During the recent IAA 2022 truck event in Germany, Chinese tyremaker Prinx Chengshan released its TH155 truck tyre pattern. The new trailer hybrid, OE oriented tyre is described as having “outstanding overall performance”, something that is attested by its “A” and “B” ratings for wet grip and fuel consumption on the European tyre label (in 385/65 R22.5). The tyre will be marketed under the Austone ATH155 and Fortune FTH155 brand names.
ZC Rubber has named Martin Wells as the company’s new European managing director and president of ZC Technical Center and Global OE. Meanwhile, Jörn Tietjens has been appointed as senior key account manager/senior automotive engineer of the European ZC Technical Center.
With TPMS legislation soon to include commercial vehicles, Hamaton is offering a commercial vehicle upgrade for ATEQ VT56 users. ATEQ VT56 users across Europe can purchase the upgrade, to enable them to read and diagnose TPM systems on all commercial vehicles.
In 1997 Vredestein introduced the Traxion+, which featured a – quite literally – ground-breaking tread pattern that combined a reinforced central area with a graduated and non-parallel lug design for both traction and improved self-cleaning properties. 25 years down the line, the Vredestein Traxion concept has played a key role in Vredestein’s current tractor tyre range – something that can be seen in the VF Traxion Optimall, the Traxion XXL, Traxion 65, Traxion 70 and Traxion 85. As part of the celebrations, the company launched two new Vredestein trailer tyres – the new Vredestein Endurion Trailer and the Vredestein Flotation Optimall.
Dipankar Ghosh has joined Apollo Tyres as Group Head, Human Resources (HR) for the Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region. Dipankar has joined in a regional senior leadership role at Apollo Tyres and will be leading the regional HR team. Ghosh comes with 25 years of diverse experience in leading FMCG, Automobile and Service Industries, in the domain of HR Business Partnering, Strategic Human Resource Initiatives, Talent Assurance, Policy Making and Employee Relations.
Halfords Autocentres’ recent expansion into the top-table of tyre retail is indicative of a wider move towards mechanical work in tyre-orientated garages. Now, many fast fits generate somewhere around 50 per cent of their income from non-tyre business.
According to the latest SMMT data, the UK aftermarket turns over an annual £21.1 billion – making it the ninth largest in the world. And what’s more there are said to be north of 40,000 points of sale in the UK, which means the wider tyre business’s recent shift towards more mechanical work means that aftermarket space is as competitive as ever. Still, the ongoing outlook is good and the aforementioned growth figures are increasing at the same rate as the UK’s growing car parc. As a result, SMMT projections suggest the UK aftermarket sector’s value is set to rise to £28 billion by 2022.
Capacities at Apollo Tyres Ltd.’s production facilities in Europe were 88 per cent utilised between March and June 2022. The utilisation figure for the tyre maker’s plants in India was around 85 per cent, reports chief financial officer Gaurav Kumar. This gives the company little leeway for further growth in volumes, but Apollo Tyres believes it can address this issue without resorting to a greenfield or brownfield capacity expansion project.
As markets and events have reopened during the course of 2022, Triangle has hit the road in a significant way, meeting with and communicating to existing and potential customers alike at events and exhibitions across the continent including: Tire Cologne in Germany, Autopromotec in Italy and the Hillhead OTR event in the UK. Tyres & Accessories met up with executives in Germany, Italy and on home territory in order to find out more about Triangle’s latest products and its increasingly quality-focused European strategy.
On 8 July 2022, the European Commission (EC) re-opened its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations relating to the imports of Chinese-made truck tyres [Regulation (EU) 2018/1579 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1690]. The latest move follows the judgments of 4 May 2022 in joined cases T‑30/19 and T‑72/19.
If you design your products in Germany and manufacture them in Serbia, in what sense are they Chinese tyres? A question anyone interested in Linglong’s Hubtrac tyre brand must address. During the recent Tire Cologne exhibition, Tyres & Accessories spoke with Hubtrac UK general manager Dr Edward Xu in order to engage with that particular question and find out more about Linglong’s progress in Europe and beyond.
In October, Yokohama announced that the company had appointed ex-Pirelli and ex-Prometeon executive Gregorio Borgo as its European president. Roughly nine months later, there are a number of indications that the European business is entering a new chapter, which includes plans to invest in the construction of a factory “in the heart of Europe”.
On 4 May 2022 the European Court of Justice ruled that anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs imposed against Chinese produced truck tyres in 2018 must be annulled. We take a close look at the ruling and the immediate impact on retreaders and Chinese tyremakers alike from page four of June’s bilingual Retreading Special supplement onwards. But what about the tariffs charges that have already been paid? And what about the ongoing impact of the tariff annulment?
Backed by energy giant Vitol, Wastefront secured planning permission in January 2022 to build the £100 million tyre recycling plant in Sunderland, which is set to be commercially operational by 2024. Once at full capacity, the plant is designed to be able to manage 20 per cent of the UK’s total ELTs through processing 80,000 tonnes annually. Gateway Resources will supply Wastefront with nearly 10 million tyres every year.
Nexen Tire Europe is raising the prices of “all of the company’s brands in the replacement market”. The price increase is due to “the Ukraine-Russia conflict” and specifically “raw material prices such as carbon black, oil costs and freight and logistics costs”, which have all risen sharply, according to a Nexen statement issued today (13 April 2022).
Prinx Chengshan
Point S
ZC Rubber
Hamaton/ATEQ
Artem Podrez; Pexels
Stephen Goodchild; Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Chris Anthony; Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Wastefront