Stapleton’s: Retailers’ wishes steer development of UHP tyre offering

Leading national wholesaler Stapleton’s Tyre Services reports that, while the company stocks all the best known brands, in recent years “some excellent alternatives of HP and UHP have been introduced into Stapleton’s stable”. This applies across all price point, but – say company representatives – retailers’ wishes steers the development of the company’s UHP tyre offering.

“In our ceaseless conversations with our retail partners we’ve found they’re unanimously keen to beat their competition and secure sales by offering a wider choice of high performance tyres across all segments,” comments Stapleton’s , Nigel O’Hara. “As always we’ve taken their suggestions on board in refining our stable of carefully selected exclusive brands to ensure those retailers can offer not just greater choice – but so they can do it at truly competitive prices.”

Nexen is described as “particularly revered in the UHP sector” – a sector in which Nexen has a multiple-pattern product range which is “arguably the sector’s most comprehensive”. Furthermore, Nexen’s partnership with Manchester City FC together with the brand’s increasing OE presence globally is designed to generate increased consumer awareness. Indeed, Stapleton’s reports “an increasing number of requests for the brand by name, web contacts and social media activity”.

Perhaps the brand’s most popular model is the Nfera SU1 – a first class summer UHP tyre with 4 asymmetric grooves and special shoulder and rib blocks delivering intuitive handling in wet and dry conditions, powerful wet grip and stable cornering.

Then there’s the asymmetric summer UHP alternative – the N8000 with its straight centre rib for excellent steering response and continuous traction control at accelerated speeds. Like the Nfera, the N8000 derives its confident cornering from the rigid shoulder block design that’s characteristic of Nexen’s entire UHP tyre range.

Then there’s Maxxis. Brand new in the Maxxis HP ‘squad’ is the Premitra HP5, leading the brand’s luxury high performance stakes with 26 sizes (from 15 to 18 inches) all graded ‘A’ for wet grip. Compared to Maxxis’ HP classic the Pro R1, the Premita HP5 reportedly offers 20 per cent better wet handling and 10 per cent better lateral aquaplaning control (5 per cent straight aquaplaning). And all that comes with 5 per cent less noise.

Next up is Matador – a respected contender in the mid-range high performance arena manufactured by Continental, one of the global tyre industry’s most prestigious names. The latest news from Matador is that the brand has just introduced a new upgrade from the MP46.

The MP47 Hectorra 3 is the brand new Matador Summer Sport range for passenger cars and SUV’s – and it’s been developed with a special focus on reducing wear and noise.

Event Tyres is a more recent entry to the affordable choice market, having been founded in 2005. According to the company, this gives the brand a “refreshing enthusiasm for its mission”, part of which has been the radical pattern overhaul it has recently launched just a decade into its life! Event’s High Performance range, Futurum HP, is described as “making inroads on the segment thanks to a design prioritising comfort and noise reduction as well as making a significant improvement to tyre labelling results in comparison with earlier products”.

Less than two after Riken was added to the line-up, the brand offers no less than 65 passenger car patterns and 19 van patterns. The Maystorm 2, featuring directional tread patterns with three wide longitudinal grooves designed to deliver stability and effective water evacuation, is at the centre of the Riken HP range.

“It’s great to hear from our retail partners that motorists now frequently ask for HP tyres from our exclusive brands by name – it speaks volumes for the passion and professionalism the brands themselves and we as their partners invest in developing and marketing products that deliver real benefits to the consumer – and by extension to our retail partners,” said Nigel O’Hara, concluding: “But our job doesn’t stop with the development and delivery of those tyres – we’re constantly striving to help our customers make those brands work harder for their own bottom lines through Key Dealer Programmes which offer a terrific range of benefits, from personally tailored reward schemes and preferential pricing to a complete range of in-store promotional support, lifetime guarantees and much, much more – all designed to help the retailer earn repeat business from their high performance consumers.