Kwik-Fit showed its new range of light commercial vehicle fleet initiatives at the CV Show 2013, highlighting its mobile fleet’s LCV tyre repair and placement capability; its expanded range of premium, mid-range and budget tyres; a plan to expand availability of MoTs on Class 7 vans; and a new Kwik Fit Drive card, for LCV and car fleets, with supermarket fuel and vehicle breakdown and recovery benefits, as well as Kwik-Fit charge reductions.
At the CV Show 2013, ATS Euromaster invited truck fleet operators to view its Inflation Report 2013, a free guide produced exclusively for the show. ATS-E said the guide was designed to show why fleets in 2013 should pay closer attention to their tyres than ever before.
Kirkby Tyres has been at the forefront of tyre and wheel wholesaling and distribution for over 60 years and has established itself as one of the largest tyre and wheel ‘full line wholesalers and distributors’ in Europe. With a head office and warehouse on a six acre site next to John Lennon airport in Liverpool and offices in Scotland, Ireland and China the company says it can supply a tyre or wheel for any application. This of course, includes OTR tyres, and Kirkby Tyres says it has a comprehensive range of tyres and wheels for this sector, including from leading manufacturers such as Alliance, BKT, Double Coin and Belshina.
The management and employees of Firestone-Liberia signed a new three-year collective bargaining agreement aimed at “increasing productivity and promoting working relationship between the management and employees of the company,” reported allafrica.com.
Despite an illustrious history dating back to 1917, 30 May could mark the end of an era for Dunlop as officials confirmed that its motorsports tyre manufacturing operation will have to find a new home away from the historic Fort Dunlop site from 2014 if their new landlord doesn't lease it back to them again. According to the landlord, Canmoor, the site has been sold to neighbouring Jaguar Land Rover. Therefore it looks likely that Dunlop Aircraft Tyres (a completely separate company from Goodyear Dunlop) will be the only tyre manufacturing operation remaining in Birmingham after the end of the current lease. Dunlop's annual motorsport tyre output is currently believed to be around 200,000 units. 180 manufacturing staff are employed there along with roughly 120 tyre testing, sales and marketing personnel.
Yokohama Tire Corporation’s (YTC) new Yokohama Tire Mexico (YTMX) subsidiary officially began importing consumer, commercial and off-the-road (OTR) tyres in Mexico on 1 May. Incorporated in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, according to the company, YTMX is squarely positioned to give YTC long-term strategic advantages. With this in mind YTMX’s president, Gary Nash, answered questions about what those advantages are, the long-term vision for the company and the positive impact dealers can expect.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., carried out a "Heisei Forest" tree planting event on 18 May to support recovery of Otsuchi-cho, Kamihei-gun, Iwate prefecture, one of the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. 553 participants, including 160 Otsuchi-cho residents, planted about 5,000 broad-leaved evergreen seedlings indigenous to the local area. Together with guests, including Otsuchi Mayor Yutaka Ikarigawa, representatives of supporting companies, Dr. Akira Miyawaki (plant ecologist) and former F1 driver Ukyo Katayama, 245 people from Yokohama Rubber attended the event, including chairman and CEO Tadanobu Nagumo, President Hikomitsu Noji and 54 employee volunteers.
Pirelli has rebuffed claims that its recent 1,000km test in Spain gave the Mercedes team, with whose 2013 vehicle and drivers the test was completed, any unfair sporting advantage over other teams. Speaking in a conference call with the press this afternoon, Motorsport director, Paul Hembery explained that the purpose of this test was to continue preliminary development for Pirelli’s potential 2014 tyres, though the manufacturer has yet to sign a deal to continue its supply. Hembery also clarified that the company has been allowed to test development tyres with available teams since March 2012, when it wrote to all the F1 teams to inform them of this position. These tests are conducted blind, meaning that only Pirelli can access the data drawn from the laps. Hembery also confirmed some details of the new tyres for use in 2013. The two new tyres are to be available for all teams to test in the Friday practice sessions in Canada, and it is anticipated that the full grid will support their introduction at Silverstone following these sessions. The tyres, Hembery said, are Pirelli technicians’ resolution to the delamination issues witnessed so far this season, and were developed in the laboratory rather than via track testing.
Wholesaler RH Claydon exhibited a number of exclusive brands, including the new Basoon range. John Parker, business development and purchasing director, showed a sample selection of the range, attracting a lot of attention, especially from visitors looking for a value for money TBR product. “The Basoon range is expertly manufactured in China under the direction of SD-International implementing innovative European design engineering techniques with all tyres being rigorously tested and approved for all quality control legislation. The range consists of ten pattern options covering all truck and trailer applications.”
Infinity Tyres is now recognised around the world for its growing OTR tyre range. Following extensive trials in demanding conditions across Australia, Africa and Asia, Infinity’s speciality heavy-duty mining tyres are now first choice fitments across a range of fleets operating in the most extreme environments.
Pirelli will test tyres during the practice session at the Canadian grand prix, the Formula One tyre supplier has announced. While the manufacturer had previously announced its intention to supply a new tyre range in Montreal, several teams, headed by Force India, held up the switch. Pirelli is now hoping to introduce the new P Zero F1 rubber at Silverstone for the British grand prix.
Local new reports suggest Apollo Tyres has sold Apollo Tyres South Africa (ATSA), including the Ladysmith passenger car tyre plant, to Japan-based Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) for $60 million. The company will reportedly retain the Durban plant, which manufactures truck and bus radial tyres and off-highway tyres used in the mining and construction industries. All employees of the company, other than those in the Durban plant, will continue with ATSA, the company said in a statement.
With no buyers seeking to purchase it, the closure of Goodyear’s Amiens Nord tyre manufacturing facility now looks inevitable. And according to various French news reports, France's government has now faced up to the fact that this means the loss of up to 1,200 jobs.
Indeed closure is now the only option on the table after the French Agency for International Investment (AFII) contacted 57 potentially suitable of which just eight said they would be interested. Of these five signed confidentiality agreements and two non-binding offers were presented, but France's Economic Redevelopment Ministry said "after careful examination of the plans put forward," no candidates were in a position to present a binding offer.
At the start of 2013, Jeff Schumaker took over as managing director of Cooper Tire Europe moving to the company’s Melksham headquarters in order to take up the role. But Schumaker’s appointment wasn’t a UK debut, but rather a return to the country and to familiar faces. Schumaker’s first stint in the UK took place roughly a decade ago in 2002/2003 when he was mentored by then MD Ron Shield and worked alongside his immediate predecessor in Melksham, Julian Baldwin, who was then marketing and motorsports director. Roughly four months after Schumaker took up the reigns at Cooper Tire Europe, Tyres & Accessories visited the company’s Melksham headquarters to see what direction the company is taking following the most recent change of leadership.
According to sources at Bridgestone Commercial Solutions, 78 per cent of all off-highway tyres and wheels are in the 25 to 29-inch size range. An important and difficult process in the servicing of these large-sized wheels is the removal and installation of the O-ring.
