Triumph order: check cars in factory

DAILY EXPRESS
By Basil Cardew

One of Britain's big five car manufacturers today makes a determined bid to put a stop to hundreds of complaints from customers. Standard-Triumph of Coventry are starting a stringent before sale check up of their cars- in the factory. And I believe that other manufacturers will have to follow suit.

The common -practice today is for main distributors to make the final check on a car before handing it over to the customer. Each week manufacturers receive hosts of complaints that engines are not properly tuned, brakes are not properly adjusted; that cars develop body squeaks - or that " little gadgets'" have gone wrong. But from today all Standard Triumph cars will be rigorously vetted once and for all - at the factory.

Said Mr Alick Dick, managing director at Standard Triumphs: "I believe that this should be the responsibility of the manufacturer. It is up to us to produce motorcars at the factory which are right in quality and right in every way before handing them over to the distributors and customers. From now on we will take the onus of responsibility of seeing that small but annoying defects are not passed on to the customer."