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This year, the Falken tyre brand will serve as presenting partner for the Audi Nines, an annual invitational for some of the world’s best Skicross and Snowboardcross athletes. In 2018, the event comes to Sölden, Austria for the first time and will be held on 14 April.
A narrow footprint tyre is a good choice when working with potato crops, observes Michelin, and this is an opinion supported by Scotland’s James D Reid & Partners. Michelin shares that the Montrose-based potato farmer changed its tyre strategy four years ago and is now reaping the benefits, being on track to achieve 5,000 hours from its original Michelin AgriBib Row Crop tyres.
The C3 Aircross, a distinctive-looking compact SUV that Citroën brought to market late last year, is now available with Hankook tyres as original equipment. Hankook Tire shares that its Kinergy 4S all-season tyre has been approved for the C3 Aircross in sizes 195/60 R16 89H, 205/60 R16 92H and 215/50 R17 91H, and the Ventus Prime³ summer tyre in size 205/60 R16 92H.
Chinese bus fleet operator Guangzhou Jumbo Bus Co Ltd. intends to convert its entire fleet of LNG-powered buses to electric propulsion over the coming three years, and as it does so will exclusively shod its fleet with Hankook tyres. Jumbo Bus, which operates six city bus companies and a total of 4,500 buses, signed a memorandum of understanding with Hankook Tire this month covering the supply of tyres specifically developed for electric buses.
Creditors holding a 42.01 per cent share in Kumho Tire are going to look for a new owner – again. Some four months after Qingdao Doublestar Tire’s planned acquisition of the South Korean tyre maker collapsed, the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the other creditors are said to be once more looking for an external investor.
Through the installation of six new testing machines at its Tire and Wheel testing lab in Suzhou, China, rubber and plastics testing and consulting service provider Smithers Rapra has increased the facility’s ability to server tyre and wheel customers. The new equipment is said to boost capacity at the lab by 35 per cent and broadens its testing capabilities to include cleated tyre and wheel endurance testing, wheel impact, salt spray and tyre air permeation tests.
After close to two decades at Pirelli, Christian Mühlhäuser will soon join Bridgestone as head of the tyre maker’s operation in Germany. According to numerous sources, he will succeed Andreas Niegsch, whose tenure as head of Bridgestone Deutschland GmbH will reportedly end this year.
Change is inevitable, but it’s important to time it right. Michelin claims its tyres deliver safe performance down to the legal tread depth limit of 1.6mm and considers changing tyres beforehand unnecessary, costly to motorists and fleets, and harmful to the environment. The tyre maker has heavily promoted this point of view in recent times, but its message isn’t finding an audience with everyone. In a statement issued today, GEM Motoring Assist recommends that motorists change their tyres earlier.
We’re more used to seeing winter tyres in the car and truck segments, however off-highway tyre specialist BKT has launched a range of tyres developed with colder conditions in mind. These are the Earthmax SR 22, Snow Trac and Earthmax SR 42 for OTR applications, as well as Earthmax SR 33 and Ridemax IT 696 for the industrial sector.
In 2016, Goodyear Europe launched its Proactive Solutions in the UK and 11 other European markets, offering fleets a predictive maintenance model. Goodyear’s know-how in the realm of artificial intelligence is now being put to use in the on-demand car sharing and ride hailing services sector in the USA; Goodyear Tire & Rubber has announced its participation in a pilot programme with start-up firm Stratim.
The Firestone tyre brand has teamed up with music events company Sofar Sounds to host five secret concerts in February and March 2018 in different cities across Europe. Bridgestone Europe views this partnership as “an opportunity for Firestone and Sofar Sounds to promote their shared mission,” namely to “support emerging musical talent and create an authentic music experience for artists and fans alike.”
At the start of this year, Erich Fric took over as managing director of Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe’s consumer business within the Europe North region. Fric’s region of responsibility in this new role includes the Nordic and Baltic markets, as well as Russia and the CIS countries.
We may see a breakup of Continental AG commencing before the end of this year. German business publication Manager Magazin writes that Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of the tyre maker and automotive technology company’s Supervisory Board, foresees the first subsidiary to emerge from this breakup being listed on the stock exchange some time in 2018. He sees this as being the direction Continental will clearly take, even though to-date neither the Supervisory Board nor the Executive Board has decided upon a concrete course of action.
Van and campervan tyres can lead hard lives. The vehicles they are fitted to are often driven fully loaded on poor roads and gravel surfaces. The tyres must bear the entire weight of the vehicle and provide safe and stable handling under all conditions. To give these products more strength, Nokian Tyres is now introducing its Aramid Sidewall technology into all Nokian van and campervan product lines. From 1 January 2018, it is present in the Nokian WR C3, cLine Van, cLine Cargo and Weatherproof C ranges. Nokian SUV tyres have been manufactured with aramid sidewalls for several years now, and in addition to the abovementioned products the material can be found in 15 Nokian tyre lines.
Offered as part of its fleet service programme in Europe since 2013, Bridgestone is now beginning the rollout of its Tirematics solution in the Asia Pacific region. The solution is initially being deployed in Singapore and Thailand.
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