Yokohama-Sponsored Baja Racers Happy with Geolander Tyre
One of off-road racing's toughest tests, Yokohama Tire-sponsored racers took on the SCORE Baja 1000 between 17 and 20 November using the manufacturer’s Geolander M/T+ tyres. Heidi Steele achieved a third-place finish in Class 6 for unlimited, production mini trucks. Driving her customary Ford Ranger, Steele, the two-time defending Class 6 champ, and her co-drivers and Desert Assassins teammates Rene Brugger and Pat Dailey, finished the gruelling 1061.69-mile course in 27:43:10.
Continue ReadingHarry Potter Roles on Avon Tyres
British brand Avon’s motorcycle tyres have revealed a famous user of their tyres. Young wizarding hero Harry Potter can be seen in his latest epic adventure on a motorcycle and sidecar shod with Avon Tyres. In the latest instalment of his adventures, ‘The Deathly Hallows: Part One, Potter – played by actor Daniel Radcliffe – is rescued from his muggle relatives’ house by friend and Hogwarts groundskeeper, Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane). The machinery used to magic Harry away from the evil Death Eaters is a Royal Enfield Bullet Classic, matched to a Watsonian Manx Sidecar with the bike shod with Avon’s Roadrider tyres.
Continue ReadingMarangoni Rebrands Truck, EMOTR Retreads
The Marangoni Group has announced that it will use the Marix brand – until now reserved for car, off-road and light commercial vehicle retreads – to represent all products made at the factory in Rovereto (Trento), the second biggest retreading production site in Europe. Retreads for trucks and earthmoving machinery will therefore now also be branded Marix by Marangoni.
Continue ReadingArmour Automotive Introduces Remote Engine Starter
During the winter months many British motorists will engage in the practice of turning on their vehicles’ engines well before departure time in order to remove the morning frost without manual scraping. The obvious resulting problem is that leaving a running car unattended invites the attentions of the criminal classes; Sainsbury’s Bank has recently published figures suggesting 66,000 vehicles are stolen in this situation. Vehicle accessories company Armour Automotive believes it has found a solution, announcing the launch of its new range of engine remote starter systems, available through the company’s Clifford brand.
Continue ReadingHankook Announces Sixth Global Manufacturing Plant in China
Hankook has announced that it will build its sixth global manufacturing plant in Liang Jiang Xin Qu in the Chongqing Municipal of China, investing US$954 million in the project, which will cover approximately 53,000 sqm. It will break ground in the first quarter of 2011 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. Upon completion, the plant will produce a total number of 11.5 million passenger car and truck and bus tyres, generating sales of US$1 billion annually, according to the company. It will also create about 4,600 new jobs in the region.
Continue ReadingTitan Ups Tyre Prices, “Repositions” Products
Blaming the continuing upwards momentum of natural rubber and other raw materials costs, in addition to increased transportation costs, Titan Tire has announced that its tyres and Titan manufactured, Goodyear branded farm tyres will increase by “up to 8 per cent”, though some products will supersede this rate of growth “due to repositioning of the product”.
Continue ReadingTrelleborg to Acquire UK’s Watts Tyre Group
Trelleborg has signed an agreement for the acquisition of the UK’s Watts Tyre Group through its Trelleborg Wheel Systems business area, an action the Swedish company believes will strengthen its industrial tyre segment position through geographic expansion and an increased presence in the aftermarket. Watts has annual sales of approximately £27.4 million and about 230 employees. The purchase consideration amounts to approximately £21 million.
Continue ReadingBear’s Tyre Tracker Aims to Reduce Australian Fleet Downtime, Maintenance Costs
Australian tyre life-cycle management specialist, Brad Bearman of Bear’s Tyres has suggested that his Bear’s Tyre Tracker product could help fleets in the country reduce fuel wastage. “It is an unfortunate fact that the neglect of tyre maintenance is directly attributable to unnecessary fuel wastage, particularly for long haul carriers that spend most of their time of the road," said Bearman.
Continue ReadingRösler Reports Meeting of "OTR Tyre Giants"
Wilhelm Schelkmann (94), the inventor of the pre-cure tyre renewal process, invited Paul Rösler Sen. (69) to his villa in Mallorca, where the two friends discussed how the pre-cure process (especially when used for 63” tyres) was evolving under Rösler Groups’ guidance. Rösler had a lot of news to share, including the renewal facilities completed in Australia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Uzbekistan.
Continue ReadingAutopromotec Brings Industrial Vehicles to Fore at 2011 Show
Autopromotec 2011 will see a new initiative introduced to the show especially targeted at the industrial sector. Named the Autopromotec Industrial Vehicles Service, the feature will include a tour designed exclusively for exhibitors in maintenance and servicing and road transport vehicles alongside a special logo to identify exhibitors of equipment, components and spare parts for trucks within the pavilions of Autopromotec. The biennial international trade fair for automotive equipment and the aftermarket will hold its 24th edition in the Bologna trade fair area from 25-29 May 2011.
Continue ReadingTrelleborg to Increase Ag, Forestry Tyre, Wheel Prices in 2011
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has announced a price increase on agricultural and forestry tyres and wheels effective 1 January, 2011. The increases will be in the range six to 10 per cent in Europe and North America. The price hike includes all tyres and wheels for agricultural, forestry and light industrial application and is the result of escalating raw material costs, according to the company.
Continue ReadingMichelin Launches New Pilot Super Sport Tyre
French tyre giant Michelin has launched the company’s latest tyre for the ultra high-performance segment, the Pilot Super Sport, at an event in Dubai. Attending the launch alongside Michelin representatives were spokespeople from Porsche and Tüv Süd; Michelin said it had “worked closely” alongside the auto manufacturer – as well as with BMW M and Ferrari – in developing the Pilot Super Sport, meeting its “challenging original equipment specifications”, while the testing organisation has recently produced a comparative study of the tyre and its competitors, determining it as “the fastest tyre on the market”.
Continue ReadingMcConechys to Implement Cameo, UniSerV and Workshop Scheduler
McConechys Tyre and Exhaust Centres has appointed Cam Systems to implement its Cameo software platform. McConechys Tyre Service Limited is now in its 54th year is one of the leading tyre distributors in the UK. It caters for all sectors in the replacement tyre market through its branch network covering Scotland and Yorkshire. McConechys will also implement Cam’s UniSerV for its commercial business operations, and Workshop Scheduler products across its 53 outlets once the transition to Cameo is complete.
Continue ReadingMicheldever Staff and Kumho Dealers Visit Manchester United
Micheldever’s top Kumho dealers Forest of Dean tires and A&M tires Wigan joined Alan Baldwin, MTS wholesale director, Amelia Lion, Brand sales co-ordinator and Andy Spry, Protyre regional manager for the recent Manchester United home game at Old Trafford v Wolves, which United clinched with a last minute winning goal. All were entertained pre-match by Manchester United Legends Andrew Cole and Denis Irwin, both treble winners with United, and Andy Richie, the youngest ever hat trick scorer for Manchester United.
Continue ReadingApollo Aiming for 'At Least' The Top 10
If you were playing a word association game with a tyre executive and said “emerging markets” the chances are they would say “China.” However, while China is top of the tree when it comes to tyre production in the so-called emerging markets – and indeed the world – the recent investments of global players (such as Bridgestone and Michelin) in India, coupled with the rapid growth of the market’s domestic producers should make you sit up and take notice of what is happening in the sub-continent. While most of the world, perhaps excluding China, was languishing under the shadow of the recent recession, India’s economy is positively booming with gross domestic product (GDP) currently growing at between 8 and 9 per cent in a global economic scenario that sees some of the world’s so-called superpowers pleased to report growth of anything more than zero and avoid the dreaded double dip. What separates India from the only other economy in the world that operates on this scale (China), is the fact that it is simultaneously growing fast, home to roughly a billion people and is also as much consumer as much as an exporter. And what’s more the very words that Apollo Tyres chairman Onkar S Kanwar and vice-chairman Neeraj Kanwar both use to describe their own staff, can also be used to optimistically sum up the population – “young, dynamic and innovative.” Tyres & Accessories recently travelled to India to learn more about arguably the most globalised – certainly the most Europeanised – Indian tyre manufacturer, Apollo Tyres. During our whistle-stop tour of the company’s executive, R&D and production operations across India, the company demonstrated that it is moving towards its goal of becoming a global player and entering the top 10 within the next five years at a rate of knots with the news that it has joined the list of globally approved suppliers to German car marque Volkswagen. Apollo also revealed how it recently launched giant OTR tyre production at its Limda factory, truck and car radial production at its modern Chennai Greenfield plant and gave details of the construction of a new R&T (research and technology) centre at the Chennai site.
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