Rinspeed Offers a New Definition of Commuter Car
Rinspeed, the company that created the Squba, a car that works underwater, has unveiled its latest concept vehicle; the UC? Making its debut at Geneva, the UC? is all-electric, has two seats and a unique 'train loading' system that allows the car to easily fix into a train carriage for longer, inter-city journeys. It's more than that, though - Rinspeed calls it a 'new mobility concept'. The idea of the tiny car is to make...
Mr Oizo Returns with Slasher Flick Starring Tyre
Movie deaths involving cars are nothing unusual. Be it driving into a canyon ('Thelma and Louise'), driving into other cars carrying sassy ladies (Quentin Tarantino’s quite horrible 'Death Proof'), or enjoying a crash a bit too much (David Cronenberg’s infamous twist on auto-erotica, 'Crash'), motoring fatalities have become a large and varied part of film history. But Quentin Dupieux, otherwise known as the...
Nokian Gets Behind Snow Soccer
Nokian Tyres’ dedication to grip in the snow goes beyond its tyre products, as was witnessed at the Nokian Tyres Snow Soccer World Championships in Finland on 6 – 7 February 2010. The sporting event, which Nokian describes as “very crazy, but so cheerful”, involves 1,000 players and 70 teams competing on a playing surface covered by 50 centimetres of snow. This new snow sport, adds the Finnish tyre maker, is extreme fun: exhausting,...
Kwik-Fit Workers Discover Hash Farm Above Tyre Depot
Staff at a Kwik-Fit centre in York recently discovered they had been working under a cannabis growing factory. Unbeknownst to them 387 cannabis plants with a street value of up to £46,000 had been growing in the space above the branch in York. According to a report in the Yorkshire Post, workers only made the surprising discovery when water leaked through the ceiling and they went up to investigate the damage. The news made the papers today (29...
Administrative Charges Filed Against Tyre Deflating Judge
Last August we brought news on the American judge who passed sentence on the rear tyre of the car belonging to courtroom cleaner Jean Washington. Judge Robert C. Nalley, as tyrepress.com reported on August 13, deflated the tyre of the car allegedly parked in his “space” as “notes on the windscreen didn’t work.” Following nationwide media coverage, the tyre-deflating judge resigned from his post as Circuit Court chief administrator days...
From Hi-Viz to High Fashion
The high visibility vest, once the preserve of rail workers and those engaged in emergency services, has become ubiquitous. In his book ‘Pies and Prejudice’, Stuart Maconie refers to the reflective tabard, along with Greggs' pasties, as a new emblem of the North. And he has a point – people from all walks of life can be found wearing the high visibility tabard for workplace duties, changing a tyre or simply walking their similarly...
Federal Tires Goes to Hollywood…Almost
Federal Tires are now on display at Warner Bros. Movie World Australia after the Taiwan-based tyremaker entered a year long sponsorship deal with the park’s Hollywood Stunt Driver attraction. According to the company, the partnership has “opened up a whole new chapter for Federal Tires taking a more stellar role to please automotive enthusiasts when it comes to vehicular theatrics.”
The attraction is said to feature: “An insane and...
Queen Handy with a Spanner, Automotive Technician Accreditation Survey Concludes
“If your car breaks down and an official motorcade drives by, who would you hope had come to your rescue?” That was the somewhat implausible question posed by The Institute of the Motor Industry in a recent survey of 2000 consumers concerning the Automotive Technician Accreditation scheme; but not to be outdone, the Great British Public got behind its monarch, delivering an equally implausible scenario in which the Queen took a look under...
Cheryl Cole the UK’s Dream Passenger for Bridgestone Surveyed
Cheryl Cole has already proved herself adept at miming vacuous pop songs, judging televised karaoke, climbing mountains, putting up with a widely despised husband and generally being a National Sweetheart (not to mention allegedly being a bit handy in a scrap), but who would have thought the tiny-framed totty would also be named the UK’s ideal driving companion? In a recent survey by Bridgestone, one in three motorists cited her as their...
Former Kwik-Fit Employee Fined for “Stupid” Theft
Wolverhampton’s Express & Star newspaper has brought us news on one former Kwik Fit sales manager’s criminal activities. Deepak Uppal, who used to be employed at the fast fit chain’s West Bromwich branch, has pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation following his arrest for tyre theft.
-
Eurotire Turns Down Under for Software Solution
Eurotire, Inc., a US based OTR tyre specialist with manufacturing facilities in Romania and the Ukraine, has unveiled its new EuroTrack tyre management system. Eurotire selected Australian software developer Vehicle Management Corporation (VMC) and... -
RUD-Erlau to Show Tyre Protection Technology at Bauma
RUD-Erlau, purportedly the inventor of the tyre protection chains (TPC), is to show it most advanced technology at this year’s Bauma show in Munich (19 – 25 April 2010, C2 Booth 311/406). According to the company, RUD-Erlau’s TPCs are more than... -
Are Automotive Battery Manufacturers Facing Overcapacity?
The share of electrified powertrains is expected to increase significantly in all major automotive markets as a result of marked decreases in the cost of batteries over the next decade. Yet the desire to capitalise on this growing market may lead to... -
New Generation Michelin Alpin Available H1 2010
The fourth generation of Michelin’s Alpin cold weather tyre is ready, and the French manufacturer states it will be introduced into European replacement markets during the first half of 2010 in “all regions where winter roads are generally wet –... -
Infinity Aims to 'Go Deep' with Fast Growing 'Premium Budget' Strategy
When Al-Dobowi Group executives Surrender Singh Kandhari and his son Harjeev Singh Kandhari founded Infinity tyres six years ago, they probably didn't envisage how quickly their ambitious plans would come to fruition. What began with a series of... -
TGI Adds Cosmo Truck Radials
US company Tire Group International has added a premium radial truck tyre line under the Cosmo brand name to its portfolio of products. With a range of more than 350 sizes in the Light Truck, Truck, Industrial, Agricultural and OTR segment, Cosmo Tire... -
Toyo Introduces Versado CUV for Crossovers
Toyo Tires has launched its latest addition to the Versado range in the US. The Versado CUV, designed for crossover vehicles, is promoted as being Toyo Tires’ “most efficient tyre yet” thanks to the low rolling resistance compound utilised. The... -
Pirelli Cinturato Tops Club, Magazine Tests
Pirelli’s Cinturato passenger tyre line dominated annual tests run by German auto club ADAC, Switzerland’s Touring Club (TCS) and the Austrian automobile club (OEAMTC), reports Tire Review. The Cinturato P7 and P6 were named best summer tyres in... -
Accuride Introduces OEM-Quality Chrome Wheel Accessories
Accuride Corporation recently debuted a line of OEM-quality chrome wheel accessories. This new range consists of ABS chrome front and rear wheel hub and nut covers designed to fit most class 7 and 8 trucks, trailers, and recreational vehicles. -
Bigger Tyre Changer Turntables for Increasingly Bigger Wheels
Snap-on Equipment has introduced two new tyre changers under the Hofmann and John Bean brands to meet what the company perceives as a growing need for tyre shops and garages to handle the larger wheel rim diameters fitted to an increasing number of...
-
Market Conditions Prompt Mothballing of Sapphire’s Avonmouth Site
The Avonmouth based waste tyre chipping facility opened by Sapphire Energy Recovery last August has been ‘mothballed’ as a measure to counter difficult trading conditions in the used tyre collection and processing market. The stopping of... -
Kumho OE for Mercedes Sprinter
Kumho Tyres reports that late last year it began supplying its Radial 857 light commercial vehicle tyre in size 235/65 R16C 115/113R as original equipment for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (NCV3). The Radial 857 is Kumho’s latest tyre for vans and... -
Tire Rack Upgrades Consumer Site
The Tire Rack has made a major enhancement to its TireRack.com consumer tyre and wheel sales website, reports Tire Review. The enhancement is “designed to make the tire buying experience even faster, easier and more efficient,” Tire Rack said, by... -
Tyremax Puts Cameo into New Premises
Tyremax has expanded its business with the addition of two new sites in Finchley and Chigwell, bringing the total number of sites to three in North and East London. As a result, it will be extending its contract with Cam Systems to introduce the Cameo... -
Acceptance of Daewoo Sale to Aid Kumho Restructuring Plan
The Kumho Asiana Group is one step closer to untying its financial knots following the financial investors of Daewoo Engineering and Construction accepted the terms for selling their share in the company. This leaves the path clear for Kumho Asiana to... -
Major Manufacturers Testing Ekoprena
Two years ago Sumitomo Rubber subsidiary Dunlop Falken Tyres Ltd releases the Enasave 97, a tyre containing only three per cent petroleum derived materials. The substance enabling this close to total freedom from synthetic rubber in the Ensave 97 is... -
Despite Reduced Sales, Pirelli Tyre Records Stronger Profit in 2009
Financial statements approved by the Pirelli & C. SpA Board of Directors on March 10 show Pirelli Tyre to have attained revenues of 3,992.9 million euros during 2009, a 2.6 per cent reduction on a year earlier. Despite this slight annual decrease,... -
Bridgestone Europe Rated a “Top Employer”
The CRF Institute, an independent research organisation specialised in labour conditions, has certified the Brussels based Bridgestone Europe headquarters a “top employer” in its Top Employers Belgium 2010 ranking. According to CRF,... -
Goodyear’s Keegan Pay Packet Worth $17 million in 2009
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s chairman and outgoing chief executive of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. received a pay package worth as much as US$17.196 million in 2009. While Keegan’s “non-equity incentive plan compensation” virtually... -
Lanxess Examining Options for Brazil Retreading Chemical Production
Some 18 million truck and bus tyres are said to be retreaded in North America each year and a further nine million in South America, and to meet growing demand for the raw materials used in retreading both within the region and worldwide, Lanxess’s...
-
Market Conditions Prompt Mothballing of Sapphire’s Avonmouth Site
The Avonmouth based waste tyre chipping facility opened by Sapphire Energy Recovery last August has been ‘mothballed’ as a measure to counter difficult trading conditions in the used tyre collection and processing market. The stopping of... -
Kumho OE for Mercedes Sprinter
Kumho Tyres reports that late last year it began supplying its Radial 857 light commercial vehicle tyre in size 235/65 R16C 115/113R as original equipment for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (NCV3). The Radial 857 is Kumho’s latest tyre for vans and... -
Eurotire Turns Down Under for Software Solution
Eurotire, Inc., a US based OTR tyre specialist with manufacturing facilities in Romania and the Ukraine, has unveiled its new EuroTrack tyre management system. Eurotire selected Australian software developer Vehicle Management Corporation (VMC) and... -
Tire Rack Upgrades Consumer Site
The Tire Rack has made a major enhancement to its TireRack.com consumer tyre and wheel sales website, reports Tire Review. The enhancement is “designed to make the tire buying experience even faster, easier and more efficient,” Tire Rack said, by... -
Continental Launches Sime Brand 4x4 Tyres in Malaysia
Continental Sime Tyre has rolled out two tyre models of its Sime Tyres 4x4 range aimed at SUVs, pick-ups and crossover SUVs for Malaysia. The Centipede AT and HT product will be available in 25 55 to 80 series sizes. The tyres are designed for use in... -
"New Products, Innovation Key to Top Line Growth": Goodyear Dunlop at Geneva
Goodyear Dunlop has spent the last week showcasing four concept and prototype tyres featuring innovations for future use on earth and in outer space in addition to its five latest tyres for European motorists. The company said that over the course of... -
RUD-Erlau to Show Tyre Protection Technology at Bauma
RUD-Erlau, purportedly the inventor of the tyre protection chains (TPC), is to show it most advanced technology at this year’s Bauma show in Munich (19 – 25 April 2010, C2 Booth 311/406). According to the company, RUD-Erlau’s TPCs are more than... -
Dunlop New Exclusive Ducati 848 Challenge Tyre Supplier
Dunlop has been announced as the sole tyre supplier to the new Ducati 848 race series. The leading tyre manufacturer agreed a deal with New Era Motorcycle Club and Ducati UK to ensure all bikes racing in the new championship are shod with Dunlop... -
Tyremax Puts Cameo into New Premises
Tyremax has expanded its business with the addition of two new sites in Finchley and Chigwell, bringing the total number of sites to three in North and East London. As a result, it will be extending its contract with Cam Systems to introduce the Cameo... -
Brityrex Increases Aftermarket Appeal
More exhibitors from across the aftermarket have signed up for October’s Brityrex International exhibition, with familiar names and new brands seeking to capitalise on the potential offered by a post-recession tyre and equipment marketplace. Among...
-
Al Saeedi Adds New Gallant Truck Tyre Size
Al Saeedi Automotive TRD Co (LLC), the exclusive distributor of Gallant brand truck tyres in the Middle East and Africa, has added 1200R24 20PR GL 885 to the range of sizes it offers. The new tyre is described as an all-position radial optimised for highway and on/off road applications. According to the distributor, the special features of this tyre include ultra-high tyre bead structure and a lateral block shoulder. “These features help enable... -
Apollo’s Passenger Tyre ‘Grand Masters’ Meet in Beijing
Some 186 Apollo Tyres dealers assembled in Beijing on the first weekend of December for the tyre maker’s “Grand Master Business Partners” meeting. A total of 170 India based partners and 16 international dealers, all of whom exceeded their projected passenger car tyre sales targets over the last twelve months, attended a three-day meeting with company officials in the Chinese capital. Apollo’s strategy for the coming year was shared with... -
US Tariffs an Opportunity for Asian Manufacturers
Although the US decision to charge tariffs on consumer tyres produced in China has presented the country’s manufacturers and importers of the product with a sizeable hurdle to their business, the Kasikorn Research Center, a subsidiary of Thailand’s Kasikornbank, believes the decision presents Thai exporters with a major opportunity to increase their market share. -
Smuggling, Under-Invoicing Hurting Pakistan’s Tyre Makers
More than six million tyres are purchased in Pakistan each year, but even though local manufacturers are only capable of producing 2.5 million units annually, they are operating at under capacity. The reason for this, believes the head of one domestic producer, is the prevalence of smuggled and under-invoiced foreign brands. -
JK Tyre to Increase Exports to Central, South America
JK Tyre and Industries is aiming to substantially increase exports from Tornel, the Mexican company it acquired last year. According to the Press Trust of India the company aims to do this within a year through further expand within the Central and South American markets. -
Tire Rack Tests Yokohama’s Orange Oil Tyre in 'Real World Ride'
Yokohama Tire Corporation's (YTC) eco-friendly dB Super E-specT tyre, which is made of 80 per cent non-petrol products, scored well in a recent low rolling resistance test conducted by US retailer Tire Rack. "The Tire Rack test shows that the dB Super E-spec, which introduces new technology in tyre materials and design, is noticeably better on all-around performance," said Mark Chung, YTC director, corporate strategy and planning.... -
TGI Opens Houston Office
Tire Group International (TGI) has opened a new sales office in Houston, Texas headed by Tom Wilbur. Wilbur comes to TGI with over 12 years experience in the tyre industry, having worked for firms such as Area Wholesale Tire and Tire Dealers Warehouse. -
Hankook Evaluates Southeast Asian Sites for New Plant
Hankook Tire intends to build a new factory – its sixth overseas plant – somewhere in Southeast Asia. South Korea’s Yonhap news reports company CEO Suh Seung-hwa as stating on October 23 that Hankook may spend between US$250 million and $300 million building the new facility, which is expected to have an annual capacity of ten million units. -
Conti Sime Opens BestDrive Continental Car Centre in East Malaysia
On 18 October Bintang Ramai Sdn. Bhd., in partnership with Continental Sime Tyre Sdn. Bhd. (CST) opened the first BestDrive passenger car and Light Truck (PLT) centre in East Malaysia. The new branch is the 16th BestDrive in Malaysia, but the first in Eastern Malaysia. According to Benoit Henry, CEO of CST, the BestDrive PLT centre empowers the company’s partners with the opportunity to use its brand to position themselves as uniform,... -
Nizhnekamskshina to Commission 1.2 million Tyre All-Steel Radial Plant
Russian petrochemicals group OAO Tatneft (Kama and Niznekamshina’s parent company) said it is set to expand its tyre manufacturing capacity with the commissioning of a 1.2 million tyres a year all-steel truck and bus radial plant near its existing Niznekamshskina plant in Niznekamsk. The commissioning follows investment of around 17 billion rubles (£362 million; 388 million euros; US$578 million) in line with a plan first conceived in 2006....
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Following the unusually harsh winter, will seasonal tyres see growth in 2010?
Business Directory