Motor Corporation in Europe

Sir,

Mr. Piggott appears to have been misled himself by the delightful publicity statements to which he refers, because, as far as I can make out, VW is the biggest motor corporation in Europe, with a production last year of over one million vehicles. Second largest was Fiat …. a long way behind with a total production with 630,000; and third was . . . . I believe, BMC with 600,000—an excellent figure withal. But because of its widespread interest, Fiat has the largest labour force, 112,000, compared with 98,000, I think, for both VW and BMC. But anyway how do you decide how long is a piece of string ?

I too have experience of Cowley and Mirafiori products, and, I might add, of Dagenham’s too, from which I have learned that Mr. Piggott is correct in everything he says about Cowley and Mirafiori except that I do not agree that small Fiats have silent heaters. They are silent in so far as they do not have noisy fans, but switching on the heater results in a considerable increase in engine noise. However, they do have fresh air heaters as standard.

Finally, I was most pleased to read the last instalment of your survey. All the defects listed by readers owning Anglias were experienced by myself during eleven months of Anglia ownership, plus total brake failure twice; total lighting failure once; gearbox refusing any gear once; being locked in the car once unable to open either door or window . . . and the door-operated courtesy switches were replaced six times. My present Fiat has covered 11,000 miles since disposing of the Anglia eleven months ago, and nothing has broken or been replaced. Service has always been routine only. I would prefer a small British car that did the same.

“Interested Party.” London, W1.

(Name and address supplied.—Ed]