Vintage Tyres has announced the launch of the Dunlop 145SR10 SP44 Weathermaster. According to the company, the firm had to go “right back to the drawing board and create a brand new mould to the original specification” in order to give the new product its current lease of life. The SP44 is described as the classic rally tyre for the Mini Cooper and with its rugged design was also widely used on the famous Mini Moke.
Giti Tire reports that it has agreed its first GT Radial distribution deal in Iceland, with Solning already reporting high demand for the initial stock of Champiro IcePro and IcePro SUV. The deal, which commenced at the start of November, is initially for extreme winter weather tyres with the parties already discussing summer stock, including the Adventuro A/T light mud and M/T maximum traction tyres, and the brand’s extensive truck and bus range.
Following its pilot introduction in Italy, a year ago Giti Tire rolled out its GT Assist commercial vehicle roadside service assistance programme in the UK. The launch of this 90 minute response service, which is operated in collaboration with the RAC, means that since the end of last year Giti Tire has been able to offer a full fleet portfolio of new GT Radial tyres, GT REE Tread mould cure retreads, along with tyre maintenance through its network of more than 180 independent dealers in the UK and Ireland.
Amongst the news announced at the Agritechnica 2013 show was that Netherlands-based truck and off-road tyre specialist Heuver Tyrewholesale has obtained exclusive rights in a number of European countries to distribute the agricultural range from one of China’s best-known tyre makers. Heuver will initially focus on distributing the LingLong agricultural range in Germany and the Benelux markets.
Continental has opened its new ContiLifeCycle Plant at its Hanover-Stöcken facility alongside the launch of its Technology Center Campus. With various other retreading and technology centres around the world, the facilities are characterised as nuclei for Conti’s global technological operations; Conti both sends “out into the world” its technological innovations from the Campus, in the words of Tire Division head and Executive Board member, Nikolai Setzer, and brings in specialists and their expertise from global markets to help develop technology for different markets. The LifeCycle Plant is thought to be the most technologically advanced retreading facility in the world, integrating into the manufacturing processes improved rubber recycling capabilities.
Over 9,500 construction jobs will be supported in 2014 by more than £1.9 billion of investment in Britain’s roads, said Transport Minister Robert Goodwill announced.
The total investment in 209 schemes is £4.3 billion, £1.9 billion of which will be spent in 2014 alone – more than twice the amount spent in 2013.
Tyre Bay Direct has released its new ‘Knowledgebase’ – and it says it is unrivalled when it comes to tyre service equipment and maintenance.
Available automatically and exclusively to all Unite tyre machinery customers, this new section of the tyrebaydirect.com website has a landing area personalised to each customer’s equipment models and is automatically accessible from the moment the machinery is installed. The Knowledgebase lists the current equipment in the customer’s workshop, plus warranty status and expiry reminders along with complete manuals, operating instructions and instructional videos for the customer’s purchased machine, meaning any required information is always at hand.
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) has recently outlined initiatives to the Minister for Energy & Business, Michael Fallon, that will improve fuel supply resilience and encourage investment in petrol forecourts at zero cost to the Treasury. More than 5000 sites (62 per cent of UK total) are still owned by independent businesses but numbers have been declining for many years.
In a filing submitted with a US court, Bridgestone Americas has described the implementation of a new companywide computer system as bringing chaos to the tyre maker. It is now seeking US$600 million in actual and punitive damages from the computer system’s supplier, IBM.
In a recent speech Roads Minister Robert Goodwill indicated that the number of garages that reduce the MoT test fee influenced his decision to freeze the maximum charge until 2015.
He said, “Some of the decisions taken to reduce the cost of motoring this week have not been popular such as freezing the MOT fee. But I know that many test stations discount the fee. In fact only 12m of the vehicles on the road paid the full fee.”
Mercedes-Benz reports that its UK retailers now have stocks of cold weather tyres for the coming winter. Apart from the obvious benefits winter tyres offer – better grip and shorter braking distances at temperatures below seven degrees Celsius – the cold weather tyres supplied by Mercedes-Benz dealers are supplied with the ‘MO’ sidewall designation, confirming their approval an a Mercedes-Benz original equipment fitment.
This weekend’s F1 round at Brazil’s Interlagos circuit has been described by Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery and racing manager Mario Isola as the “end of an era”. The practice and race events for the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2013 at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace will be the last hurrah for the normally-aspirated engine cars.
Cooper Tire shares that it received a ‘Global Media Award’ at this month’s SEMA Show/Global Tire Expo for introducing the new Mastercraft Courser MXT at the show. In addition, the Cooper Zeon RS3-S (in size 325/30R19) was named a runner-up in the New Products Showcase in the Tire and Related Product category.
German logistics development company Honold is currently building Continental a new tyre warehouse in Aachen, direct on Germany’s border with Belgium and The Netherlands. When complete early next year the warehouse will have storage room for some 800,000 tyres and be able to handle the shipping of up to 35,000 tyres a day.
Kumho reports that in October it began delivering its Ecsta HM KH31 for original equipment fitment on the Mercedes-Benz B-Class. The compact Mercedes-Benz receives size 195/65R15 91H tyres produced at Kumho’s Tianjin factory in China.
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