Assurance Wins Another Award
(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s successful Assurance Triple Tred line has already been honored with several awards. Recently, the tyre earned recognition as “one of the most innovative ideas of the year” from R&D magazine. The magazine staff selected the product as recipient of an “R&D 100 Award.” The 43rd annual awards summary will appear in the magazine’s September issue, with an awards presentation scheduled for October in Chicago.
Continue ReadingIs F1 For Sale?
Hutchison, a company that also owns the UK’s 3 mobile phone network, is reported to be preparing to buy Formula One for about $1 billion (£575 million). Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One tycoon, confirmed on Sunday that he had been approached by the Hong Kong firm.
Continue ReadingNanjing Automobile Acquires MG Rover Assets
Nanjing Automobile Corporation (Nanjing) has beaten competitor, Shangai Automotive (SAIC), and acquired the assets of the MG Rover from the administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The news owner reports that it intends to revitalise the MG brand and create a range of vehicles from manufacturing centres in China and the UK.
Continue ReadingCooper Adds UHP Sizes
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has expanded its Zeon 2XS and Zeon XST ultra-high performance lines with new sizes for performance cars and SUVs. And it added two new sizes to its Cooper Lifeliner SLE touring line. Cooper added five new 18 and 19-inch sizes to, its Zeon 2XS line targeting BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Cadillac, Lexus, Mustang, Audi and Chrysler models. In addition, it added sizes 305/35R23, 305/40R23 and 285/45R22 to the Zeon XST line to target sport tuned trucks and SUVs. Sizes 235/65R16 and 225/60R17 were added to the Lifeliner SLE family, Cooper said, to target the Saturn Vue, Chevy Equinox and Lincoln Town Car.
Continue ReadingAftermarket Marketing Intensifies
The Aftermarket Show has signed up a number of new exhibitors say organisers, as the campaign to book potential exhibitors is intensified. One of the new exhibitors includes Beissbarth UK. Managing director, Philip Hodges, said: “As a supplier of automotive service equipment to garage workshops, we believe that The Aftermarket Show is the ideal avenue for us to unveil and demonstrate our next-generation products to the garage and consumer. “The event has some very exciting plans for its ongoing development and we are determined to play an active role in this, championing the cause for the garage equipment sector.”
Continue ReadingTyre Fill Industrial Espionage in South Africa
OTR tyre supplier the Roesler Group is considering legal action after allegations of industrial espionage were made against competitor, the US-based Carpenter Co, in South Africa. Tyres & Accessories has seen security tapes, which the Roelser group alleges show Carpenter Co executives, bribing their way into a Benoni, South Africa, tyre plant. Copies of the original footage are believed to depict executives touring the Quality Tyres facility and examining prototype technology the company was testing on behalf of the German-based Roesler Group. According to the recordings, two men spent 20 minutes on the premises taking photographs and touring the Benoni, plant before leaving.
Continue ReadingCooper Declares 134th Consecutive Quarterly Dividend
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. declared its 134th consecutive quarterly dividend – 10.5 cents per share on common stock – earlier this week. That marks some straight 33 years of paying dividends each quarter. The dividend will be payable Sept. 30 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 2, said the company.
Continue ReadingBFNAT Local Agrees to Re-Vote on Contract
(Akron/Tire Review) There may not be a strike at Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire’s (BFNAT) truck tyre plant in Warren County, Tennessee, after all. United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1155 leaders yesterday announced that they would allow rank and file members to re-vote on BFNAT’s master contract offer, beginning today.
Continue ReadingVredestein Sportrac 2 Tops Auto Express Test
Auto Express magazine has named the Vredestein Sportac 2 as tyre test winner in its 2005 Product Honours report. Goodyear’s Hydragrip and the Barum Bravaris were also commended. “Think tyres and Vredestein is unlikely to be the first name that springs to mind, but the Dutch firm’s rubber certainly is impressive,” the consumer magazine wrote, adding: “Vredestein has always made products that perform well in the wet, and the Sportrac 2 was no exception, recording a series of top-three results.”
Continue ReadingMichelin Says F1 Tyre Supply Unbalanced
Michelin has revealed that an eighth team has approached Michelin looking for a Formula supply agreement. Michelin stated that since its return to Formula One it has noticed an imbalance of teams requesting its tyres, with seven teams currently using its products.
Continue ReadingTerra-S’s Tire-Repair-Kit
Terra-S, located in Owingen, Lake Constance, Germany has developed a modern alternative to the spare wheel to meet the requirements of a modern puncture situation. The practical Tire-Repair-Kit, which contains sealant, a high performance miniature compressor and additional accessories, is designed to replace the spare wheel completely. Terra- S claims the system saves space, fuel and weight provides “much easier puncture-help than a strenuous wheel change.” The Tire-Repair-Kit is applied by unscrewing the valve using the provided valve remover; the punctured tyre can then be filled with liquid tyre sealant. Once the valve is screwed in again the compressor can inflate the tyre. As the tyre moves the liquid fills the holes, hardening in any punctured areas, the company says.
Continue ReadingSumitomo to Raise Domestic Tyre Prices
Sumitomo Rubber has announced that it will raise domestic market tyre prices by between 4 and 4.5 per cent in September. The company’s move is said to be in response to the higher cost of synthetic rubber and other input materials. Analysts have suggested that this is a positive step, which could result in a 2 billion yen boost in full year operation profit. As a result the company’s share went up 1.4 per cent to 1,130 yen. “We maintain our full-year earnings forecasts, as our figures are already above the company’s, and recent rises in materials costs could be negative,” the Deutsche Bank Analysts added.
Continue ReadingRetreading Exhibition in China
According to market experts there are currently about 1,000 companies in China that are producing retreaded tyres of some sort. While the Chinese tyre market continues its impressive growth and has gained about 27 per cent in output last year alone. The importance of the Chinese retreading business is also increasing. That’s why the second “Chinese International Tire Cyclic Utilization” exhibition will take place in Beijing, this October. Organised by the China Tire Retreading & Utilization Association (CTRA), the show that attracts new tyre manufacturers will take place 25-27 October 2005 in the capital’s military museum.
Continue ReadingKwik-Fit Fleet Expands Service Centre and Adds Staff
Kwik-Fit Fleet has announced a major redevelopment and expansion of its Fleet Service Centre. The latest developments include taking on 10 new service centre operators, on top of the 30 recruited 12 months ago, and relocating the service centre to a newly-refurbished dedicated area within Kwik-Fit Financial Services’ call centre at Tannochside.
Continue ReadingTime to Heed the Wake-Up Call
With so much to gain, why is the service and repair industry not heeding the wake up call asks Beissbarth UK’s managing director Phillip Hodges. “This is the last chance saloon for those in the industry who are plainly not up to the job, and giving competent operators a bad name, “ added Mr Hodges. If the industry cannot regulate itself then government will do it and the smaller firms will sink without trace under the weight of the subsequent red tape. This is the final wake up call.” Mr Hodges cites a litany of damning consumer research reports ignored by the industry, compounded by threats from the National Consumer Council (NCC) to make a super complaint’ about the service and repair sector to government ministers, which could result in an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.
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