This month, Hercules Tire and Rubber Company celebrates its 70th anniversary. Established as a cooperative by independent tyre dealers and retreaders seeking quality products at an affordable price, the company has grown into a value segment leader that today offers a comprehensive selection of tyres under its Hercules, Ironman and Dynatrac brands.
Hindsight is said to be 20/20, yet this isn’t a faculty that helped the tyre industry this year. Early optimism driven by vaccine rollouts quickly turned to despair as sideways-parked container ships, skyrocketing sea freight prices, rising material costs and supply shortages delivered blow after blow. As we enter the final quarter of the year we have a much clearer view of what’s going on, and what we see is that tyres will be pricier in the coming months – assuming we can get our hands on them.
NDI Group is relaunching its Nordexx private label. The tyre distributor says it has developed a new logo as part of its strategy to grow Nordexx in the future. These efforts to create a more distinctive and recognisable brand are being backed up with marketing support for Nordexx distributors and partners.
Point S Development has launched the second generation of its Point S 4 Seasons tyre range in Europe. With demand for all-season tyres increasing, and driven by the success of the first Point S 4 Seasons tyre, launched in July 2017, Point S Development wanted launch a revised version of its all-season range.
Private labels are a core business for wholesaler Deldo Autobanden NV, and currently it offers six ranges. One of these is Superia, and Deldo shares that it recently entered into a manufacturing agreement with ZC Rubber – the 10th largest tyre maker in the world according to Tyrepress.com’s latest ranking. ZC Rubber will produce a full line of high performance, UHP, SUV and light commercial truck patterns under the Superia brand name for Deldo.
It’s an open secret that Goodyear has produced the Tecar tyre brand for the past four decades. Tecar International admittedly has a policy of not naming the Tecar producer, and therefore we don’t know who’ll be making the brand as of next year. But we do know it won’t be Goodyear.
When visiting the team at Interpneu during The Tire Cologne, we assumed they’d talk about business at home in Germany. We were wrong – the wholesaler shared a strong interest in expanding its operations in the UK and in northern Europe. Plans to do this are already in place.
Distributed in the UK by Traxx Tyres, Vitora is a relatively new tyre brand. At The Tire Cologne we caught up with Luke Bedford, who is in charge of international sales for Vitora, and he filled us in on what’s been happening since the brand was established two years ago.
When we spoke to Deldo’s Tom van Dyck a year ago, the tyre industry was wrestling steeply rising raw material costs. Having passed these increases on to their customers, budget tyre manufacturers were cutting production to compensate for a sharp drop in orders. Within this market environment, Deldo was manoeuvring to minimise impact upon its […]
A second generation of Cosmo Tires passenger car and truck/bus tyres is on its way, and amongst this assortment of new products are tyres that will be launched in European markets. Visitors to The Tire Cologne will be amongst the first to see the new range; the range can be viewed during this month’s trade fair at Hall 8.1, Stand D065.
Enjoy Tyre returned once again to this years Autopromotec Show in Bologna, Italy celebrating 10 years of distribution of their Rotalla PCR private brand and five years with the firm’s Routeway PCR and TBR private brands.
In line with all European and global exhibitions, Rotalla and Routeway’s main priority was to showcase both brands and also to look towards further expanding Enjoy’s existing European distribution partnerships. The main theme for development in 2017 is to introduce new developments and new sizes and patterns across their entire product portfolio.
German tyre wholesaler Hämmerling – The Tyre Company GmbH has confirmed its debut as a Commercial Vehicle Show exhibitor. The company says it will present its full product range at the Birmingham show later this month, including the Athos, Maxx, Talas and Sämm private brands. It also intends to look for new authorised dealers and employees at the show. Hämmerling – The Tyre Company GmbH can be found at CV Show stand 4D98.
A lot has been said about the tough year in our market during 2013 and the reasons for this, but despite such talk many larger wholesalers managed not just to turn a profit, but to enjoy a very good year. Deldo Autobanden N.V. was one such company; sales and organisation director Tom Van Dyck tells Tyres & Accessories that while the Belgian wholesaler’s results last year weren’t on the level experienced between 2010 and 2012, they were still the fourth or fifth best in the company’s 40 year history.
Gaining a foothold in a new market or securing the best deal on stock is easier said than done. It’s difficult for wholesalers, manufacturers or dealers to be experts in every aspect of the tyre business, and this means that companies often miss out on opportunities simply because they don’t know about them. In such instances you can either accept this limitation – or you can look for someone who can help. This year a new Netherlands-based company, Vimexa Automotive BV, entered the business of helping companies within the tyre, wheel and battery industries find what they want or need. Other automotive products, such as TPMS – a product of growing significance in Europe – may also be introduced into the portfolio. Tyres & Accessories recently met with company founder Rutger Veerman to discover more.
German wholesaler the Hämmerling Group reports a positive response at this month’s Tyrexpo Africa show in Johannesburg, with considerably more dealers, wholesalers and forwarding agents visiting the Hämmerling stand during the three exhibition days. A focus for Hämmerling at Tyrexpo Africa was its Athos and Mäxx truck tyres, Talas steel truck rims and Sämm truck retreads.
