The Nokian Forest Rider product family has been expanded with new sizes intended for large and heavy tractors. These further additions to the Forest Rider range are designed, says Nokian, for demanding and highly challenging usage conditions such as the harvesting of energy wood and building & maintaining forest roads. Suitable for tractors ranging from 200 to 500 horsepower, the new products fill a gap in the Finnish manufacturer’s existing line-up.
Two of the largest tyre manufacturing plants in Turkey paused production for a week following reduced OE demand. The Brisa (Bridgestone/Sabanci) plant which produces Lassa branded tyres initiated a week-long production break in order to “realign production” company representatives told Tyres & Accessories. Turkish Pirelli Tyres Corporation also halted production at its factory in the north-western province of Kocaeli, according to the Hurriyet newspaper. Around 2,200 workers are employed at the two plants, 1,072 of which work for Brisa and will remain on the pay roll, Turkish Tyre-Labor Union representative Huseyin Cakar told Hurriyet.
New from Goodyear in 2009 is the Wrangler AT/SA, a tyre for 4×4 drivers seeking mobility both on and off the road. The Wrangler AT/SA has been released onto the market following extensive testing on the company’s on and off-road test facilities – tests that Goodyear says show the new tyre to outperform its major competitors and its predecessor in both wet braking and wet handling tests.
Durability on rough surfaces comes courtesy of a generous serving of Kevlar. Two layers of the five-times stronger than steel material are built into the tyre in addition to the its two high-tensile steel belts; the main benefit the layers offer, says Goodyear, is improved resistance to punctures in the tread – however Kevlar layers also act as a sound barrier, absorbing noise for an especially quiet ride. This combination of strength and silence is part of what the manufacturer calls its ‘SilentArmor Technology’, a proprietary innovation first introduced on Goodyear 4×4 some four years ago.
Tyres fitted to cars parked in the street in the town of Lincoln, California (to the north east of Sacramento) were sleeping a little easier this weekend, after a large sword that was used to slash city vehicles’ rubber was recovered by the police Friday (21 February). It was reported that a 19 year-old woman named Ashley Belisle was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism through swordplay and was taken to Placer County Jail in Auburn, though was released later.
Posters on the Sacramento Bee’s crime blog, however, were ready to leap to conclusions. Blogger Soylent_Green_is_now heaped the blame on cultural influences, suggesting “one too many anime conventions” as the inspiration for the wave of destruction; meanwhile Briencook took a more reasoned approach, stating, “What a bizarre (and costly) crime spree. She must be dealing with some mental problems. If not, Big-O is hiring.” However, the frustration of finding your tyres ripped by a rapier was possibly best surmised by lovemycity916, who simply declared, “fu**in ninjas.”
According to the Beta News Agency, production at one of the three tyre factories belonging to Serbian manufacturer Trayal Corporation will recommence during the week of February 23 to 27, following a three-month pause. The company’s Dedina passenger car tyre factory is the first to resume activity since work stopped at the Trayal plants in mid-November 2008. To begin with, the factory will produce 4,200 tyres per day, significantly lower than the target of 10,000 passenger car tyres per day (by the end of 2009) set when investment into capacity expansion was announced in February 2008.
The 4×4 line-up produced by Avon Tyres goes under the ‘Ranger’ brand name, and covers five distinct tyre ranges, each designed to cope with the varying demands of modern four-wheel drive vehicles. Those SUV owners more at home on the road may find what they are looking for in the Avon Ranger Sport, a tyre with most of its dynamic abilities focused towards performance on the blacktop. Especially suited to the latest 18-20in fitments used both as standard equipment and extensively in the aftermarket, the Ranger Sport is a low profile, V-shaped tread pattern high performance tyre available in V-rated sizes.
Goodyear’s North American truck tyre line-up has received a boost with the introduction of the Wrangler DuraTrac, a tyre the manufacturer says comes with new features that make it ideal for a broad range of work applications, from construction and farming to landscaping and mining. And just to prove the new tyre is not just all work and no play, Goodyear adds that it also delivers the performance pickup truck owners are looking for when they clock out and hit the trails to partake in wholesome all-American recreational activities such as camping, fishing and hunting.
Norbar Torque Tools Limited from Banbury, has been named ‘Best UK Family Business, Southern England and Wales Region’, in the £5-25m turnover category of the Coutts Prize for Family Business 2008/9. The company will now go on to compete in the same category at the national finals to be held in central London on 23rd June 2009.
Established in 1942, Norbar as a third generation family business became the first company in Britain to commercially manufacture a torque wrench. The initial demand was driven by the need for the gasket-less cylinder head of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine to be accurately tightened. Since then, Norbar has continued to invest in the latest design, manufacturing and quality control technology to achieve the highest level of innovation and precision in the field of torque control and equipment. The company now employs 200 people in Banbury, with a further 90 staff within its sales companies in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China. The Company’s philosophy is about providing customers with high quality value for money products and services whilst being committed to the principals of environmental sustainability.
Philip Hodges is MD of Beissbarth UK and, in this article, he looks forward to the future facing vehicle servicing and repair technicians. Says Philip: It would be interesting to hear the comments and see the reaction of early pioneers of the Motor Car – Henry Ford, Rolls Royce, Auto Union, Benz and a host of others – who in their own way provided us with what is an everyday pleasure for some and for others a tool for every day means of transport and commerce.
All of these pioneers would, I expect, be amazed at the technology of today’s vehicles but also be speechless at the speed of the new developments which drivers of the future will take for granted.
Pirelli’s Carlisle tyre production plant has today halted production for two weeks. An official statement issued by the company explained that the factory has been forced to close until 4 March in combat the effects of the global economic downturn. It is the second shutdown at the plant, which employs around 1000 people, this year. Further shutdowns have not been ruled out.
“Pirelli Industrial in the UK has already taken steps to mitigate the effect on employees by reducing to zero overtime, an extended Christmas and New Year break, and announcing a further shutdown in February 2009,” the statement explained, blaming the “spectacular fall in production experienced in the car industry.”
Road transport dominates Europe’s haulage business, with over 80 per cent of total freight in the region shipped by this means. The story is much the same in North America and in most world markets, and the pressure to remain competitive is high. Opportunities to reduce operating costs without compromising the standard of service are limited, and fuel economy is viewed as one of only a few factors that can be positively manipulated. Indeed, the September 2008 PricewaterhouseCoopers report “The Truck Industry’s Green Challenge: headwind or competitive edge?” identified fuel economy as the road transportation industry’s number one purchasing criteria. Yet an innovation widely embraced by manufacturers of passenger car tyres, the use of silica in the compound to facilitate lower rolling resistance, has remained beyond the commercial sector’s reach – until now. In November 2008, two established providers of solutions for the tyre industry, Rhodia and Dow Corning, announced the formation of an alliance to address this problem. The result of their joint work is already on the road.
Schaeffler Group’s billionaire owners (Maria-Elisabeth and son Georg Schaeffler) are reportedly willing to sell a significant amount of the family owned company in order to avoid a break-up of the automotive supplier. Initial reports in Thomson’s Merger News suggested Schaeffler’s owners were prepared to sell up to 75 per cent of the group in order to hold onto an anchor investment and prevent a break-up of the company. However, six hours later, Forbes quoted Detlef Sieverdingbeck, the firm’s spokesman, as saying that there is “no bottom or top limit.”
The latest developments are being seen as a further concession designed to convince the German government to give Schaeffler emergency support. 24 hours earlier Schaeffler’s owners signed a co-determination pact with the union that represents workers at both the Schaeffler Group and Continental AG businesses. Analysts observed that Schaeffler’s willingness to sell its stock and cosy up to the unions shows just how precarious the situation is for both the Schaeffler Group and Continental AG.
During the day’s trading Forbes reported that Continental had plummeted 21 per cent to 10.11 euros, the stock’s sharpest fall for 16 years.
Pirelli Eco Technology, the Pirelli Group company operating in the field of pollution control technologies, has signed a partnership with Swedish diesel particulate filter specialist GB Environment Consulting AB in order to distribute the new Pirelli Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) systems and spare parts in the Scandinavian, Finland and the Baltic markets.
February 19 marked the official launch of Asia’s first online retail tyre portal, Tyrepac Pte. Ltd. Backed by S$2 million (£906,000) in seed funds from various investors, Tyrepac plans to offer services throughout the region, commencing in its home territory of Singapore. The company will expand its services to Malaysia, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Thailand by the first half of this year.
Mr Ler Hwee Tiong, managing director and co-founder of Tyrepac, said, “There will always be a demand for tyres, since every motor vehicle, old or new, will need to have their tyres replaced depending on usage and driver requirements. In today’s competitive marketplace, we want to be able to provide motorists with a single platform that is convenient, has a comprehensive range of tyres, and offers transparent pricing for all products so that our customers can truly enjoy one-stop service that meets individual needs.”
Bekaert, supplier of steel cord to the tyre industry, has reported consolidated 2008 sales of 2.66 billion euros and combined sales of 4.01 billion euros, and increase of 22.5 per cent and 17.3 per cent respectively. Growth in consolidated sales stemmed 17.7 per cent from organic growth, largely driven by passed on raw material price increases, and 5.8 per cent from the company’s acquisitions in Vicson (Venezuela) and in Proalco (Colombia). Fluctuations in several exchange rates largely compensated each other with a net negative impact of 1.0 per cent. Even in the fourth quarter of 2008, the economic downturn notwithstanding and compared with a strong last quarter of 2007, Bekaert posted consolidated growth of 5 per cent.
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