Labelling
The board of the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has agreed that market surveillance should be the number one priority of the work of the organisation. The next priority of the board, which meets twice a year, emphasises that environmental as well as social and economic sustainability should remain a focus of the European tyre and rubber industry.
As the introduction of compulsory tyre labelling legislation draws ever nearer, independent data providers DriveRight have seen a new stream of enquiries from tyre manufacturers and distributors.
Director Richard Bailey explains, "The question from the industry was 'where do we get label information?' We have communicated via our EC1222.com website that we have manufacturer label information available; now the prevalent enquiry has become 'how are we going to get it?'
With the EU tyre labelling laws effect up on us, the new legislation marks one of the biggest changes to legislation affecting fleet tyre sales in recent years and will impact upon the whole tyre industry.
Michelin UK managing director, Eric Le Corre, has been elected as the new chairman of the British Tyre Manufacturers Association (BTMA) at a recent Board meeting. The new chairman-elect replaces Continental Tyre managing director David Smith whose two year chairmanship ended recently. Le Corre will also represent the BTMA on the board of the Tyre Industry Federation (TIF). He brings with him 14 years experience in the business and takes over with immediate effect.
Shandong Linglong Tyre Co. Ltd. recently signed a contract with Hemaraj Land and Development plc. to purchase 49 hectares for a new manufacturing facility in the Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate, located 150 kilometres east of Bangkok in Thailand’s Rayong province. For Linglong, a leading Chinese tyre maker and one of the top 20 globally, the factory plans are something of a first as the mark the first time the company has sought to build a factory outside the People’s Republic.
The organisers of Brityrex, ECI International, have thanked exhibitors and visitors for their role in the latest show held at EventCity, Manchester 9-11 October. According to the company, Brityrex visitor numbers increased 5 per cent compared to the 2010 exhibition, with footfall growing to 2435 visitors.
Michelin has launched a new range of long haul orientated truck tyres. As you would imagine, the French manufacturer's latest generation of commercial vehicle technology is said to lead the market and surpass the high standards of the previous range. The latest tyres even include a label beating grade A fuel efficiency trailer fitment. But what's arguably more interesting is that Michelin is promoting the whole life strengths of its new products and their “total performance” at a time when all eyes are on the three characteristics printed on a certain self adhesive sticker.
The TAFF Awards winners were announced last night during the NTDA's annual dinner at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester. Contested between the world's five largest manufacturers, Continental Tyre Group came out on top in the Tyre Manufacturer of the Year category. Michelin prevailed in two categories, winning the product innovation award for its new Energy + tyre, while its advertising campaign, "The right tyre changes everything" featuring the Primacy 3 tyre was given the Industry Advertising Campaign Award. B.I.T.S. was crowned Wholesaler of the Year, regaining its crown from Stapleton's. In the other awards, Pang UK is 2012's Tyre & Aftermarket Equipment Supplier of the Year, Sapphire Energy Recovery was given the Environmental Award and ATS Euromaster (Brighton West) won Tyre Centre of the Year.
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Today is the third and final day of this year’s Brityrex show. The past two days have seen good visitor numbers at the new EventCity venue and Tyres & Accessories has enjoyed the opportunity to catch up on the latest UK industry news.
The UK government Department for Transport (DfT) thinks the British tyre industry could take up to six months to catch up with all the necessary requirements for European tyre labelling compliance. Furthermore, the department's prevailing view is said to be that “heavy handed enforcement is not on the agenda” in the first half of the year following the introduction of the new rules. Their view is that the introduction of the law is not about a short term rush to change, but rather a long-term transformation of the way the market interacts with consumers in the same way as has taken place in the white goods industry over a decade.
While some may have expected the mild 2011/12 winter to have put the mockers on UK winter tyre market growth (not to mention the complication of tyre labelling legislation – see Related News), ATS Euromaster was confident enough to place its biggest ever order of seasonal stock in March 2012. The reasoning behind its £10 million order rested to a large degree on fleet customers. Now the tyre service specialist has reported that fleet customers’ forward orders for cold weather tyres are already 80 per cent up for winter 2012/13 compared to last year. ATS-E has begun the switch to winter rubber for some of its customers in earnest from the beginning of this month, and is expecting its total cold weather tyre sales this year to increase by sixty per cent over 2011 volumes.
With tyre labelling virtually upon us and with TPMS kicking in at the same time (see the forthcoming October magazine's Company News section for more coverage on this), the market needs to know where it stands with regards to enforcement…as soon as possible. We know the Department for Transport has got the whole West coast rail franchise fiasco fallout to deal with, but without proper attention the strength of the imminent labelling legislation could be seriously undermined. Indeed many questions are already being raised. This point is emphasised by a photo currently doing the rounds on the Internet. It is small and of mediocre quality, but what is clear about the image is that it portrays two Chinese-produced tyres of the same size model, speed and load rating on top of each other in a warehouse. A common sight you might think until you realise that the two apparently identical products bear two different European labelling results. The first BB-71 and the second CC-71.
Everyone’s talking about the introduction of tyre labelling in November. But we should also be aware that at the same time that the so-called fridge labels are being mandatorily applied to tyres, another rule stipulating that all new cars must fit TPMS is being implemented. The law stipulates that all models homologated since July 2012 have to be manufactured with an appropriate Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). From 2014 it will be broadened to include all cars being sold into the market in order to cover any cars not yet mandated. What both dates mean is that there are going to be lots of TPMS equipped cars on the road very soon and tyre retailers need to be ready to service them professionally and take advantage of this business opportunities this provides. It also means that direct TPMS manufacturers are ramping up production in order to meet increased demand from both the OE and replacement markets.
CAM Systems will return to Brityrex next week, taking a bigger and more prominent stand on the back of interest generated by its tyre labelling solutions. Visitors to Stand 52 will see how the software solutions provider is incorporating tyre labelling into its Cameo and new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms ahead of the 1 November EU legislation deadline – less than three weeks after the show.
Michelin’s Energy E-V first caught the public’s eye at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year through the release of the ZOE, Renault’s new, affordable electric car, and the tyre maker officially debuted the Energy E-V – now bearing an AA label – at last week’s Paris Motor Show.
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