FuelMax Technology Awarded by Luxembourg Business Federation
Goodyear reports that its FuelMax Technology for truck tyres came out a winner at awards held by the Luxembourg Business Federation (FEDIL). The federation bestowed its 2009 Environmental Award upon Goodyear, recognising the environmental and cost related benefits FuelMax Technology delivers. According to Goodyear, the judging panel concluded that the development of products featuring new technology proves the importance of research ...
Michelin Awarded ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ at Tire Technology
Recent advances from the tyre industry’s leading manufacturers and technology providers have been acknowledged at this year’s Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence. The ceremony, held on the evening of February 10 in conjunction with the Tire Technology Expo show in Cologne, Germany, covers five categories.
Bridgestone to Sponsor World Green Car Award
Bridgestone has obtained exclusive title sponsorship for the 2010 World Green Car Award. The global agreement was drawn up between Bridgestone Corporation of Japan and the World Car of the Year Awards Association, based in Canada, in December 2009. The agreement gives Bridgestone exclusive global branding rights on all communications emanating from the World Green Car Award during the 2010 calendar year and at official awards press conferences to...
Avon Gets “Best Suppliers Rep” and Product Nod at British Dealer Awards
Avon Tyres has reported a “double success” in the recent British Dealer News Industry Awards, with UK Motorcycle sales manager Gary Bretherton winning Best Suppliers Representative. The Avon Roadrider tyre received a Certificate of Merit in the Best Aftermarket Product category. These awards follow a good year for Avon Tyres’ motorcycle division, in which it reports sales have increased by 24 per cent.
Safety Milestone Reached at Bridgestone’s Wilson, US Plant
The reaching of a million man-hours without a recorded ‘losttime’ accident has been described as a “major safety milestone” for the Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) tyre factory in Wilson, North Carolina. The Wilson plant, which produces passenger car and light truck tyres and has a staff of more than 1,800, is the eighth Bridgestone Americas facility to reach this milestone in 2009, making it a record year for the company.
Laser Etched Tyre Wins Award for Kumho
The laser etching process that Kumho showed off at last September’s Frankfurt Motor Show has landed the South Korean manufacturer an iF Product Design Award. The accolade from Germany’s International Forum Design, first introduced in 1954, is awarded upon the merits of a product’s design, technology, degree of innovation and brand value potential. A total of 2,486 entries from 1,081 companies in 39 countries were submitted for the latest...
Kwik-Fit Fleet Awarded for Focus on Vehicle Mileage Reduction
Kwik-Fit Fleet has provided a wide range of fast-fit services to the Legal & General company car fleet for more than a decade, and recently the fast-fitter was selected from a number of competing Legal & General suppliers to win the company’s 2009 Supply Chain ‘Make a Difference’ (MAD) Awards. Legal & General also donated £1,000 to Kwik-Fit Fleet’s nominated charity, Rays of Sunshine, which grants wishes to children in the UK...
Age Interest Magazine Honours Ledbetter
The US based non-profit organisation AARP caters to the interests of people aged 50 plus, and one of the services it directs at its mature support base is AARP The Magazine. This publication, which AARP describes as the “definitive voice for 50+ Americans”, is claimed by the organisation to be, with 35.7 million readers, the world’s largest-circulation magazine. For the last eight years it has held an annual ‘Inspire Awards’, which...
Goodyear Fuel Max a Popular Science Innovator
US based science and technology magazine Popular Science has included Goodyear’s Assurance Fuel Max in its 2009 “100 Most Innovative Products of the Year” list. The Goodyear tyre appears in the Automotive Technology category of the "Best of What’s New" section and is featured in the magazine’s December issue and online at www.popsci.com.
TyreSafe Achieves International Recognition with Road Safety Award
TyreSafe has been internationally recognised for its ongoing contribution to motoring security. Friday’s steering committee meeting was punctuated by the lunchtime presentation of the Prince Michael International Safety Award: Recognising achievement and innovations which will improve road safety. Vredestein managing director and chairman of TyreSafe, Stuart Jackson declared himself, on behalf of the whole organisation, “ecstatic about the...
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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... -
New HP Tyre ZT5 from Avon for Small and Medium Cars
Avon Tyres’ latest high-performance tyre, the ZT5 has been designed with what the company calls “the latest ‘pitch technology’ to reduce road noise for a quieter ride and to ensure that the new tyre conforms with EU noise legislation.” The... -
Pro-Align Announces UK Arrival of Hunter CodeLink SAS Resetting Tool
As a provider of advanced wheel alignment systems to the UK market, Northamptonshire-based company Pro-Align stresses the advantage of cutting edge equipment from the point of view of both service quality and commercial opportunity. Its latest product...
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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... -
Aufine to Raise Prices Price 5 per cent from April
Aufine Group has announced plans to execute a 5 per cent price increased “for all the shipments from 1 April 2010” because of the increasing cost of production materials, especially rubber. Writing in a customer newsletter, company representatives... -
Conti Looking at Consumer Tyre Price Increases
Speaking to the German language automotive publication Automobilwoche, the head of Continental AG’s Passenger Car Tyre division, Nikolai Setzer, indicated that price rises are impending. Although exact price adjustments will vary from market to... -
Growing Demand, Tyre Labelling Prompts Lanxess to Boost Nd-PBR Capacity
Some 20 million euros are to be invested in increasing production of Neodymium Polybutadiene (Nd-PBR) rubber at Lanxess’s sites at Dormagen in Germany, Orange (Texas), USA and Cabo in Brazil. In total, 50,000 additional tonnes of the... -
Becker Tire Receives Bandag Honour, Exec Recognized by MATDA
Great Bend, Kansas-based Becker Tire & Treading Inc. was recently honoured by Bridgestone Americas, and one of its own received special recognition during a recent state tyre dealer group event. Becker Tire & Treading was recognized for a... -
Bridgestone Promotion Finds Guildford Tyre Co Winner
Russell Smith from Kent has won the £2,000 holiday of his dreams courtesy of Bridgestone and Guildford Tyre Company in Horley, Surrey, having won the manufacturer’s ‘Ultimate Winter Excursion’ competition. The competition was held in... -
Pelmar Acquires Equipment from Alliance in Israel
The Pelmar Engineering Group says it has purchased the equipment from Alliance Tire’s passenger car radial factory in Israel. The machinery covered by the purchase includes first and second stage Marangoni tyre building units, a Steelastic machine,... -
AGCO and Trelleborg Sign Long-Term Collaboration Agreement
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has signed a long-term collaboration agreement with agricultural OEM AGCO. The deal sees the two companies undertake to cooperate in tyre development. The partnership is said to illustrate “the desires of both companies to... -
3-Year Contract Furthers Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ Bmibaby Supply
Exclusive supply of nose wheel and main wheel tyres to the Boeing 737-300 and 737-500 fleet operated by low-cost airline bmibaby is to be carried out by Dunlop Aircraft Tyres following the signing of a three-year contract between the Birmingham based...
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Kumho Launches First US Market Eco-Friendly Tyre
Kumho Tire USA has launched its new eco Solus HM tyre; its first eco-friendly tyre for the US market. Kumho says the all-season tyre is “less impactful on the environment while delivering exceptional performance.” The Korean manufacturer also... -
Tariff Issue Still on TIA Front-Burner
In the USA, the TIA says it is still working to either reduce or eliminate the added tariff placed on China-made consumer tyres by the Obama Administration last September, reports Tire Review. The three-year tariff adds 35 per cent to the price of... -
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... -
Brazil Cottons on to US Subsidies, Introduces Tyre Tariffs
US exporters have been hit with an additional tariff by Brazil, a WTO-backed retaliation for what it calls “illegal” subsidies to US cotton farmers, reports Tire Review. Brazil’s new tariff structure, set to engage in 30 days barring a last... -
Retreading Special March 2010
Magazine and online subcribers can now view the March 2010 issue of Tyres & Accessories/Neue Reifenzeitung's Retreading Special supplement. The latest edition of the increasingly popular retreading publication features exclusive articles on... -
Hankook Makes Oberbeck European Technical Centre Development Head
Hankook has announced the promotion of Dr Claus Oberbeck to head of development at the company’s European Technical Centre. Oberbeck has a strong history of technical research and development in ultra-high performance tyres having worked most... -
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... -
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... -
Aufine to Raise Prices Price 5 per cent from April
Aufine Group has announced plans to execute a 5 per cent price increased “for all the shipments from 1 April 2010” because of the increasing cost of production materials, especially rubber. Writing in a customer newsletter, company representatives... -
Conti Looking at Consumer Tyre Price Increases
Speaking to the German language automotive publication Automobilwoche, the head of Continental AG’s Passenger Car Tyre division, Nikolai Setzer, indicated that price rises are impending. Although exact price adjustments will vary from market to...
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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....
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