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There are lies, damned lies, and advertising slogans.
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The TV ads have stated a 'British brand', I'd have thought the radio ads would be the same.
They are the same - 'Vauxhall, a British Brand since 1906 (or whatever it is)'
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This kind of thing irritates me greatly too, possibly of a result of my advancing years, but some might say i've always been like that!.
The adverts on a local radio station are a constant source of ire, there are two in particular jump out with regards to pedantry.
The first is a local garage, with the usual guff about, "who can you trust to do repairs and servicing", etc. It then goes on to say "all customers recieve a 15% discount on labour costs". Now to my mind, if all customers get it all of the time, then surely it can't be a discount?. And following that thought through, rather than it being a discount, what is actually happening is that they are claiming their labour rates are 15% higher than they actually are. Which does not sound like a very trustworthy practice to me.
Second one is another local garage, a tyre and exhaust place (not one of the nationals), with some guy going on about how we need to check the alignment of our tyres. To my mind, you can't check the alignment of the tyres, only the wheels. The equipment used to check the alignment is placed against the wheel, not the tyre. The actual adjustments is done between the wheel and the rest of the car. The only way you can adjust the position of the tyre, is to take it off and refit it, but that ain't going to do anything about out of whack wheel alignment!.
And yes, i know, i should get out more!
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I’ve just passed a hoarding advertising the new “British “ Vauxhall Vivaro van, which is actually a re badged Peugeot .
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Fake news ... Donald Trump made it fashionable!
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What Trump means by "fake news" is anything reported in the media, whether true or false, that he doesn't like - specifically, stuff that portrays him in a bad light. It's a way of avoiding engagement with the stuff reported - a faux-naive and simplistic ploy that his supporters have enthusiastically embraced. A bit like a child sticking its fingers in its ears and shouting "Na-na-na-na..."
It's also designed to foster wholesale mistrust of the media and of anything that can be labelled "the establishment". It's a disturbing and intellectually unhealthy trend.
Often, of course, it's not fake news at all.
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But more British than a Transit van.
There is probably nothing that can be classed as 100% British and I'm guessing very few, if any, French, German or Italian cars are 100% from those countries. They are a box of bits from around the world. If White Van Man is stupid enough to believe his Vivaro is 100% manufactured in Luton, then no wonder he reads The Sun.
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MINI and Bentley are marketed as Britidsh brands, despite being German owned.
Anyway, a public company can be owned by shareholders/investors from around the world.
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Found this online. I'm sure PSA's lawyers would have had to approve any claims of Britishness.
May all change on 1st November when the world ends.
"In very brief to be classed as made in the UK:
1.Simple assembly operations do not come within the definition of a substantial process or operation to be taken into account in determining the origin of goods within the meaning of Article 5 of Regulation No 802/68, interpreted in the light of the provisions of the International Convention on the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures, which have been accepted by the Community . Simple assembly operations are those that do not require staff with special qualifications for the work in question or sophisticated tools or specially equipped factories for the purposes of assembly . Such operations cannot be held to be such as to contribute to the essential characteristics or properties of the goods in question .
2.It is clear both from Article 5 of Regulation No 802/68 and the provisions of the International Convention on the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures, which have been accepted by the Community, that the mere assembly of previously manufactured parts originating in a country different from that in which they were assembled is sufficient to confer on the resulting product the origin of the country in which assembly took place, provided that from a technical point of view and having regard to the definition of the goods in question such assembly represents the decisive production stage during which the use to which the component parts are to be put becomes definite and the goods in question are given their specific qualities . If the application of that criterion is not conclusive, it is necessary to examine whether all the assembly operations in question result in an appreciable increase in the commercial, ex-factory value of the finished product . On the other hand, it is not necessary to determine whether the assembly involves any intellectual contribution .
3.Article 6 of Regulation No 802/68 on the common definition of the concept of the origin of goods must be interpreted as meaning that the transfer of assembly from the country in which the parts were manufactured to another country in which use is made of existing factories does not in itself justify the presumption that the sole object of the transfer was to circumvent the provisions applicable in the Community or the Member States to goods from certain countries unless the transfer of assembly coincides with the entry into force of the relevant regulations . In that case, the manufacturer concerned must prove that there were reasonable grounds, other than avoiding the consequences of the provisions in question, for carrying out the assembly operations in the country from which the goods were exported ."
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The silly thing is that I suppose that at one time there may have been some advantage in describing an everyday vehicle as British, but since the days of British Leyland and others the advantage seems rather dubious.
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Lots of their cars and vans are assembled in the UK, and have been for many decades.
Would owners of Jaguar/LandRover cars be mistaken about their cars being British if the parent company or owners are the only criteria, no more British than say a Toyota made in Burnaston or a Nissan in Sunderland? What about Rover/Leyland/BL sticking Union Flags on Indian made Tatas?
As for President Trump continuing to get up the right noses, good, carry on the good work Mr President, looking forward to next year's landslide victory.
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The economics of manufacturing means that products or components are manufactured in huge volumes on single sites using specialised machinery. The days of car manufacture using time served apprentices for precision machining and fabrication are long gone.
The structure of EU has driven this by allowing cross border transactions without tariff or paperwork, and the freight industry can now transport said components at a fairly trivial cost. Decisions are made principally on the basis of cost and quality, not the brand identity.
It is quite possible that a single component may be shipped several times before final sale - eg: pistons may be cast and machined in Poland, shipped to Germany to be assembled into an engine, the engine then shipped to Spain for assembly into a vehicle, which is then shipped to the UK for sale.
It is entirely plausible that a complete vehicle may have within it components which originated in 10 or 20 separate countries.
What happens post Brexit is anybodies guess - although mine would be that when individual decisions are made for new models or plant investment the UK will lose out as it will then sit outside the EU single market umbrella.
The Germans, French, Spanish etc will be very happy to see investment, and associated jobs in component manufacture and final assembly on the EU mainland.
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As for President Trump continuing to get up the right noses, good, carry on the good work Mr President, looking forward to next year's landslide victory.
Be nice if he actually accomplished something rather than lots of talking.
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