Conti Tyres on 70th Anniversary 4/4 Morgan
The legendary Morgan 4/4 launched in 1936 and still produced today is about to become even more special. To celebrate its 70th anniversary, the Morgan Motor Company has unveiled a limited edition Morgan 4/4 slightly smaller than its Plus 4 and Roadster siblings. Just 142 “70th Anniversary” Morgan 4/4 cars will be built - two cars for every year of its production life since launch. Each car will be individually marked with the year it honours, finished in period style and fitted with Continental 165/80R15 CT22 tyres.
Continue ReadingVTS Offers Free Delivery on Everything
Vintage Tyres, has announced that from March the company intends to expand its delivery service and offer free delivery on all their products to any UK mainland destination. “Free delivery is the final stage in keeping with our total customer support ideals, orders taken before 3pm will be despatched on the same day and should arrive within 48 hours,” said managing director, Chris Marchant.
Continue ReadingUnipart Unveils First ‘Kitemarked’ Car Care Centre
Only day’s after automotive magazines criticised the quality of British garages and their lack of support for the Kitemark scheme, Unipart Automotive has unveiled the first Unipart Car Care Centre received the accreditation. Village Motor Company of Wallasey, Merseyside, part of Unipart Automotive’s national network of 1,400 independent garages, has become Britain’s first Unipart Car Care Centre to achieve the BSI Kitemark. As a leading supplier of automotive parts and accessories, Unipart Automotive says it always wanted a clear badge of distinction between the so-called “rip-off” garages and those who provide service motorists can have confidence in.
Continue ReadingStapletons Appoints New Wholesale Sales Manager
Leading UK wholesale and retail tyre supplier, Stapletons Tyre Services has appointed a new sales manager to join its wholesale operation. Following a two-year gap, Nigel O’Hara, 46, returns to Stapletons as wholesale sales manager. Reporting to wholesale and IT director, Steve Parker, Nigel’s remit is to manage Stapletons’ wholesale tyre sales operation as well as the telesales division across the country. Nigel will also manage a team of field sales staff.
Continue ReadingKwik-Fit Fleet Staff Raise £2000 for BEN
Employees at Kwik-Fit Fleet’s St Albans headquarters raised more than £2,000 for BEN, the Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund. Kwik-Fit Group is currently in the process of refurbishing and modernising its 669 UK centres and the redeveloping its Fleet Service Call Centre. As a result, all of Kwik-Fit Fleet’s sales managers have new laptop computers, while office-based staff have new desktop computers. The computers had seen out their useful life in the business and rather than scrap them, staff agreed to make a donation to BEN.
Continue Reading9-month Earnings Up at Yokohama
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has posted a 19.1 per cent increase in operating income, to 20.9 billion yen (£141.5 million), in the nine month period ended 31 December. Sales growth, cost-cutting measures, and the weakening of the yen against the dollar reportedly “more than offset increased raw-material costs.”
Continue ReadingStrike Over At Firestone Liberia Plantation?
The strike action at Bridgestone Corps Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia has reportedly come to an end. The news has yet to be confirmed, but workers are said to have returned to work after government officials spoke to them. “The strike was provisionally called off. The workers have agreed to resume work after my intervention along with some other officials,” the Minister of Labour-designate told FrontPageAfrica.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Provides Aerial Olympic Coverage
With a record total of 418 hours of Olympic television coverage, NBC will use The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to provide aerial coverage for US television of the Winter Olympics from Torino, Italy. Goodyear, which provided the first aerial coverage of a televised sporting event at the 1960 Orange Bowl, has contributed spectacular images from above thousands of major sporting events for almost 50 years. “NBC is putting particular emphasis on its high-tech coverage,” said NBC Sports executive producer David Neal. “Only Goodyear has the means and the skill to be able to provide the type of first-class aerial footage we needed to enhance our more than 24 hours of combined coverage everyday and bring our viewers an amazing overhead perspective.”
Continue ReadingNew Tyres Unveiled at Chicago Auto Show
(Akron/Tire Review) As it has in recent years, Bridgestone Americas Holding (BAH) is sponsoring the media center at the upcoming Chicago Auto Show, 10 – 19 February, and is using the event to showcase new technology and products. BAH plans appearances by Mario Andretti and 2005 Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon, and will display the 1911 Marmom Wasp that Ray Harroun drove to victory in the very first Indy 500.
Continue ReadingJK Industries to Separate Tyre Business
JK Industries is planning to de-merge its assets in order to better focus its tyre business. The company’s board has today approved the proposal of de-merger. According to the India’s Business Standard newspaper, the investments will be transferred to a new company at their respective book values. Ernst & Young and Amarchand Mangaldas and Suresh A Shroff & Co (AMSS) have been appointed as advisors and legal advisors, respectively, the company told the Bombay stock exchange. JK Tyres manufactures the JK and Vikran tyre and produces 7.2 million units each year.
Continue ReadingCostco Buys Additional Branick N2 Systems
(Akron/Tire Review) Costco Wholesale purchased an additional 26 Branick Nitrogen Tire Inflation Systems for its Costco de Mexico Wholesale locations, completing the installations in late 2005. In addition, Costco purchased an undisclosed number of Branick units for its 16 UK stores. The addition of nitrogen tyre inflation systems in Mexico comes one year after Costco installed over 400 Branick nitrogen units in its US and Canada tyre centres.
Continue ReadingHankook to Supply VW With 540,000 Tyres Annually
Hankook Tire Co has closed a deal with Volkswagen to supply 440,000 tyres per year for the German manufacturer’s Golf and Bora models. The tyres will be fitted the fifth-generation Golf and will be sold in Europe from 9 February. In addition, the manufacturer will also provide 100,000 tyres a year for Volkswagen’s Bora model. The deal will take Hankook’s overseas annual shipments for finished cars to $150 million - 12 per cent of its total export volume. Hankook sees the OE contract as a strategic move that will enable it to enhance its share of the European replacement market. Both the Bora and Golf will be fitted with Ventus Prime K105 (205/55R 16) and the Optimo K406 (195/65R 15).
Continue ReadingHSE Warns Tyre Fitters
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging all employers involved in tyre servicing to assess the risks associated with changing OTR/earthmover tyres. The announcement follows a fatal accident, near Sandwich, Kent, on 27 January, which occurred during the repair of a puncture on a 1.5 metre diameter EM tyre. Kent Police and the HSE are continuing the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal accident. The HSE is encouraging businesses to ensure that employees are “properly trained and competent to undertake such work.” According to the HSE there are two main hazards that can arise during tyre inflation: The violent separation of the component parts of the wheel, or an air blast from a ruptured or burst tyre.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Dunlop Exec Awarded ‘Market Leader’ Opportunity
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Ltd has announced that Geraldine McGovern, E-Business & Digital Manager has been accepted to take part in the prestigious Marketing Leaders Programme run by the Marketing Society. The Marketing Leaders Programme draws on the experience of the society’s senior members and Fellows and also utilises the training skills developed by Brand Learning. The programme was developed following an intensive period of consultation with leading marketing directors.
Continue ReadingContinental AG Sells Stankiewicz GmbH
Continental AG has sold Stankiewicz GmbH to the Dutch investor Gilde Buy-Out Fund, Utrecht, Netherlands. The two parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Stankiewicz belonged to the ContiTech division of Continental AG and was taken over by Continental as a part of Phoenix AG in 2004. “ContiTech is reorienting its core business activities, which is why we decided to sell Stankiewicz GmbH,” says Gerhard Lerch, executive board chairman of ContiTech AG. “This move will have a positive impact for Stankiewicz as well.”
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