General Tire has returned to the OTR tyre market – but not in Europe at this point in time. The Continental brand previewed its relaunch range at the Tire Industry Association Off The Road Conference in the USA in February, and General OTR tyres are being offered to customers in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions.
Devon General Tire Performance Partner, TyreMarks of Tavistock, is supplying volunteer-led Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team with 4×4 and SUV tyres. General Tire and TyreMarks have provided a set of Grabber AT3 all-terrain tyres to the search and rescue team to ensure they can carry out their work safely, responding to emergencies on the wild and remote uplands of Dartmoor. It has also saved the team hundreds of pounds in charitable donations that are used to fund the service.
Micheldever Tyre Service (MTS) states that it offers “the most comprehensive car mid-range tyre brand availability across the current market.” The wholesaler is exclusive distributor, or has preferred supplier arrangements, for some of the worlds’ leading manufacturers of mid-range brands, including Falken, General Tire, GT Radial, Sumitomo and Kormoran.
The General Tire brand has been approved as original equipment (OE) fitment for the latest BMW X5, according to Continental Tyre South Africa. The manufacturer reports that the all-terrain Grabber AT3 has been recommended in size 275/45 R20 110V XL on the Bavarian automaker’s latest X range model for its optional ‘Off-Road Package’.
General Tire continues its product offensive with its latest summer tyre ranges for on road use – the Altimax One & Altimax One S.
According to the company, both tyres feature “the robust characteristics and high grip that General Tire is renowned for”. The latest products offer new solutions with its American heritage at its core. Rigid shoulder blocks and a continuous rib structure in the centre offer precise handling and outstanding braking on dry roads, thanks to the connected shoulder blocks and reinforced stiffness.
General Tire unveiled a branded vehicle as part of the Autosport International show 2019 NASCAR stand in order to raise awareness of its partnership with NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
General Tire have teamed up with the Hudson brothers on Swim Wild – a follow-up video campaign to the award winning Wavemaker that launched earlier this year. Swim Wild documents three brothers escaping the pressures of modern life with the aim to show UK motorists that ‘Anywhere is Possible’.
Stoke-on-Trent’s Hot Lane Tyres, a family run business owned by Russ Cartwright, has announced its sponsorship of promising Port Vale FC full back James Gibbons. The sponsorship is part of Hot Lane Tyres planned marketing programme for 2018 and beyond.
St. Martins Tyre Company in Guernsey is now supplying the island’s airport with General Tire’s Grabber GT tyres for its operations vehicles. The airport was supplied previously with tyres from a well-known American 4×4 brand. General 4×4, car and van tyres are distributed in the UK by Micheldever Tyre Services.
LRO magazine has conducted a test to demonstrate the performance of mud-terrain tyres, and the difference the make to driving in deep mud, rough areas and unpredictable slippery surfaces. The magazine fit the General Tire Grabber X3 and BFGoodrich’s MT KM2, two of the most prominent mud-terrain 4×4 tyres available in the UK, to a Land Rover Discovery 2 (245/75R16) at the Snugg’s Pit off-road proving ground in Suffolk, which features some of the UK’s toughest and muddiest conditions. The tyres were tested over 10 gruelling stages in the independent test, with the results verified by LRO’s experienced team.
Almost 60 independent tyre dealers attended two extreme driving experience events organised by Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS) to try out General Tire’s Grabber AT3 and Grabber X3 off-road 4×4 tyres. The participating dealers, from MTS’s network of General Tire performance partners, took up the extreme driving challenge at Parkwood Off-Road Centre in Bradford and the Harbour Hill Copse off-road site in Aldermaston near Reading, two of the UK’s most challenging 4×4 proving grounds. The two-day event, which included expert off-road driver training and education about the on and off-road properties of the new 4×4 patterns, was held as a reward for the dealers’ increased sales and customer loyalty.
The General Tire Grabber AT² will be fitted to G-Class 4x4s ex-works in the Mercedes-Benz plant in Graz, Austria. A size LT265/75 R16 tyre was chosen for original equipment supply, and the approved OE Grabber AT² can now also be ordered for replacement fitment via Mercedes dealers.
Following the launch of the new General Tire Grabber AT3 and X3 4×4 products, here’s some more of what Tyres & Accessories has learnt about the technology behind the tyres.
Engineers have upgraded the Grabber AT3 by adopting a more aggressively off-road approach to what is – by definition – an all-terrain product. However, what’s interesting about this development is what particular tyre manufacturers mean by all-terrain. In recent years the proliferation of SUVs and especially crossover utility vehicles (CUV) in an increasingly legislatively demanding context has meant multi-purpose products have tended towards road-going performance. The AT3, on the other, has managed to meet and exceed all the road-going requirements, while adding some significant winter and off-road characteristics.
General Tire, which is part of the Continental group of brands has launched two new 4×4 tyres. The Grabber AT3 and Grabber X3 tyres are aimed at the on/off road all-terrain segment and out-and-out off-road segments respectively and both offer significant improvements in performance compared with their predecessor products.
The Tanzanian government is set to build a new tyre plant. According to local news reports, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr Adelhem Meru, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the new factory will be based on new technology.