Pirelli emissions control JV dissolved
The joint venture agreement Pirelli subsidiary Pirelli & C. Ambiente SpA signed with Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (CDTi) in February has been dissolved. Eco Emission Enterprise Srl (E-Cube) was established to market and sell emissions control products for both petrol and diesel applications in Europe and the CIS countries, however the operation hasn’t performed according to expectations.
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New car registrations continue positive trend
New car registration figures for September show the UK once again delivered above-average performance, with the market growing 12.1 per cent year-on-year to 403,136 new registrations during the month. Registrations across the EU27 region were up 5.4 per cent on September 2012, with 1,159,066 new registrations recorded. Upon reporting these results, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ […]
Continue ReadingAll segments up in September
Figures released by Michelin this week add further weight to the ETRMA’s suggestion of recovery being evident in recent European market developments. The French tyre maker reports growth in both the passenger car/light commercial vehicle and heavy truck markets in Europe (including Russia and Turkey) during September.
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Michelin continues prominence dominance, but…
What’s in a name? Keeping a good name means as much in business as in life. When it comes to online marketing it arguably means even more. For the last nine years Tyres & Accessories has surveyed the prominence and sentiment of tyre brand names in the online world. We’re not experts in the very specialist and highly technical research field so we have spent all this time partnering with a company in silicon fen, which knows a whole lot more about this than we do. Previously our research partners were known as Envisional, but in the year since our last report the company has re-branded itself as NetNames. Nevertheless it is the same system and therefore it continues to be comparable with our data archive.
Continue ReadingWell-balanced tyres top motoring organisations’ winter test
This year, German motoring organsiation the ADAC got together with its Austrian and Swiss counterparts, the ÖAMTC and TCS, to produce its winter tyre test. Two sizes – 185/60 R15 T and 225/45 R17 H – were tested, and in both size categories Continental and Michelin received a “good” recommendation with their ContiWinterContact TS 850 and Alpin A4. Four products were rated “inadequate” by the testers.
Continue ReadingFleet awareness of label growing
The results of a fleet survey carried out for Goodyear in June and July show that 81 per cent of all fleet operators are aware of the EU tyre label. According to the MV2 Conseil survey of approximately 500 fleet managers in France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain, 55 per cent know the details of the tyre label legislation and a further 26 per cent are aware of it but recognise a need to learn more. Only 19 per cent of fleet managers responded that they’d never heard of the EU tyre label.
Continue ReadingFederal signs Russia, Taiwan Manchester United sponsorship
Taiwan’s Federal Tyre has become the latest tyre manufacturer to sign a sponsorship agreement with Manchester United FC. The three-year agreement, making Federal United’s Official Tyre Partner in Russia and Taiwan was launched at the Interauto Show in Moscow, led by Federal CEO, Jamie Ma.
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Continue ReadingMichelin top again, but is lead eroding?
Whatever happens in the wider economy and even in the tyre market in particular it seems that being strong helps you stay strong when it comes to online branding. Throughout the last eight annual surveys of the online prominence and sentiment of leading tyre brands one thing has stayed the same. Michelin has always come top in terms of prominence and has been beaten only by Pirelli on two occasions (2005 and 2006). Furthermore the top six places are seemingly impenetrable to those seeking to build their brands online, with the same handful of companies trading positions with each other but some way off of the rest of the pack in terms of prominence. However, there are always surprises and 2012’s survey is no different.
Continue ReadingUK tyre retail landscape 2012
Following the publication of our recent overview of developments in the UK tyre retail landscape (Retail: Hold it steady), Tyres & Accessories has now published the accompanying data in table format. This is now available to view 24 hours a day through our tyrepress.com website. Subscribers need only click more to view the details.
Continue ReadingRetail: Hold it steady
The introduction of tyre labelling is likely to be the greatest change tyre dealers will experience this year. In fact some say it is the biggest adjustment to the business experienced in this tyre retailing generation, something that is likely to be true irrespective of country. Whatever your view, the introduction of this legislation comes at a time when European financial markets remain in turmoil and some of the continent’s largest tyre markets – including the UK – have returned to recession. And this at a time when incoming product prices remain high as a legacy of the last couple of years of raw material cost increases. It all adds up to significant pressure on the retail sector.
Continue ReadingMichelin still top online brand, but the gap’s narrowing
The French tyre giant has done it again. As in all the previous online brand equity studies produced by Tyres & Accessories in collaboration with online brand research specialists Envisional, the 2011 data once again shows that Michelin has achieved the greatest degree of online prominence. What’s different this year is that the margin has somewhat decreased compared with the identical study we produced in 2010. The companies occupying the remainder of the top six most-prominent brand slots all come from the same selection as before (namely Michelin, Continental, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Dunlop) but, this time Pirelli rose from sixth place in 2010 to third place in 2011, and Bridgestone dropped from second to fourth place. According to the analysis there was a significant drop in relative prominence between the top six brands and the remainder, amongst which small drops in position were seen for Firestone (dropping below Yokohama) and Falken (dropping below Hankook). Giti achieved the smallest degree of online prominence by a significant margin.
Continue ReadingWholesale changes in UK tyre distribution
Like London buses, acquisitions come along in threes - or so the string of recent purchases in the UK tyre distribution sector would make it seem. Between the tail-end of February and the very first days of March, it emerged that Stapleton’s Japanese owner Itochu had bought Britain’s largest tyre retailer Kwik-Fit, Stapleton’s had itself bought North Eastern Tyres & Exhausts, while fellow Grouptyre member King David Tyres had been sold to Malvern Tyres. And what’s more, this movement doesn’t look like it has quite finished yet. In February Harris Brothers sold its four branches to Micheldever Tyres Services, bringing the company’s retail depot count to 53 and counting. True, this overview is lumping changes in the wholesale business together with developments in the retail sector, but as history and recent events tell us the two parts of the trade are inextricably linked.
Continue ReadingMichelin Tops 2010 Online Brand Equity Tables
Michelin has topped Tyres & Accessories’ exclusive online brand prominence rankings for the sixth consecutive year, totting up a record high score as it went. In our second online brand equity measurement – sentiment – compiled in association with the artificial intelligence experts at Cambridge-based Envisional, Michelin won-out for the third year on the trot, demonstrating the firms continuing dominance in this field too. The Envisional analysis into online appearances or “mentions” of 17 major tyre brands, followed identical studies (looking at 12 of these brands) carried out in September 2005, August 2006, July 2007, October 2008 and September 2009. The major difference this time round is that the 2010 report also includes five up-and-coming brands produced in the Far East and while the data shows that they have a way to go before they will be giving their premium competitors a run for their money, certainly as far as online marketing is concerned.
Continue ReadingMichelin, Goodyear Top Online Brands in 2009
The latest Tyres & Accessories online brand equity survey analysis shows that, for the fifth straight year, Michelin is the most prominent online tyre brand by a significant margin. Michelin also came top in the sentiment index, which deducts negative mentions from the overall total. Despite it being the third year running that Michelin has attained the position of being both the most positively-referenced brand and the most prominent brand overall, it is worth noting that the margin of its lead has somewhat decreased compared with 2008. The top six most prominent brands remain the same as observed in the past four years, though with Dunlop dropping from third place in 2008 to fifth place in 2009. There remains a significant drop in relative prominence between the top six brands and the remainder, with the rankings of the bottom three brands remaining unchanged.
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