TIP, TIP HOORAY

Harrogate isn't exactly bursting with life at present but if you were there during last week's Tipcon you'd be forgiven if you thought otherwise. Tipcon '94 was a cheerful affair but Tipcon '95 was positively euphoric.

Mostly because the sales forecasts made for 1994 turned out to be wrong by about 100%! So truckmakers who were in the depths of despair just a couple of short years ago are now to be found in quite high spirits. Smiling faces were the order of the day this year. And why not? Total vehicle registrations (17t and above) in our industry were up to 4,037 for 1994 while in 1993 the figure was 2,157. Quite a difference.

Top of the heap was Leyland DAF with 779 (19.2% of the market) while second was Volvo which made its presence felt in the four axle market. Its total of 643 units contained 447 eight-leggers and gave it 15.9% of the overall total.

Mercedes Benz came in third with 467 unit sales to give it a market share of 11.6%.

So you may ask, where is the mighty Iveco Ford? Well, it's down in fifth place with a unit sales total of 334 to give an 8.3% market share. But if you add in the achievements of group member Seddon Atkinson then that share jumps to 11.8%, which would mean third place ahead of Mercedes Benz (but only just). Don't ask me why the sales figures are so split - I don't know either!

So at the traditional Leyland DAF dinner on Thursday evening, managing director David Gill could be forgiven for feeling cockahoop at his team's performance. The turnaround in LD's fortunes has been little short of miraculous considering the ghastly collapse which went before.

As David Gill said: 'We're blessed with a tip-top competitive range across the board and that's a huge advantage.' And he should know, he hasn't always been in that position in previous posts.

But the supply problems at Iveco Ford shouldn't be forgotten. The seemingly interminable delays at bringing EuroTrakker up to speed have hit sales in our industry hard. Indeed, at the Iveco Ford press briefing on Friday, senior management was noticeable by its absence. They were reported as being 'in Italy for a management meeting'.

The charitable view would be that the pan-European nature of Iveco Ford's operations puts the UK in place as being just one of a number of markets of similar strategic importance. Sceptics might say that they were either sulking or skulking, or both. Whatever the case, we're sure they will be up with the pace next year. You can't keep a good man down!

So far as the ancillaries providers were concerned it was a case of 'heads down and let's get on with it.' Both Harsh and Hyva used the show to launch new tipping gear. Harsh's new gear was intended for bulk artic trailers while Hyva was down at the 7.5t GVW end of the market.

Meanwhile, Stallion says its latest version of Startip 8 saves a worthwhile 110kg with its revised mountings and the 6C version displays similar savings.

On-board weighing seemed to be well in evidence this year with at least five companies offering competing technology, but the undoubted winner was PM ELectronics which had managed to get its systems on at least 20 separate vehicles at the show.

But once again vehicle security seemed to be the poor relation with just two firms exhibiting their wares. Both Simba and Thomas Electronics are recognised as being leaders in the field but it would have been nice to see others entering for a change. All credit to Mercedes Benz which has got together with its dealers to ensure that they offer a package of immobiliser/alarm/ Tracker. Or any combination out of the three.