Traction Avant turns 80
The car that gave the motoring world its first taste of front wheel drive – and led to Michelin’s four decades in the vehicle manufacturing business – has turned 80. The Citroën 7A, the first Traction Avant, went on sale in May 1934. This was the beginning of the range’s 23 year production run, which eventually saw 759,123 Traction Avant units manufactured at Citroën’s Javel factory in Paris and in plants in the UK (Slough), Belgium (Forest) and Germany (Cologne).
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Tom Williams joins Kenda as vice president engineering
Kenda has appointed former Hankook tyre engineer Tom Williams as vice president engineering of the Taiwan based tyre manufacturer. According to the company, he has been vice president engineering at Kenda in Taiwan since the beginning of March.
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Nexen forms Aerokit Nexen European Drift Series team
Nexen Tire has announced plans to join the largest drift racing scene in Europe. The company announced that it has agreed a sponsorship deal with Team Aerokit Nexen, one of the teams fighting it out for glory in the Drift Allstars 2014 European Series, with the racing calendar running from the 17 May through to September.
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Evonik inaugurates tyre applied technology research building
On May 15, Evonik Industries inaugurated a new building that will house its precipitated silica applied technology research for the tyre and rubber sectors. In doing so, the specialty chemicals company has combined the world’s largest precipitated silica production facility plus research and applied technology into a single site. The facility, located in Wesseling, near the German city of Cologne, was built with a “low tens of million euros” investment and was completed within 13 months. Although inaugurated today, 34 technicians have worked at the site since October 2013.
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Closure-threatened Bridgestone site receives Italian grant
Bridgestone has signed a development contract with Invitalia, Italy’s agency for inward investment promotion and enterprise development, for the upgrade of Bridgestone’s Modugno plant in Bari, which employs some 800 workers. A total of €41.3 million is being invested in the project, including a €12.4 million grant from Invitalia. The agreement between the tyre maker and government agency was signed in Rome by Bridgestone Italia CEO Roberto Mauro and Invitalia CEO Domenico Arcuri.
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Trelleborg confirms Tractor of the Year participation, launches TM1000 campaign
Once again, Trelleborg will partner with the Tractor of the Year awards. The latest round of this agricultural sector honour kicked off with an event in France on 6 and 7 May; at the “Tractor of the Year 2015: Let the challenge begin” function in Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, the Swedish tyre maker also launched a new advertising campaign to promote the qualities of its TM1000 High Power agricultural tyre.
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Federal builds Russian connections with Man U visit
Federal Tyres is using its link with Manchester United FC to foster its current focus on the Russian market. The Taiwanese tyre maker invited a select group of Russian tyre dealers and journalists to the UK this week as part of its ‘Awaken the Champion Inside’ campaign in Russia. The guests watched Manchester United take down Hull City by three goals to one and Federal used the three-day event to develop stronger connections with its Russian distributors, dealers and customers.
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Alliance Tire Americas boss Cicero stepping down
Manny Cicero, president of Alliance Tire Group’s North American operation, will leave the company at the end of this month. Alliance Tire Group says the decision on Cicero’s departure was “mutually agreed upon”, and he will remain through to the end of 2014 as an advisor to the ATG board of directors. A successor has not yet been named.
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