Bedford awaits the
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Italian
renaissance
While Fiat dominates, total vehicle park figures are only an estimate. GM is selling in the face of a strong E and deep recession. By Bill Brock
GENERAL MOTORS has had a presence in Italy since 1963 but it was not until 1975 that a specific group was formed to market the Bedford product range. Today, Italy is Bedford's biggest European export market.
Early on, the small CF dieselengined panel van sold well in the one-ton payload sector, competing mainly with the Ford Transit. Diesel costs £1.25 a gallon for commercial vehicles, which is about half the price of petrol.
Since 1979, however, demand has declined generally and CF sales have been eroded by the introduction of Fiat's Ducat° panel van. Fiat is the country's biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer, claiming about 80 per cent of the total vehicle sales.
GM, by comparison, with three basic model ranges — the CF, TL and TM claims a 3.5 per cent market share of the total park figures of an estimated 127,000 vehicles per year.
As there are no official figures and some manufacturers are reluctant to release the number of vehicles sold, the market total has to be something of a guess.
The general decline in Italian manufacturing since the end of the Seventies has resulted in almost 50 per cent of heavy long-haul trucks being stood against the wall awaiting an upturn in business which is not expected before the early part of 1984.
Inflation is running at 15 per cent, and this has pushed interest rates to an astronomical 30 per cent. With rates at this level, an operator buying a vehicle on a three-year term will pay for it twice over. To encourage sales, Bedford offers a 50 per cent discount on interest, the cost of which is shared equally between dealer and manufacturer. Credit facilities are restricted, but to some extent the company's own finance house, General Motors Acceptance Corporation, can supply the necessary credit. However, it is attuned primarily to the car market and not to the higher unit costs of commercial vehicles.
GM Italia has its head office in Rome but much of the company's business is concentrated in the industrial north.
Throughout Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, GM has a network of 175 dealers, 150 of which are associated with Opel and Bedford CF products. Only 25 are Bedford dealers exclusively.
In recent years, the growth in the strength of the £ has made the Bedford less competitive. Replacement parts have become more and more expensive. Availability with a first time pick of 96 per cent, is said to be in line with other manufacturer5 and the central parts depot situated near Rome airport is ideally situated to give a nation 24-hour service on the other fot per cent of items.
Italian law allows a maximum weight limit of 44 tonnes, and for this market at the top of the range the TM powered by the Detroit 8V-92T two-stroke diesE engine rated at 298kW (400 bhp) is adequately specified to meet the power requirements al 5.8kW/tonne (8bhp/ton).
The Detroit Silver 92-Series engine will not become availabk until the autumn, after type approval for the new models ha been gained. It takes just as loni in Italy as it does in the UK, and the regulations are rigidly enforced for imported vehicles.
Initially, Detroit engines, having already built a reputation industrial and marine plications, were readily cepted. However, the plication for road transport is ite different with engine eeds constantly changing and me operators have perienced accelerated wear oblerns particularly with sixfinder units.
With the large rigid units )erated in drawbar )nfigurations at maximum eight, the ratio of rigid and active units is about equal. While in Milan, I visited omenichelli, the biggest parcels collection and delivery service in the country.
Fleet engineer Signor Vigliani explained that with 42 4x2 TMs and 40 8.60 TLs in his fleet of 1,000 vehicles he is the largest user of Bedford vehicles in the country.
His TMs, purchased in 1979 and 80, are powered by the Detroit 8V71 engines rated at 239kW 1320 bhp), which limits operation to 40 tonnes gcw. However, this does not present him with problems, for the average payload is around 12 tonnes for his long-distance drawbar container outfits. Some do operate at maximum weight, but in most instances it is the 80 cum (2825 cuft) volume that is more useful.
To minimise turn-round time at any of the company's 45 depots every rigid has a ratio of two trailers and three containers, each of which is interchangeable with the other.
Some vehicles have already covered more than 600,000km (370,000 miles) but have not been totally troublefree. In the first year of service there were reports of ring and piston wear and some problems with steering and brakes, but the vehicle still managed to save 20 per cent in running costs compared to the previous operation.
Parts availability has not always been up to present-day standards but Bedford is looking to improve this service.
Domenichelli expects to obtain a 10-year life cycle from these vehicles, thanks mainly to the light payload and speed
restrictions of 80km/h (50mph).
The collection service will handle any size of parcel that will fit into the container but the automatic parcel despatch system at Milan, one of only three in Europe, is set up to handle packages measuring no more than 80cmx80cmx120crn and weighing not more than 50kg.
TLs with 75kW (100bhp) naturally aspirated engines are used on local deliveries.
A new low governing minimum and maximum general haulage rates come into effect this year. Groupage operators are still free to determine their own rate and Dominechelli works on a formula calculated 80 per cent by weight and 20 per cent by distance.
Italy is renowned for its bodybuilding and most dealers have a building facility. Tevere, the Bedford main dealer in Rome, allocates two or three times more space to this side of the business than it does to servicing and repair. The dealer is able to carry out the chassis conversion, which allows for a third single-tyred steered axle for rigids, in addition to manufacturing drop side, platform and high-roof bodies and crew cabs.
Although for reasons already explained, Bedford is going through a lean period in Italy, it has over the past five years sold £127m pounds of export to the country and expects to resume this level of performance when the Italian economy revives.