Bridgestone Americas has launched a new premium drive radial in North America, the M760 Ecopia. The tyre is primarily designed for use in on-highway, long-haul and regional service. It also can be applied for pick-up and delivery service. According to Bridgestone, the M760 Ecopia works well on single and tandem axle trucks, making the tyre ideal for a broad range of fleet applications.
Bridgestone has donated £2,000 to a voluntary first aid service in Warwick in order to buy a defibrillator, new uniform and premium tyres for its four ambulances. The Leamington based brand says the Warwick Ambulance Association support demonstrates its commitment to vital community causes.
Tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship Dmack has been chosen as the first fitment to three of the five new Ford Fiesta R5s built by M-Sport debuting on the Neste Oil Rally Finland next month. Local driver Jari Ketomaa and Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen in Autotek-run Fiesta R5s wrapped in Dmack 2013 livery, and Robert Barrable from Dublin, Ireland in his CA1 Sport Fiesta plan to line up at the start of the event in Jyvaskyla with Dmack’s DMG+2 gravel tyre. Dmack, a brand manufactured in China by Shandong Yongtai and developed over the past few years in tandem with Carlisle-based Dick Cormack, faces stiff competition from the other WRC tyre supplier, Michelin. Dmack launched a range of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres through a number of global distribution partners in 2012.
Aebi Schmidt has selected Hankook’s Vantra LT tyre for its Swingo 200 street cleaning machines. At over four tonnes, the Swingo 200 is tough machine that can expect a long and arduous working life. This specialist machine also boasts a large hopper capacity, resulting in a 50 per cent bigger payload than other street sweepers.
A number of tyre manufacturers have launched new products at Tyrexpo India 2013 in Chennai this week. Aeolus, BKT, Emrald and TVS Tyres have all introduced commercial tyres for applications from truck to OTR. Amongst these, Aeolus is notable for being one of a number of Chinese manufacturers making their debut in India. It is joined by its compatriots Hangzhou Zhonce, Linglong and Wanda Boto.
Bosch Car Service has become one of the first associations supporting a new UK-wide scheme to strengthen industry self-regulation. The Bosch Car Service national network of independent garages, comprising of over 500 members in the UK and Ireland, intends to provide motorists with an alternative to main dealer car servicing and repair, for all vehicle makes and models.
With a full range of tyres designed for each part of the waste/recycling market Kal Tire hopes to communicate how it has become the UK’s number one at this year’s RWM show.
In addition to an available supply of new tyres in a comprehensive range of sizes and tread patterns, the company offers Kal ‘Fil’ tyres as a cost effective long-term solution to tyre related machine downtime in hazardous environments. According to the company, Fil tyres are guaranteed 100 per cent and can be retreaded up to three times; (depending on casing quality) giving further cost savings and environmental benefits on replacement tyres. The Kal Tire
Fil service is available at depots throughout the UK.
Dr. Rainer Landwehr, group managing director of Goodyear Dunlop’s ‘DACH’ (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) market region, has announced his resignation. The tyre maker reported on 10 July that Dr. Landwehr will work with his successor in the coming weeks to ensure a smooth changeover period before leaving to engage in new challenges outside the company.
The vast majority of tyre industry visitors to Tyrepress.com in the past month have registered their vote in the 2013 NTDA TAFF Awards according to the latest Question of the Month poll. 97 per cent of those registering their opinion on the question, “Are you going to vote in the 2013 NTDA TAFF Awards?” said that they already had voted, while a further one per cent said they intended to do so. The remaining two per cent of those surveyed said they did not intend to cast a vote.
Pirelli has detailed plans to put the second half of its US$400 million investment in the company’s Silao, Mexico factory towards so-called “green performance” tyre production. Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto met with a delegation of Pirelli’s top management who illustrated the progress of the company’s investment in the country at the announcement.
Toyo Tire & Rubber appears likely to increase production in the US. Company president Akira Nobuki has been quoted by Bloomberg as saying that US manufacturing is “making a comeback” and that Toyo can “can picture the scenario of jobs coming back” and expansion occurring in this market.
Shareholders ‘voted with their feet’ following the announcement that Apollo Tyres would acquire Cooper Tire & Rubber for US$2.5 billion, causing share prices to plummet from Rs 92.60 on 12 June – the day the deal was announced – to a low of Rs 54.60 (£0.61) nine days later. Now, several institutional investors are said to be speaking with the Indian tyre maker in the hope it will reconsider the transaction.
Continental reports its latest Eurobond has a nominal amount of €750 million; it is expected to be issued on 16 July and has a term of five years, with a 3.0 per cent annual interest rate. Interest will be payable semi-annually in arrears. The issue price is 98.95 per cent. The bond will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange’s Regulated Market and BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, ING and UniCredit will as joint-bookrunners for the transaction.
When the Pneuhage Group began retreading using the Bandag process at its Karlsruhe, Germany plant in 1988, it was not yet fully apparent how the company would develop in this market segment over the coming years. Today – exactly quarter of a century later – Pneuhage is positioned as one of Germany’s largest retreaders and is now a Michelin Recamic partner. A key factor in its business success has been the 88 outlets Pneuhage operates. Of these, the majority are active in the commercial vehicle tyre segment. They are the foundation upon which future growth also seems possible, explains managing director Erwin Schwab during a visit to the Pneuhage rereading facility in Nossen, near Dresden.
ATS Euromaster has developed a new Service Value Calculator (SVC) in order to demonstrate the financial benefits of managing tyres to truck, bus and coach operators. Programmable with customers’ operation-specific information the SVC measures the financial benefits available through regrooving, retreading, pressure optimisation and general tyre husbandry, such as turning tyres on the rim and twinning. ATS-E produces a 10-page tyre savings report based on the inputted operational data partially yielded from a preliminary fleet inspection, summarising the annual projected savings from introducing ATS-E’s tyre management service.
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