No Going Back
In 2008 the Ultra High Performance tyre market experienced changes unlike any year before it; and as a result will, never be the same again, Sentaida USA general manager Don Mathis recently told Tyres & Accessories “UHP aftermarket sales have been the main and nearly only, shining star in the tyre business for the last eight to 10 years. The margins and growth have surpassed nearly every other segment of the market,” he explained. However, this year has also been unlike any other in Mathis’s 36 years of experience. His thinking is that the unique combination of surplus capacity in UHP factories, the early year surge in the raw material costs, a mid-year surge in fuel cost, and the credit crunch halting new car sales and taking aftermarket wheel sales with them means the market has hit a watershed. His advice? “Reduce your UHP stock to bare minimum. I think it is really ugly now, and is going to get worse. Clear out old, high priced stock, so money can re-circulate. Take whatever loss there is now. Get it over with, as it will only get worse in 2009. Buy smart for the future with an emphasis on value in the popular passenger car sizes.” For more overview on US market sales see January’s issue of Tyres & Accessories.
Continue ReadingVintage Appoints New Member of Export Department
Vintage Tyres has added a new member of staff to its expanding export department. Muriel Colange has a long history on the European classic car scene, having worked for various specialist parts distributors across France, as well as spending time working for a Lotus car distributor, where she participated as an active member of its racing team. As befits the staff of the company, which supplies specialist tyres to classic cars, Colange possesses a great interest in and passion for cars. She has two early-model Minis and is president of the French Mini Owners Club. With a diploma in automotive commerce and marketing, she will specialise in the European development of the Vintage name. Vintage is based at The National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire.
Continue Reading6 HSE Tyre Handling Workshops Planned for 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), working with the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) and the British Tyre Manufacturers Association (BTMA), is running a series of workshops designed to draw attention to the dangers of handling tyres. The nationwide series of workshops are being held at venues across the country from January and March 2009. NTDA director Richard Edy said: “NTDA research shows that back injuries caused by lifting tyres incorrectly are responsible for a huge number of lost man-hours in our sector and we are delighted to be working with the HSE to highlight the dangers to the trade.”
Continue ReadingHiQ Names Three More Franchisees
HiQ has attracted three new partners in its national franchise programme. HiQ now boasts more than 140 centres across Britain, having secured Alister McGill, who will take over the company’s Alnwick, Berwick and Sunderland outlets, adding to his existing Blyth and Gateshead centres. Gary Thomson will take on the Exeter, Bath, Honiton and Weston Super Mare stores with four experienced partners. Meanwhile, Phil Godfrey has added HiQ’s Banbury store to his Abingdon and Carterton businesses. According to the company the latest announcement means HiQ’s national franchise plan is now more than half full, with all remaining partners to be announced in the coming months.
Continue ReadingUnion Official, Politicians Lash Out at Dunlop India Chief
Dunlop India chief managing director Pawan Ruia has been reportedly accused of cheating the company’s workers. This accusation, printed in the Times of India, was made by Centre of Indian Trade Unions state secretary Kali Ghosh and members of parliament Rupchand Pal and Shantosree Chatterjee (both from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) party). The union official and two politicians, says the newspaper, are of the opinion that Dunlop’s Sahaganj facility should be handed over to India’s Ministry of Defence.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Opens Synthetic Rubber Plant in China
On December 8 Bridgestone (Huizhou) Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd. (BSRC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, officially opened a facility dedicated to the production of synthetic rubber in China. The new plant, located in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, produces styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and has a projected production capacity of approximately 50,000 tons. According to a publication produced by the Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association (JATMA), synthetic rubber generally accounts for approximately 20 per cent of a tyre’s overall weight. The SBR produced at the new facility will mainly be used for the part of the tread in contact with the road, and has characteristics that contribute to ensuring vehicle stability when travelling at high speeds without reducing rubber strength.
Continue ReadingKumho Tire Awards Winners of ‘College Ad Contest’
On November 24th, Kumho Tire announced the winners of the 10th ‘Kumho Tire College Ad Contest’, a competition it says is held with the aim of inspiring passion and creativity among college students in South Korea. This year’s contest attracted more than 3,000 entries, from which 12 winners were selected. In addition to nurturing passion and creativity in college students, Kumho Tire says that its advertisement contest has also played a vital role as a communication channel that has aided the company in understanding the needs of consumers. The contest themes range from corporate brand and Manchester United sponsorship advertisements to corporate public relations about the company’s environmental protection activities, with a focus on delivering a social message.
Continue ReadingMichelin Delivers 250,000th Aircraft Tyre To US Navy
A milestone was reached by Michelin Aircraft Tire Company on December 2 when the company delivered its 250,000th aircraft tyre to the United States Navy in support of its Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) contract. The quarter-millionth tyre was for the nose landing gear of a US Navy F/A-18 Hornet, and was hand-delivered by Brett Carnes, director of North American military sales and Colleen Cassidy, program manager, to Air Wing Commander Captain Thomas Halley of US Naval Air Station Oceana, located in Norfolk, Virginia. Also in attendance was Sandy Ebenhoech, program analyst with Lockheed Martin.
Continue ReadingDunlop Wins “Best New Tyre” at MCN Awards
Dunlop’s Sportmax Roadsmart tyre was named Best New Tyre at the annual Motorcycle News Awards. The new Roadsmart tyre has been highly acclaimed by MCN over the past year and was praised for both its wet and dry performance; picking up first place in the Best New Tyre Category.
Continue ReadingApollo Cuts Prices
Leading Indian tyre maker, Apollo has announced that it has cut its prices across its product range by around four per cent. India has reduced its Cenvat (Central VAT) by the same figure on 7 December. Apollo’s price cut is effective as of 1 December.
Continue ReadingSevalco’s Bristol Carbon Black Plant to Close
Columbian Chemicals is to close its Sevalco carbon black facility in Avonmouth, Bristol, with the loss of some 88 jobs anticipated. The company says that the demand for carbon black has reduced significantly in recent months, and the decision to close the factory came only a day after it was announced that manufacturing activity in the UK had shrunk at a record pace during the last month.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Australia Pays Tribute to Mark Skaife
The management of Bridgestone Australia Ltd Group has paid tribute to Mark Skaife, who took the wheel for his final V8 Supercar race on the weekend of December 6–7 after announcing his retirement from the sport earlier in 2008. Skaifes achievements, comment Bridgestone, make him one of the sports greatest champions. During his racing career Skaife gained a record-equalling five Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championships, a number only equalled by Ian Geoghegan and Dick Johnson. He also won five Bathurst 1000 titles and a record 40 Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship round victories. Skaife also won three consecutive Australian Drivers Championships (1991-93).
Continue ReadingCeat breaks ground on radial plant in India
Ceat Ltd. has broken ground on a £95 million radial tyre factory in the Indian state of Gujarat. The new factory is expected to eventually produce up to 500 tonnes of passenger, light and medium truck tyres a day, with as much as 40 per cent of production earmarked for export. According to Ceat, the factory will be constructed in three phases, with the first of these entering production in June 2010. Daily capacity at this time will be in the area of 100 to 150 tonnes.
Continue ReadingRecord Exhibitor Numbers Anticipated for Automechanika Shanghai
The world’s second largest Automechanika show opens in China on December 10 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. During the three exhibition days a record number of exhibitors are expected to showcase their products in the centre’s eight halls, an 80 per cent increase in exhibition space compared with 2007. Visitor numbers are also expected to exceed last year’s figure.
Continue ReadingDunlop Confirmed as OE for European Spec Nissan GT-R
In December production of the European specification Nissan GT-R gets underway at the company’s Tochigi factory in Japan, and the manufacturer reports a number of small but significant changes have been made to the car. Furthermore the Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyre, previously available as an option on the GT-R, will be standard fitment on the performance Nissan when it arrives in European showrooms. The tyre, comments Nissan, was developed specifically for the GT-R and it combines grip and durability, as demonstrated during its ‘time-attack’ lap of the Nürburgring, which yielded a time of 7 minutes 29 seconds. And the manufacturer adds that, just to improve the ride performance even further, a modification has been carried out to the suspension spring rate settings. The Dunlop tyres are matched with a gun metal grey coloured Rays seven-spoke alloy wheel design for the standard and Premium Edition GT-Rs, while the Black Edition will be fitted with the same design but, appropriately, in black.
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