Moderate light commercial growth in August
Following the increase in July, the new van market also grew in August by 1.5 per cent to 15,619 units, SMMT figures reveal. Year to date, the market is now -2.8 per cent down on last year.
Andrew is an editor for WhatTyre, Tyrepress, and Tyres & Accessories magazine. He has more than a decade of experience in editing, writing, and journalism.
Following the increase in July, the new van market also grew in August by 1.5 per cent to 15,619 units, SMMT figures reveal. Year to date, the market is now -2.8 per cent down on last year.
Apollo Vredestein’s work to shift its Dutch brand’s replacement market focus to become an original equipment supplier has resulted in fitments on three major models. Vredestein, has been selected as a fitment on the Volkswagen Polo, Seat Ibiza and Ford EcoSport.
Hankook’s ultra-high performance flagship tyre, the Ventus S1 evo², will be fitted to the latest Audi RS5 Coupé as original equipment in 19 and 20-inch sizes. The tyre manufacturer has previously supplied the tyre to Audi’s TT RS in 2016. The RS 5 Coupé will use the newly developed V6 biturbo engine, which combines performance with greater efficiency. This suitability for everyday use is, Hankook states, reflected in the tyres, which are designed to provide sporty handling alongside driving comfort, and improved grip alongside durability.
Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Neil will be the guest speaker at this year’s Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) Annual Dinner, on Thursday 19 October at the Landmark Hotel, London. Neil currently presents the BBC’s live political programmes, Daily Politics and This Week, and was a former editor for The Sunday Times for 11 years. He recently stepped down as the presenter of the Sunday Politics programme after 5 years in the post.
Kumho has recently enhanced its 4×4 tyre range with the addition of the Crugen HP91 and Crugen KL33 SUV tyres, fitments which seek to attract interest from road-going owners of vehicles in the segment, as well as 14 SUV sizes in its Solus 4S HA31 range. The newest tyres in the range join the cross-functional new Road Venture MT51 and established KL71 to cover most fitments for popular 4×4 and SUV vehicles. Between them, Kumho states that they cover everything from such top end SUVs as the Range Rover and the BMW X5 to the evergreen Land Rover Defender.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has reported a fifth consecutive month of decline in the UK new car market. August registrations fell -6.4 per cent, following 2016’s record August. The SMMT remained sanguine about the decline, pointing out that, at 76,433 new cars registered, it is still the third-best August in 10 years. The year-to-date has remained broadly in line with full-year expectations, down 2.4 per cent, with 1,640,241 new cars joining British roads in the first eight months.
MWheels’ white paper, ‘Evaluating commercial vehicle wheel safety – how to keep safe and stay compliant’, has been downloaded more than 100 times. The wheel distributor states that UK original equipment manufacturers, commercial vehicle fleet operators and senior personnel from armed forces, construction, emergency services and legal firms have taken the opportunity to learn more about wheel safety ahead of full implementation of the EU Roadworthiness Act on May 20, 2018.
Dunlop has extended its partnership with the BMW M235i Racing Cup, described by product manager Dunlop Motorsport EMEA, Alexander Kühn as “the perfect entry point into the VLN.” The Cup began in 2014 and regularly features more than 20 cars battling in the most heavily occupied and extremely competitive class in the VLN and the 24h race on the Nurburgring. All BMW M235i Racing cars have competed for four consecutive seasons on the toughest race track of the world, racing exclusively on Dunlop racing tyres in the dimension 265/660 R18.
Mercedes, led by Lewis Hamilton, took the top two podium steps at Monza’s Italian grand prix as nearly every driver chose a one-stop supersoft-soft strategy. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo adopted a different strategy, starting on a soft and moving to the supersoft for the second stint to move 12 places up from his starting position of 16th on the grid – the result of penalties. The Australian also set the fastest lap of the race, which was two seconds faster than last year’s equivalent, using the same tyres.
Some of the closest World Endurance Championship racing of the season was witnessed at the 6 Hours of Mexico, as Dunlop supplied the tyres to the winners of all three classes in which the brand was present. In addition all three steps on a GT class podium were claimed by Dunlop drivers for the first time since the WEC was formed in 2012.
The Hankook supplied DTM championship enters the final third of its 2017 season at the Nürburgring this weekend for races 13 and 14. The tyre manufacturer and exclusive DTM partner states that the correct management of the race tyre and a pit stop strategy tailored to the racetrack and the car set-up will be keys to success in the Eifel Mountains. In the last meeting at Zandvoort, discussed in the video below, this was exemplified by Loic Duval (Audi), who climbed from 13th on the grid to finish runner-up, completing 26 of the 37 laps on one set of the Ventus Race – the longest stint by any of the drivers, and one that earned him the first podium of his DTM career.
Falken has returned to the Nürburgring podium at the 40th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen, with the tyre brand’s Falken Motorsport team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Martin Ragginger and Klaus Bachler following up victory for the BMW in July. In changeable weather conditions familiar to the Eifel region Ragginger/Bachler brought the Porsche over the line in third place at the second VLN Endurance Championship race of the season at the circuit.
Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS) has launched what it terms “a major upgrade” to its TyreClick online retail site for independent customers. The company states that the upgrade represents one of the biggest and most significant investments in TyreClick since its launch in 2014, including a number of new design and user functionality features. The tyre wholesaler added that it would “never stop investing in its ambition to make TyreClick the best tyre selling site in the business” following the implementation of the new developments.
Fuel prices in the UK will rise following the devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey on the Texan coast, according to the Petrol Retailers Association. Brian Madderson, chairman of the PRA, explained that UK wholesale prices had increased immediately as the storm hit the region.
The Moto Club Benelli has set six new scooter world speed records at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats, in Utah, USA on Pirelli’s new Diablo Rosso Scooter tyre. The Benelli model 491 scooter with custom graphics by Aldo Drudi, was prepared by Bologna-based performance company, Malossi, using their 50, 85 and 100cc RC-one engine configurations, further enhanced by Jörg Möller.
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