Infinity Tyres marks 10 years in Europe with India event
Brand growing fast through enhanced marketing activities, range expansion A decade after the brand was born during an informal post-show meeting atReifen Essen 2004, this year Infinity Tyres celebrated a decade of business in Europe by taking its partners to Northern India, a trip which executive director Harjeev Kandhari took responsibility for down to the […]
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Toyo Tires becomes AC Milan premium sponsor
An agreement concluded today between Toyo Tire & Rubber and Associazione Calcio Milan – AC Milan – gives the Japanese tyre maker Premium Sponsor status with the football club until June 2016. Toyo says the sponsorship deal will influence its global branding content and help the company to “more clearly bring out the potential premium image of the products we offer.” It anticipates “significant” medium-term advantages will result from the partnership in Europe and Asia, and in two regions where Toyo is “contemplating market expansion” – the Middle East and Russia.
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Titan Desert vehicles to roll on Cooper tyres
Cooper Tire will serve as tyre supplier to the Titan Desert mountain bike marathon. The Titan Desert by Garmin 2014 Marathon, to use its full, sponsor-friendly title, begins on 27 April and will see more than 400 participants traversing a 700 kilometre, six-stage course. Cooper Discoverer S/T Maxx tyres will be fitted on 20 support vehicles. This vehicle fleet will cover around 1,000 kilometres of demanding terrain during the mountain bike marathon, from stone tracks and dry river beds to soft sand dunes, in temperatures expected to reach as high as 40°C.
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Private brands, global trade remain key to Deldo’s business
A lot has been said about the tough year in our market during 2013 and the reasons for this, but despite such talk many larger wholesalers managed not just to turn a profit, but to enjoy a very good year. Deldo Autobanden N.V. was one such company; sales and organisation director Tom Van Dyck tells Tyres & Accessories that while the Belgian wholesaler’s results last year weren’t on the level experienced between 2010 and 2012, they were still the fourth or fifth best in the company’s 40 year history.
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Styron converting Ni-BR rubber line to neodymium-BR to meet UHP tyre demand
Styron, the rubber material supplier, is to convert its Nickel Butadiene Rubber (Ni-BR) production line in Schkopau, Germany, to Neodymium Butadiene Rubber (Nd-BR) manufacturing. Coupled with Styron’s existing technology in Solution Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SSBR), the company believes the Nd-BR offering will allow Styron to help customers around the world meet the increasing demand for green and ultra-high performance tyres.
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BKT hires agency to coordinate Monster Jam involvement
Balkrishna Industries, or BKT, has selected US marketing and communication company Red Moon Marketing as its official experiential agency of record. In this role, Red Moon Marketing will manage and coordinate all promotional activities related to BKTs function as Monster Jam tyre manufacturer and supplier.
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ADAC summer tyre test 2014 – the results
Motorwelt, the members’ publication of German motoring organisation the ADAC, always held a prominent position amongst magazine tyre tests. Whether this will change due to the recent scandals remains to be seen. But in its recently-published summer tyre test, the organisation states in bold that it doesn’t collude with tyre makers in any way, shape or form: “For more than 40 years the ADAC has tested tyres – neutrally and independently”. For this latest test, the ADAC tested dry weather characteristics at Bridgestone’s European Test Center in Italy and wet weather characteristics at Continental’s Contidrom facility. While the German tyre maker’s EcoContact 5 and the Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 were respectively the top and fourth-rated of the 16 size 175/65 R14T tyres tested, in the size 195/65 R15V test Bridgestone only managed 12th place out of 17 with its Turanza T001, while Continental’s PremiumContact 5 ended up one position lower. If the tyre makers did have a hand in manipulating test results for the 15-inch tyres, they didn’t do a very good job of it.
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Review confirms objectivity of ADAC tyre tests, but criticisms remain
Once smeared with a reputation for dishonesty it is hard to be believed, even when telling the truth. This is perhaps a situation German motoring organisation the ADAC is now grappling with. In the wake of recent scandals – vote manipulation in its ‘Gelbe Engel’ car of the year awards and allegations that ADAC bosses used the organisation’s rescue helicopters for business trips, to name just two – concerns have arisen over the impartiality of ADAC tyre tests. Two differing opinions have recently surfaced.
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BBS waging war against brand pirates
Pirates aren’t lovable rogues with eye patches and parrots perched on the shoulder. Piracy, specifically brand piracy, has become a major issue for manufacturers of well-known products. One such firm, German alloy wheel manufacturer BBS, says counterfeiters who sell online and offer everything from fake centre caps to complete wheels cause the firm significant damage, and now it is taking “appropriate measures” against these pirates.
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Lanxess concludes butyl rubber trial, mothballs pilot plants
Since spring 2012, Lanxess has run a pilot project involving a more energy and cost efficient butyl rubber production process. The process was tested at two plants at its Zwijndrecht site in Belgium, and built on research and development work it began seven years ago. The specialty chemicals company reports that this pilot project has now been concluded, with successful results. Now that the project is complete, Lanxess says it intends to mothball the plants. It has begun a labour consultation process with unions and employees.
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What is Maxion Wheels focusing on?
During the financial year before last, the Brazilian Iochpe-Maxion Group (the parent company of Maxion wheels) bought Hayes Lemmerz for approximately US$725 million. The acquisition came after the worlds largest wheel manufacturer put down two bankruptcies during the first part of the new millennium, and thus had large amounts of debt to contend with. Eventually the company’s investors finally ran out of patience leaving the obvious question - what has happened to the car aluminium wheel division since then?
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BKT officially signs Monster Jam deal at world finals
The sponsorship agreement between BKT and Feld Motor Sports was officialised at the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas late last month, the tyre maker reports. The deal, which sees BKT supplying the Monster Jam vehicles through to 2018, was confirmed by BKT executive director Rajiv Poddar and Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld.
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