Safety The Priority In J D Power Survey
In a study of Automotive Emerging Technologies by J.D. Power in the USA, safety-related features were more important to motorists than entertainment or convenience. The most popular safety feature on the motorists wish list was a tyre pressure monitoring system, prompted by recent tyre recalls. However, the study found that the price of these features is important - one feature which was high on the list was infra-red night vision, but interest dropped dramatically when consumers were told this would cost $1,800.
Continue ReadingDebut For World’s Largest Mining Tyre
What is described as the worlds largest front-end loader and mining tyre, the Firestone 70/70-57, fitted on a LeTourneau L-2350 loader, has made its debut at a mine in Wyoming. The Firestone Super Rock Deep Tread tyre is almost 13 feet tall and weighs nearly 8 tons. It takes four people 17 hours to build the tyre and the curing time is 24 hours.
Continue ReadingHoosier To Be Control Tyres For 2003 Ascar Series
Cars in the 2003 Ascar race series in the UK will be running on Hoosier radials, similar to those used in oval racing in the USA, where Hoosier provide over 65 per cent of control tyres. The tyres were tested at the Rockingham circuit, at 150+ mph speeds for up to 50 laps at a time. With 105 laps completed, the softest compound tyre was found to be only 50 per cent worn.
Continue Reading$35 Million Loan For Apollo Tyres
Apollo Tyres, Indias second-largest tyre manufacturer, has negotiated a $35 million loan from the International Finance Corporation and banks as part of a two-year, $51 million investment plan. $20 million will come from the IFC and the remainder from participating banks. The money will fund the set up of a new truck radial tyre plant in Gujarat and an increase in capacity of Apollos two existing plants in Kerala. The radial technology will be supplied under an agreement with Continental AG.
Continue ReadingStapleton’s: 65 years in business
It was in September 1937 that Sidney Stapleton founded the company in Watfords High Street in premises that remained Stapletons Head office up until 1970. The company distributed tyres to garages and, when they began to emerge, to specialist tyre retailers. Stapletons became active in the retail side in addition to supplying tyres. In 1994 Stapletons Tyre Services was sold to Japanese company Itochu. In 1997, Roy Croft stepped down as MD, being appointed non-executive Deputy Chairman. Ashley Croft and Peter Regan (who joined the company from Itochu) took over as joint Managing Directors. Ashley later became sole MD. During this period, Stapletons had continued to grow, and the ambitions of the company were exemplified by the construction of a purpose-built headquarters, incorporating a warehouse and offices in Letchworth, Herts and a major distribution centre in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. At this time, Stapletons was offering a daily delivery service across most of the UK. It was in October 2002 that news broke that Ashley Croft had resigned as MD for personal reasons, thus severing a 44-year family link with the company. His place as MD was taken by Mike England, formerly Retail Director.
Continue ReadingFormula 4×4: Niche Marketing
Back in 1989 the market researchers were telling the motor industry and the press that the boom in 4x4 vehicles had peaked. Anyone who wanted a 4x4 already had one and the market would stagnate before declining. How wrong they were. What they failed to recognise was the change in the demographics of the market and the complete change in the image of the 4x4, which, nowadays, we are driven to call a Sports Utility vehicle (SUV). The market is still growing and every vehicle manufacturer in the world has an SUV range, or is planning an SUV range. The growth in the market has been less about the development of the grass roots off road vehicle than the emergence of the SUV as a fashion and lifestyle statement. There are still those who use their 4x4 for the purpose for which it was designed, either work or leisure, but the phenomenal growth has been in the luxury end of the market where the vehicles may look as if they are designed to tackle the wild mountain tracks, but will be lucky if they clip the kerb in the supermarket car park. The dilemma for the tyre dealer was that the vast majority of tyres for 4x4 vehicles were originally designed for agricultural use and, though, moderately capable in the mud, were less than well suited to road use. As the market developed, the availability of increasingly road biased tyres increased. As the SUV market grew there also developed a growing demand for higher and higher performance road tyres. Today the advent of the BMW M5 and now the Porsche Cayenne and the continued road refinement of the Range Rover has set an unprecedented demand for high and ultra-high performance road tyres aimed at SUVs. Tread patterns, widths and profiles that wouldnt look amiss on a sports car now adorn vehicles which have a heritage which harks back to the Willys Jeep.
Continue ReadingGet The Lead Out – End Of Life Vehicles
The End of Life Vehicle Directive (ELV) is due to come into force in the near future and the controversy appears to be raging as fiercely as ever, with opinions differing sharply as to how this is going to affect our industry. As we are dealing with politicians, it would be too much to hope for a clear, unambiguous statement such as lead weights will be illegal from such-and-such a date so what is going to happen is largely a matter of interpretation of the Directive. One paragraph of the ELV says: Member states shall ensure that materials and components of vehicles put on the market after July 1 2003 do not contain lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium other than in cases listed I Annex II under the conditions specified therein. Annex II is headed Materials and components exempt from Article 4(2)(a), which is the paragraph quoted above and includes a number of materials and components including a number containing or made of lead, one of which is wheel balance weights.
Continue ReadingThe Prognosis For Diagnosis
For every business there are items that you can hold in stock and you can sell them at any time. Tyres, wheels, exhausts, batteries, all can be sold off the shelf. If you dont sell them today you can sell them tomorrow. For some businesses their stock in trade is time. The hotel trade doesnt sell rooms, it sells time. The rooms will always be there, but they are each allocated time which they sell. The problem with selling time is that you can only sell it once. The fast fit operator - indeed any garage operator - has the same difficulty which we call ramp time. Fast fits may not actually sell the ramp time, but every minute the ramps are not occupied by vehicles undergoing profitable work the option to sell work on that ramp is vanishing down the plughole of time. Most service managers recognise this and try to minimise the time vehicles spend on the ramps. Buyers will ensure that the exhausts they buy have a problem-free fitting procedure. In the efficient garage, time management is everything. However, even with the best time management of jobs there is, for many depots, the point where the work being done fails to fill all the available time. There can be three outcomes to this. The first, and most likely, is that the time allocated to the job is stretched to fill the time available. We all recognise the scenario - we take our car to the garage for a repair - the garage is devoid of customers, four mechanics sit reading the newspaper - it takes all day to do the job. On another day we arrive and the cars are lined up outside the doors. The same job is done in an hour. The second outcome is that the jobs are carried out as efficiently as possible and the ramps lie ready for their next customer. This may well be a better practice than the first, but it doesnt sell the time when the ramps are not in use. The third option is to find another profit centre which will see the ramps in use. Since we are in the wheel and tyre business there is a tendency to keep the business revolving around the four corners of the car - brakes and shock absorbers are the most popular additional parts areas for fast fits. Skill levels required are relatively low, so labour costs remain low. The parts are often, though not always, fast fit. Pull off the old and fit the new. Some have dabbled in so-called fast fit clutch operations - but fast fit is all relative. If someone drives in with a Ford Mondeo or a Transit and asks for a fast fit clutch they may think your fast fit description is stretching the realms of credibility. Further, your mechanics time with the vehicle on the ramps - possibly special ramps - ties that bay up and, again, you can only sell your time once. There are, of course, other options; basic servicing is only a short step from fast fit work, though your reputation depends upon the skills of your mechanics. Can you afford to pay a mechanic rate to someone who may spend most of his time as a tyre fitter? MoT bays are yet another option. Both MoT bays and service operations can be used to open doors to enhanced tyre, exhaust, and accessory sales. However, there is one profit centre which may well be worth considering as a development to ensure those ramps are never left empty. As one commentator told T&A, without diagnostics all the service garages are going to be left with are tyres and exhausts. That statement should send shivers down the spine of every fast fit operator in the country. If the service garages are being forced to move into tyres and exhausts in a big way in order to retain their revenue, that must ultimately have a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of the fast fit depot - dragging revenues down.
Continue ReadingThree Tier Strategy For Yokohama
Yokohama has announced a three layered strategy for developing the brand. The first move will be to increase the range of high performance products available from the company. The second will be to launch a new global range of products for truck and bus, and thirdly it will target increases in export levels. These three strategies will create the new approach to business recently announced by Yokohama. A company spokesman said, The aim is to provide our clients, world-wide, with the highest quality products and services based on Yokohamas own developments. Yokohama hopes to reach net sales of 460,000 billion Yen within three years, an increase of 15 percent from this years figure. This aims for an operating profit of 35 billion Yen by 2005.
Continue ReadingVisteon/SmarTire Partnership For Tire Pressure Monitoring
Visteon Corporation and SmarTire Systems Inc. have established a partnership agreement bringing to market a best-in-class solution in automotive tyre monitoring technology. The two companies have agreed to combine their technical capabilities in working with automobile manufacturers to design and manufacture the latest in tyre monitoring systems. The partnership merges Visteons vehicle integration expertise, global design and manufacturing capability with SmarTires patented, wireless, tyre pressure and temperature monitoring system. The demand for these systems is growing significantly from global automobile manufacturers. This agreement is exactly the type of agreement we need to make, said John Kill, Visteon Vice President of Product Development. It combines the strengths of companies to cost effectively deliver the technologies our customers want and need. The agreement places SmarTire in partnership with a Tier 1 automotive parts supplier. Original equipment manufacturers rely on Tier 1 suppliers to provide the products, quality and scheduled deliveries required by the automotive industry, reports Robert Rudman, SmarTires President and Chief Executive Officer. This relationship with Visteon opens the door for SmarTire to the original equipment marketplace. Together, the two companies will market high quality, low-cost SmarTire solutions to automotive manufacturers globally. The agreement also allows Visteon manufacturing rights for certain SmarTire products and establishes provisions that will enable SmarTire and Visteon to jointly explore other opportunities such as the commercial vehicle market.
Continue ReadingAXA Financial Cut Holdings In Goodyear
AXA Financial Inc. has cut its shareholding in Goodyear from 20,333,870 common shares at December 31st, 2001 to 10,845,483 common shares on December 10th 2002. This represents a drop from 12.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent.
Continue ReadingAgricultural Tyres
They say that you never see a satisfied farmer. What about agricultural tyre manufacturers and distributors - what sort of year has it been for them? We take a look at the factors affecting the agricultural tyre market and some of the latest products available. We also get the views of those who attended the biggest UK agricultural event, the Smithfield Show.
Continue ReadingFurther Turmoil At Fiat
In 2000, GM acquired 20 per cent of Fiat Auto. As part of the deal, Fiat could sell the remaining 80 per cent to GM in 2004. Now there are indications that the Italian company is offering to free GM from its obligation in return for GMs approval of restructuring moves. Nothing has yet been decided, but the restructuring could involve bringing in VW as an investor in Fiats Maserati brand, or a possible sale of part or all of Alfa Romeo. Any such move would require the consent of GM, and the price for this could well be the removal of the obligation to purchase. In the meantime, Fiats joint chief executive Gabriele Galateri has resigned after less than six months in the job.
Continue ReadingTyre Repairs And Materials
We are often told that we live in a throw-away culture; when somethings worn out or damaged, we replace it rather than repair it. But this tends not to be the case with tyres - for truck tyres especially, a properly-repaired tyre can give thousands of miles of service, thereby saving money. Of course, the accent is on the words properly repaired.
Continue ReadingWestern European Car Sales Fall In November
Ahead of the official figures, analysts are predicting a fall of 6 per cent in November for sales of cars in Western Europe. All of the five major markets showed a drop in sales. France was down 10 per cent, the UK down 6.8 per cent, German sales fell 6 per cent, Spain was down 8.7 per cent and Italy showed a small fall of 1.3 per cent. Among the car manufacturers, the only positive growth (+10 per cent) was for the Japanese companies, notably Mazda, Mitsubishi and Subaru. Ford was next best, showing a decline in sales of only 1.9 per cent. The worst performers were Fiat and BMW (both down around 20 per cent).
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