Leyland brings in Belgian Minis

THE GUARDIAN
LEYLAND BRINGS IN BELGIAN BUILT MINIS

Bri tish Leyland is to bring in several thousand Minis from its Belgian plant in an attempt to fill what it believes is a 4 per cent gap between demand in the home market and its supply potential from the company's Longbridge factory.

BL is also recruiting skilled staff for Longbridge, which will emerge relatively unscathed from plans to cut back the overall BL workforce. The moves follow yesterday's publication of the latest new car sales figures—which showed that BL's market share had slipped back in October to less than 17 per cent. Dealers around the country have informed BL that they could boost the company's share by at least 4 per cent if they had the stock available.

BL's stock levels are now at a record low on the Mini and Allegro, and the company says that it could not satisfy the demand for Minis even if the Longbridge factory were to go flat out. The company's viewpoint is that the new exercise, to ship in Minis from Seneffe in Belgium, is consistent with the treatment of the British market as part of the overall European network.