 1gO8 Vo' 128 No. 37s4
Edltor Dcputy Edhor Ar3llr.nt Edltor F.atlor Edltor
Sport! Edlrot
Aroitt nt T.chnlcrl Edltor
MAUBICE A. 8MITH, DfC PETER GARNIEs LEONARO AYTO'{ STUART ELAOON INNES IREIAilD GEOFFSEY HOWAFD,
BSc{Eng), ACGI, GlMeehE
Edirod!l
JOHN DAVEY GRAHAM ROBSON, M,Aloxon) MABTIN LEWIS MICHAEL SCARLETI WARREN ALLPORT
Mldltnd Edhor
EOWARD EVES
Art Edltor Assirtant Mlnchoatcr OfFcc Spccisl Contributors
HOWARD VYSE JOHN HAWKINS
HAROLD HOLT, AMIML AMAET
RONALD BARKER ROGEB HUNTINGION. A sAE (D etru it| EOIN YOUNG (Spon)
Mrn.glng Dlr.cto? H. N. pRlAUtX, /yAF
MAIiI FEATURES 1,0O0 c.c. CARS ON TEST TEST: SUNBEAM BAPIEB FRANCE'S TOU BtST EXPLOSION LOOK OUTI TEST: RALLYTRTUMpH 2600pt RALLY CAR OETROIT NOTEBOOK THE MONTE: |NTERtM AND MOUNTATN CtBCUtT
GUIDE so,ooo-MtrE ROVER 2000 BRUSSELS SHOW
Page
2 11 20 27 2A 32 33 38 u
BEGUI.AR ITEilIS DISCONNECTED JOTTINGS NEW PRODUCTS THE SPORT PICWEEK NEWS ANO VIEWS TRADE AND INDUSTRY STRAIGHT FROM THE GRID CORRESPONDENCE NEW CAB PRICES Last pages before back cover
23 24 41 62 63 56 57 58
TU EXT VYEEK'S ISSUE FEATURES-P.6O
COVEH: On test at Silverstone. Clockwise. top right: Renault 4L, Hiilman Ca'lifornian, NSU lOOOC. AU'C iliini ruf tt. Photography: Ron Easton.
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BLMC BEFORE most people had expected. Leyland and BMH have merged. lt is a relief that the expensive and exhausting cut and thrust of the recent GEC-AEl ,,merger,, has beei avoided and the shareholders who own ihe two great motor manufacturing combines should not be the losers. The lndustrial Reorganization Corporation have eased the way with a f25 million "loan', on relatively easy terms.
. The merging in itself will solve nothing; it does no more than open a new way for co-operative [organization. put bluntly. BMH are in a mess, with a reduced share of the market and little to look forward to in the near future. Even Triumph cannot be held up as a shining example of product planning or marketing, and their car production is comparatively small. Sir Donald Stokes has a massive job ahead with all too few good men to turn to for help.
Contrary to early statements attributed to BMH, we think that drastic model rationalization is overdue. Reluct_ antly, we doubt the value of retaining venerable names which no
_ longer bear any relationship to the original products. Certainly BMC's dealer organization will hale to undergo a no doubt agonizing upheaval.
British Leyland Motor Corporation are now Great Britain,s most influential manufacturers and exporters and armost its o_nty remaining automotive company of international significance. We wish it well; it is vital that it now succeeds. (Further comment on page 53.)
HALT TO PROGRESS OF ALL the anxiously awaited economy measures proposed by the Government (and we are all apprehensive about others yet to come), the one to have ihe most serious long-term effect on road users is that dealing with the cuts in road spending. These will not be felt inimediately and the. motorway programme, happily, is not to suffei very seriously. Yet however much we need the main arteriei of motorways, we have got to do something about the traffic which uses them once it reaches the veins of the normal road network, where congestion is at its worst.
Total proposed cuts lf122ml represent 10 to 12 per cent of all road spending. but in the Greater London Council area only, the improvements already planned were estimated to give a return on investment of some 20 per cent in savings of travel time and vehicle running costs. As road congestion in London alone costs over e lOOm a year already, the cuts will inevitably postpone any possible major alleviation of this enormous burden. -which is multiplied over and over again in the rest of Britain.
Undoubtedly, many of the economies will have to be made by sacrificing or postponing those minor improve_ ments that can have such a startling effect on local problems by easing traffic flow and increasing safety, particularly at so-called "black spots". This is something Aurocan regrets very much. We are less concernea tnai straightforward maintenance of urban road surfaces may also have to be axed. As we have often said, there are many examples of such maintenance being carried out to an unnecessarily expensive standard too frequently.
