When Maine Industrial Tire was integrated into Trelleborg Wheel Systems following its acquisition late last year, its Brawler brand was taken on by the Swedish manufacturer. It has now announced the addition and planned global roll out of a range of Brawler brand large OTR solid tyres.
JK Tyre & Industries is one of three companies named as joining the International Rubber Study Group’s Panel of Associates. The Indian tyre maker’s membership, along with that of Evonik Industries and International Rubber Consortium, was announced on 15 August. The IRSG Panel of Associates now has 123 members.
Incentives to draw in prospective customers are familiar practice for most tyre dealers, but free onions with every car or truck tyre sold? One tyre seller in India has introduced such an offer, but he has more in mind than just selling more tyres.
Several months ago, Goodyear commissioned French market research company MV2 Conseil to look into tyre purchasing habits amongst European fleet operators. To gain an insight into the priorities at play when selecting tyres, during June and July MV2 Conseil interviewed approximately 500 fleet operators based in France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain. Goodyear has now published the study’s preliminary findings.
On 28 May, JK Tyre & Industries poured water on news published by Indian financial daily The Financial Express, stating it had “no firm proposal” to acquire a tyre manufacturer in Southeast Asia for Rs 1.5 billion (£15.7 million) and that it had “not made any commitment whatsoever” to this effect. Yet at the time the company was still committed to investing in the region, specifically in rubber plantations. Now it appears this project has been shelved, or even dropped entirely.
Operations at Bridgestone Asia Pacific’s new technical centre are now underway following its official opening on 13 August. During the opening ceremony, Bridgestone’s senior vice-president Yoshiyuki Morimoto stated that the new Bridgestone Asia Pacific Technical Center – the Japanese company’s first in the region, excluding Japan and China – will provide technical support across the region and will enable Bridgestone to more quickly respond to customer needs.
The cost to motorists of putting biofuels into petrol will be as much as £224 million more each year than the government estimated, says ActionAid. According to ActionAid-commissioned research by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the government has underestimated the additional costs of biofuels due to inadequate price projection models used by various departments to calculate costs. This extra cost is in addition to the £1-£1.8 billion extra cost to motorists as a result of the UK's biofuels policies that IISD already documented in 2012.
July turned out to be gloriously warm and dry, yet some European farmers may still find themselves harvesting in the wet – especially in Northern Europe where the harvest is traditionally later. Whilst a few days of dry and windy weather can render the crop itself harvestable, the soil below remains wet and whereas the small combines of yesteryear could usually operate on wet terrain, modern, heavier machinery often becomes bogged down in the mud, reducing efficiency and causing potentially expensive delays in what could be a short window of opportunity for the year’s harvest.
On 14 August, Toyo Tire & Rubber, along with its North American subsidiary Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas and its affiliates, filed a formal complaint before the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against 22 manufacturers, importers, and sellers of passenger and light truck tyres.
Mark down 7 to 9 October 2014 in your diary – ECI International, the organiser behind the UK’s only dedicated tyre industry trade show, gives word that Brityrex 2014 will be held on these three days. Brityrex returns to Manchester’s EventCity, where it was held in 2012.
Few calendars command media attention like Pirelli’s, and next year marks the 50th anniversary of the first edition. Preview photos taken during production of the 2014 calendar are now doing the rounds, and this peek at next year’s ‘Cal’ suggests Pirelli has decided to continue the more conservative approach photographer Steve McCurry adopted for the 2013 Calendar.
Marangoni Tread North America has been named as one of latest companies to join the Retread Tire Association. The company is one of four firms whose membership was made public on 15 August; the others are Crown Worldwide Industrial, Intercontinental Marketing and Otrusa.com.
Additional greenfield land has been made available adjacent to Michelin’s Waterville plant in Canada, reports a local media source. The Kings County Advertiser & Register writes that the Municipality of the County of the Kings in Nova Scotia has formally committed to divesting its municipal airport property in Waterville to make a factory expansion possible.
In its financial results for the March to June quarter – the first quarter of its current financial year – JK Tyre posted a net profit of Rs 540.4 million (£5.7 million), a year-on-year increase of 265.9 per cent. Quarter net sales came to Rs 18,669.4 (£196.0 million), 3.3 per cent higher than in the first quarter of 2012.
The first production road car to be developed by Volvo’s Polestar Racing team went on sale in June 2013; Volvo chose the Australian market for a pilot launch of its four wheel drive S60 Polestar, and future introduction in other markets depends on how it is received in Australia. The Swedish manufacturer selected Bridgestone’s Potenza as original equipment, and the tyre will be fitted to the S60 Polestar in size 235/40 R19 96Y.
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