Truck Tyres
Vaculug’s second Sustainable Thinking Fleet Forum of the year is officially sold out. Vaculug representative report that they are “excited to be hosting this exclusive event, as it demonstrates their commitment to promoting sustainability and driving positive change within the tyre industry and fleet management sector”.
Roads Minister Richard Holden has confirmed allocations for 64 local authorities across England from the £80 million investment in the Bus Service Improvement Plan+ (BSIP+) for 2024-25. Local authorities can use the funding to improve local buses by bringing in new services or routes, extending timetables through new morning or evening buses, or by making tickets cheaper.
On 30 August, the first tyre rolled off the production line in the second phase of the Thailand factory run by Huayi, which owns the Double Coin brand. Tyrepress China learned that the project’s second phase involves the production capacity of 300,000 all-steel radial tyres and officially started construction in March this year. If the second phase reaches capacity, the annual production capacity of Huayi’s Thailand factory will be increased to 1.5 million pieces.
The term resilient tyres refers to a particularly durable sub-segment of the industrial tyres business, but it also neatly highlights the strengths of the especially business-to-business-orientated material handling sector. While industry observers often highlight the consistency of the wider commercial vehicle segment – especially truck tyres – material handling tyres have also remained stable in the face of adversity and are arguably just as critical to business and therefore national economies. In addition, the turmoil of recent years has led to significant changes in the distribution and service side of the material handling tyre business. That’s why October’s issue takes a closer look at industrial tyres in general and material handling tyres in particular.
18 months ago, David Almazan joined the Bridgestone North Region as commercial business unit director. During that time the commercial vehicle sector in general as well as the UK fleet business proved their resilience and creativity and the market has experienced a number of shifts. Tyres & Accessories caught up with Almazan at the company’s relatively recently refurbished Warwickshire headquarters in order to find out more about how the leading tyremaker’s commercial vehicle strategy is evolving.
Michelin started retreading tyres back in 1923. In the years that followed, the process was refined and demand grew, with the Michelin Remix process (REmould, MIchelin, and X the designation for the French tyremaker’s radials) born in the 1960s. Demand for retreads continued to increase, leading to the expansion of production at the Stoke-on-Trent plant in 1968. Since then, around 30 million worn tyres have been remanufactured at the Michelin plants in Stoke-on-Trent, UK and Homburg, Germany. With around 10 million of those retreads manufactured at the Campbell Road, Stoke-on-Trent operation, Tyres & Accessories went to see the latest developments at the largest retreading facility in the UK and arguably one the most modern retreading facilities in Europe.
Enliten is now present in Firestone-branded products, with the Bridgestone technology featuring in the latest Firestone on-road regional truck tyre range. The line-up consists of the FS424 steer axle tyre, FD624 for the drive axle and FT524 trailer fitment, tyres that Firestone describes as “combining value for money with reliable performance.”
Yodel, one of the UK’s leading parcel carriers, has awarded a five-year tyre management contract to Halfords Commercial Fleet Services. Halfords Commercial Fleet Services’ position as the UK’s largest commercial service network with 104 depots and over 500 dedicated mobile vans was cited as a major factor behind decision.
Hawthorns Logistics, a family run business based in Washington, Sunderland, has signed a 12 month Pay-as-You-Go contract with Prometeon Tyre Group for the company’s entire fleet. The contract includes Prometeon’s central billing tool, PRO Management.
15 years after our first market share survey of its kind, and almost 10 years after we identified that “the UK truck tyre market is a five-horse race”, this month we’ve taken another look at the figures and spoken to sources close to the leading players in order to provide an up-to-date snapshot of what is going on in the UK truck tyre replacement market (see pages 14 to 31 of the September magazine).
This article is an example of the editorial comment that introduces every edition of Tyres & Accessories magazine. Not a subscriber? No problem, click here to become one.
On 1 August 2023, the Hubtrac tyre brand relocated its European operational headquarters and production facilities to Serbia. Strategic departments were inaugurated in the UK and Germany, marking the completion of a Europe-centric operational structure. The goal? The establishment of an undeniably European tyre brand alongside the already-established product R&D centre in Germany. According to the company, “this strategic shift heralds the dawn of a new era.” Tyres & Accessories met with the director of the Hubtrac brand and marketing department, Edward Xu, in order to learn more.
Continental has unveiled its new Conti CityPlus concept at the IAA Mobility event. According to the Hanover-based tyremaker, this state-of-the-art tyre technology increases the total energy efficiency of a tyre by up to 10 per cent. The results are said to be “lower CO2 emissions from passenger cars with combustion engines and longer driving ranges for electric vehicles.” This was achieved by optimising the tyre behaviour during stop-and-go traffic in urban driving situations, increasing the range of passenger cars by up to 3 per cent as a result. This corresponds to a saving of 0.6 kWh per 100 kilometres for electric vehicles.
TMT Tanks & Trailers, the Italian trailer manufacturer, has selected Apollo Tyres’ EnduRace RT2 tyre as original equipment (OE) for its premium ‘moving floor’ truck trailers. TMT’s moving floor trailers feature specialised loading and unloading systems that allow the unloading of bulk material without the need for tilting mechanisms.
Netherlands-based Magna Tyres has introduced the M-Truck range, which is specifically designed for use in “trucking, haulage, tanker and trailer applications” and “steer, drive, all position and trailer” fitments across “long haul, regional and construction operations”.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
Department for Transport
Huayi
Hamaton
Prometeon
According to the company, the M-Truck tread pattern “guarantees impressive field and road traction whilst also effectively minimising vibration when being operated at road speed” (Photo: Magna Tyres)