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The French connection

What's it really like to run a British lorry abroad? David Wilcox visits a Parisian Dodge 100-Series operator and gets some unexpected answers. Vive la difference!

'HEN BUYING new vehicles -le of the major considerations r many people is whether to Ay British or foreign? To us the .os and cons may be clear. But it yourself in the shoes of a Dntinental operator for whom -itish vehicles are foreign. that's it like to run a British rry abroad?

Now, there are no doubt lone ritish vehicles operating in the lost outlandish corners of the obe, but we decided to look at )mething rather more typical.

s our British "foreign" vehicle .e chose a nice straightforward odge 100-Series Commando riid. And for the foreign location

'e ended up in France.

Now, France may not seem to present much of a challenge )r the British vehicle exporter, ut it's not quite that simple. here's just about the same mount of people as in England, cotland and Wales, but they're pread over an area two and half mes as large. So though the iarket is similar in size to ours, 's more thinly spread, making it lore difficult for the British imorter to set up an adequate ealer network.

Added to this, the French tend D be nationalistic when it comes D motor vehicles. For example, the commercial vehicle sector, lenault alone has 44 per cent of le market whereas by comparion the market leader in Britain 'as around 30 per cent of the narket. So, near as it is, France 3 no push-over for the British ommercial vehicle manufactur,rs.

My introduction to a French )odge operator was via Camdic, he French Dodge importer based at La Courneuve on the north-eastern outskirts of Paris.

Camdic's Gerard Hewak has a good understanding of English so relying more on this than my rusty elementary French, we set off to Sucy en Brie to the southeast of Paris.

Transports Bellieres-Pailhes runs about 200 lorries altogether. Many are out on contract hire to French own-account operators such as Massey Ferguson and light bulb manufacturer Mazda, painted in these clients' colours. Of these 200 there are 56 Dodge 100-Series (they don't use the Commando name in France) and ten 300Series tractive units.

While there are ten basic 100Series models available in Britain, from 7.5 tonnes to 20 tonnes, not all are available in France. Gerard Hewak explained that an involved homologation procedure meant that only four rigid models are exported to France -the RG09, RG11, RG13 and the RG16. The RGO8 rated at 7.5tonnes gvw which is so popular in Britain is not exported to France because the 7.5-tonne non-hgv driving licence limit does not apply.

The gvw of these models is slightly reduced in order to creep in under the French licence categories. For instance, the RG11 is plated at 10.99 tonnes in France rather than 11.38 tonnes as in Britain.

Operator Georges Bellieres told me (via M. Hewak) that he bought his first Dodge 100Series in September 1978. At that time he had bought the company which then had an ageing fleet mainly UNICs (the French-built IVECO marque), Saviems and OMs (the Italian-built IVECO marque).

So Georges was faced with the problem of buying a large number of new vehicles over a short time. He wanted to strike a balance between the lorries that were cheap to buy in the first place and those that were cheap to operate in the long run.

In France, Dodge is priced competitively so there was no price disadvantage for M. Bellieres. As for their long-term operating costs, he described them as "simple and solid", which meant that maintain them should be straightforwa He had no scruples about buy an English vehicle he wo have bought lorries from country as long as they met needs.

What else was there on French market at that time? IV cedes-Benz are the0eading ported commercial vehi manufacturer in France and I a very wide model range av able over there with contend in every class, concentrat particularly strongly on the la integral van/small boxvan s ment.

M. Bellieres liked the cedes-Benz models in the apr priate weight categories, said they were too expensive the home French manufactui M. Bellieres thought the IVE models to be attractively pri with good after-sales sen and spares back up, but he doubts about their quality robustness.

As for Renault, Georges that when he was making choice in mid-1978, Renault "in turmoil" and had a stra model line-up with a mixtur, old and new. He thought Renault has now sorted its ra out, and had he been makinc choice now it would have been so easy.

his mixture of old and new exists on French roads. Half commercial vehicles are ically Gallic-looking oldlioned lorries and vans while other half are modern, crisstyled vehicles like the rest Renaults.

ast as there are a limited lber of Dodge chassis ops in France, the engine opchoice offered in England by lge is also restricted over e.

fact, the French Dodge ler only has a choice of en on the RG13 and the RG16 re Perkins V8 540 instead of the six-cylinder Perkins which is standard. The six-cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine option which was until recently offered in this country would seem to be a natural in France, but it isn't available — perhaps it's too close to Mercedes' own range over there.

One of the major factors influencing the sale of foreign vehicles in Britain is the price and availability of spare parts and back-up service. How does Dodge compare in France?

M. Bellieres said that when he first bought the Dodges in September 1978 they were being imported through a less-than-ideal private importer who brought in insufficient spares and charged high prices for the few that he did bring in. For example, M. Bellieres said that a windscreen for a 100-Series was then three times the price of a Ford DSeries screen.

But at the end of 1978 PSA, the Peugeot/Citroen group, took over Dodge and the French end improved dramatically with Cadmic appointed importer. The windscreen is now the same price as the Ford's, said Georges Bellieres and spare parts are no problem in terms of price or availability.

There are 65 Dodge main dealers in France, plus 160 subdealers which is a good network for a foreign manufacturer, albeit one with French parents.

Due to language problems, we resorted to a "marks out of ten" system for some comments about les camions Dodge. M. Bellieres rated the 100-Series 7/10 for reliability, but a poor 5/10 for fuel consumption. Fortunately, France is like most other European countries (with the notable exception of Britain until July) where diesel is subsequently cheaper than petrol. Diesel there is the equivalent of £1.18 per gallon while petrol is £1.55.

Most of the Dodges don't gi much of a chance to return goo consumption figures as theyri working on multi-drop distribt tion in the Paris region.

Paris traffic is a major prot lem, with parked cars seemingl shoe-horned in at every possibl angle along every inch of kenk including corners, making dE liveries through the front door of shops almost impossible. A the other extreme there's th multi-lane madness of th Parisian North Circular, the PerE pherigue. Paris has a declare aim of banning private cars, bic it's a long way off that at th moment.

Messieurs Hewak and Bel lieres told me that lorries are nc loved in France any more thal they are in England and they to, have lorry bans and weigh limits to contend with. In som French towns, lorries cannot de liver after 10am.

Looking at the French Dodge there are no obvious shortcom ings in their conversion to left hand drive. The windscreei wipers, for instance, are set ul correctly with Dodge mereh switching the wipers and thi washer jets to avoid the use o unsightly blanking plugs.

In fact, apart from the steerinc wheel being on the "wrong' side, the Dodges in the Trans ports Bellieres-Pailhes flee looked disappointingly un French in plain white with a bluE box body.

Why no signwriting or livery: Explained M. Bellieres: "ThE best advert is the service we pro. vide. Why bother with anything else? It just costs money." Thai point of view might not go dowr well with CM's livery judges.

Asking M. Bellieres what his drivers thought of the Dodge cab compared with that of similar French lorries, his totally disinterested expression and tone 01 voice overcame the language barrier. M. Hewak interpreted more precisely. The drivers have no say in the matter; they drive yhat is given them and if they lon't like it, they can leave.

"You English are too con:erned with the quality of life; .our work comes second." I lidn't argue. I can't argue in 'rench.

The vehicles cover about 30,000 to 4 0,0 00km a year 19,000 to 25,000 miles) and I isked M. Bellieres how long he ntends to keep them. He ;hrugged his shoulders and aunched into a tirade of explalations accompanied by much Irm-waving and desk-thumping. t was a leading question, and M. -iewak bravely attempted the fanslation.

Apparently, M. Bellieres (and Aber French operators) bases is vehicle replacement policy )n financial and tax criteria, not on the actual condition of the lorries themselves. If profits are abnormally high in one year he will sell a lot of vehicles irrespective of their age and condition and buy new ones, therefore eating into the profits and so avoiding tax.

Though this kind of capital expenditure technique is sometimes practised in the UK, I was surprised at the extent to which it rules M. Bellieres' vehicle policy. M. Hewak explained with a grin that tax-avoidance is almost a national sport in France and that M. Bellieres was a keen participant in the most respectable, legal manner.

To further complicate the picture, the tax rules which govern this vehicle replacement decision are liable to change with the politics of the country. Since tomorrow, Sunday, is the day when the French go to the polls to choose between right wing President Giscard d'Estang and Socialist Francois Mitterand, then M. Bellieres might be modifying his replacement policy pretty soon.

Like Britain's the French road haulage industry is going through a difficult period at the moment because of the almost worldwide recession. Transports Bellieres-Pailhes has contracted by roughly ten per cent in the last year or so, estimated M. Bellieres. But also like some British operators he too felt that things were gradually beginning to pick up again.

Other British lorries in the nine to 16-tonne category seen relatively frequently on French roads are the Ford D-Series and, to a lesser extent, the Bedford TK. M. Bellieres himself has a num of Fords (D-Series plus a few Series) in his fleet and, look through a copy of CM showed a lot of interest in Ford Cargo advertisement.

Would he consider the Ca for the furure? It all depended its price in France he replied.

As for the Bedford TK, M. lieres thought it was a good lc for distribution but its viabilit. France was reduced because felt there weren't enough B ford dealers in France to c adequate after-sales service.

The very mention of the na Leyland attracted a vigor, downward movement of Fre thumbs. But to be fair, I tiBL's car reputation and inch rial relations problems had justly rubbed off on Leylar commercial vehicles.

Since meeting M. BelliE and M. Hewak in Paris month, Dodge's position coincidentally taken a major I towards France with the nouncement that Renault bought a dominant share Dodge (CM, April 25).

Under the arrangement, new joint Renault/Dodge c( pany called Karrier will alrr certainly mean rationalisatioi components with more Ren parts in Dodges. In Britair, marques' dealers will sell e others vehicles, with the amn increasing Renault's penetra of the UK market.

If the same dual dealershi adopted in France, then this drastically increase Dodge's netration over there. Currer Dodge sell, via Camdic, 303 the 100-Series a year in Fra plus roughly the same nurr of 50-Series and consider fewer 300-Series.

This totals less than two cent of the French market. If new Renault/Dodge tie-up \Am as hoped, then M. Bellie Dodges might have some nDunstable-built company in Parisian streets.