The Gerry Brown Pages

INTERACTIVE INTERVIEW 1
COLIN SUMMERBELL OF CORGI CLASSICS (19th September 2003)

Gerry wrote: "When I met Colin Summerbell, Corgi's Sales and Marketing Director, a few weeks ago I asked him if he would answer our newsletter readers' questions. Colin readily agreed. Now you can read what he has to say about the forthcoming Wrightbus Gemini model, the destination blinds on the GMT Metrobus model, Corgi's French range, Corgi's response to emails, and Colin answers the question "Does Corgi listen to collector's suggestions?"."

FRENCH MODELS

You have a number of French Commercial Vehicles in your Heritage Series. Do you envisage producing some French buses, such as the Renault TN series? Here in France most bus models are scarce and vastly over priced - so perhaps there is a gap in the French market for such a project.

John Nelson, Fontenay le Vicomte, France

The French Heritage range is not in production at present. There are plans for a new range in 2004. However, there are no plans for a bus or coach models at present. Whilst there maybe a gap for French buses in the French market we always have to look at the financial returns on our tooling. We believe at present overall sales in the French market would not justify the investment of around £50,000 on new bus tooling.

REPLIES TO EMAILS

I would like to know why Corgi consistently fails to respond to emails sent to them. It is most annoying when companies fail to respond to questions or suggestions sent to them and as members of this list will know all too well Corgi are amongst the most regular of culprits. As well as being annoying of course it does little to help customer relations.

Donald Grant

This concerns me greatly as I hate to hear that Corgi does not respond. We have a full time Consumer Services department. Corgi responds to over 5,000 enquires per month via email, letter or telephone. We also have a spare parts department replacing damaged, lost or defective parts, tyres, wing mirrors etc, which receives over 500 enquires a month.

Corgi spends a large amount of money in this area. As I assume Donald is sending his e-mail to the correct department i.e. Consumers Services, I cannot understand why he does not get replies.

Perhaps one myth about Corgi is that it is a large organisation. Please remember we have a total staff in the UK of only 60 people. Within that we will only have two or three people who can answer technical questions relating to our bus models. The same applies to Aviation, Trucks, Military and the rest of the Corgi ranges. These employees spend all their time producing over 600 new models per year, two per day, and cannot always respond as quickly as they would like to enquiries referred to them by the Customer Services department due to their workload.

LLEDO TRACKSIDE

One of the benefits to come out of the link between Corgi and Lledo has been the investment in new tooling in the superb 1:76 scale Trackside range. Is there any possibility of a bus being introduced into this range?

Gerry Brown, Nottingham

We have no plans to include buses in the Trackside range. We see OOC as our 1:76 scale bus range introducing buses into Trackside would only see the two ranges competing against each other.

WRIGHTBUS NEEDS TO BE RIGHT

One of the loudest cheers from the model bus collecting fraternity this year was for the announcement by diecast buses interactive that Corgi were to model the Wrightbus Gemini within their OOC range. What steps have been taken to ensure Corgi’s quality control avoids a recurrence of recent problems that might have somewhat tarnished the OOC reputation for excellence?

Mr Wright, Bournemouth

WRIGHTBUS CONCERNS

Can you please assure us that Corgi's rendition of the Gemini will at least capture the true look and grace of this vehicle both inside and out, with correct features such as the mirrors on those nice ultra thin stems, the tiny circle in the route blind for the cctv lens and the overhead console above the drivers head, and other interior and outer features, all or most are features that you haven't had to cater for before, but we know that Corgi can do it, the Corgi FS! fabulous micro detail on that, and you do have other models that truly capture the look and feel of the real thing, like the Metrobus, D9, Bova, the Plaxton's and already mentioned the FS Lodekka, and others of course. Please! can you assure us that Corgi's rendition of the Gemini will set standards that no other manufacture will ever be able to capture, because I fear that if this model isn't up to at least CMNL standards, that Corgi will no longer be classed as leader in the field of diecast model manufacturing! I have done quite a lot of photographic research into the TWM Line 33 Geminis please feel free to use it

Peter Brookes, Birmingham

Various questions relate to this topic. I can assure you that every effort is being made to make a superb model of this bus. Our designers and engineers are making regular trips to Ballymena to work with Wrightbus. We will try not to make compromises and include all the features we can. However, we cannot produce a model that has too high a price point. The more detail the higher the price. I do believe the model will be excellent. I do realise that bus collectors are the most critical of any collector group! Nothing wrong with that, but please remember not everything is possible in 1:76 scale even CMNL has its critics.

LISTENING TO SUGGESTIONS

The September 2003 copy of Bus Route (Corgi’s bimonthly newsletter for OOC collectors) has a front page article suggesting that Corgi listens to suggestions from Club Members. The article is notable for the absence of a single example of a suggestion either having been produced, or planned for production. Does Corgi really take any notice of suggestions, and what have been, or will be, the outcomes?

David Johnson, Leeds

We always listen to suggestions. These come via Bus Route, Consumer Services and the Corgi Roadshow. Many suggestions have been produced over the years. I speak to many collectors who are happy that Corgi has produced a bus they suggested. Not everyone can be happy of course. There are other factors to consider, certain liveries such as London, Southdown, Midland Red etc sell better than others. Regional factors are important; we try to cover the country geographically. We are also conscious of colour as well. A half-year range full of red buses from the southeast may not have the appeal or sales that we are looking for. Other model suggestions are for small operators, which may require new tooling but with limited long term sales appeal. All these factors have to be taken into account. We have for example received many requests for the GM Metro Bus with the incorrect destination blind. Many are saying we want it, do it, even though the blind is wrong. Others think it should not be done at all. We cannot please everyone, but we do listen to what you want.