AMTE Power to lead £10 million battery R&D project
Thurso, Scotland-based AMTE Power plc has been selected as the lead supplier in a new government-funded three-year project called ULTRA focused on bringing two AMTE Power lithium-ion batteries to automotive readiness.
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40 years of Eden Tyres & Servicing
Eden Tyres & Servicing turns 40 this year, and in contrast to many people who reach this milestone, the company has never been in better shape. When Tyres & Accessories first published its UK tyre retail network ranking back in 2011, Eden Tyres operated just seven outlets. This number had grown to 18 by the time we published the ‘leading 25 UK tyre retail chains 2021’ table last month. A 19th outlet is due to open its doors before the year is out, and several more are in planning.
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GS Yuasa making multi-million pound investment in Welsh battery factory
GS Yuasa is using Welsh Government funding of up to £2.5 million to form part of a multi-million pound investment by the Japanese based corporation in its production plant in Ebbw Vale. As a result, 105 new jobs and a further 360 positions are protected.
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Maha UK recruit adapts sales technique in pandemic
Maha UK’s Luke Fuller joined the company during 2020, right in the midst of the pandemic, but he didn’t let the ‘stay at home’ rule affect his confidence or ability to build a rapport with customers. Now back out on the road, he’s keen to make up for lost time.
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Changes & continuity – Tyres & Accessories at 75
We’ve notched up three quarters of a century in the business, and much has changed since the first, rationing-restricted issue of Tyres & Accessories appeared in June 1946. Founding editor Frederick Carter is long gone and a mere handful of players now represent the resurgent British tyre making industry he gave a voice to. But much has also remained constant throughout these tumultuous decades, and to this day Tyres & Accessories fulfils Carter’s original remit of providing a ”suitable forum for the discussion of all questions of vital interest to the industry and those engaged in it.”
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Bremboparts.com wins ACPN gold award
Brembo has received the Automotive Content Professionals Network (ACPN) gold award for content on the companys BremboParts.com aftermarket component online catalogue.
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Goodyear Blimp bound for England
A Zeppelin is heading London way, but this isn’t the cause for concern it once was – the Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship will peacefully float over the capital on 29 and 30 June resplendent in its Goodyear livery as part of a tour of Blighty that will also take in towns in Kent such as Dover, Maidstone and Dartford.
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UK’s 19”-plus market dominated by premium summer fitments – GfK
The car tyres with the largest dimensions represented the segment least negatively affected by the pandemic and its lockdowns in Europe. While UHP tyre demand varied through the lockdowns of 2020 – as you might expect within a segment quickly trending towards 30 per cent of the entire European market – the negative trend was kept relatively under control. This was increasingly the case as you look further up the size range. Tyres & Accessories asked market analyst GfK to examine full-year panelmarket data, which tracks points of sale around the UK to indicate aftermarket tyre trends, for the top 19” and above car tyre segment in calendar year 2020 versus 2019. The infographic on this page shows its characteristics, as well as the relatively mild effects of the last year on retail sales of the highest performance tyres.
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Largescale UK tyre pyrolysis plant feasible – Enviro
In November 2020 Scandinavian Enviro’s UK partner 2G BioPOWER began a study into the feasibility of running a largescale tyre pyrolysis plant in the UK. The project has now been completed and found that there are “favourable conditions” for such a pyrolysis plant that “derive primarily from the large domestic demand for recovered oil for the production of renewable vehicle fuel.”
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Hunter garage equipment helps trainee vehicle technicians get hands-on
Vehicle technicians studying at Stratford-upon-Avon College can now learn wheel alignment analysis and adjustments on all types of cars and vans using Hunter wheel alignment equipment. The opportunity follows the recent addition of wheel-balancing and wheel-alignment equipment from supplier Pro-Align.
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Three-quarters of a century and still going strong
This month we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Tyres & Accessories back in June 1946. Looking back to those immediate post-war years, comparisons can be made with the emergence from lockdown 75 years later. In the post-war period, the then still pioneering automotive business played a key role in the recovery process along with the intrinsically connected tyre trade. This time round, if the adaptability and resilience of the tyre business during the last 18 months of Covid-19-related disruption is anything to go by, things will follow a similar pattern. In both cases such events evoke genuine gratitude for the contacts, customers and friends we all have in the business. So, it is in that spirit that we begin the 75th anniversary celebrations that will continue throughout the month of June here at the front of the magazine and in a special 20-page section that begins on page 32.
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Halfords Autocentres reports 89.6% increase in pre-tax profit – next stop ‘market leadership’
The Halfords Group reported a strong set of full-year 2021 that saw the company generate total sales of 1,292.5 million in 2021, up 13.1 per cent compared with the 2020 financial year (2020: 1,155.1 million). The financial report, which was published on 17 June 2021, shows that by all measures pre-tax profits skyrocketed. Indeed, Halfords Group reported profit before tax after the impact of IFRS 16 of £64.5 million, which amounts to a headline-grabbing increase of 184.1 per cent compared with the previous year. Halfords Autocentres accounted for an increasing proportion of the group’s overall sales figures, reporting 2021 sales of £252.5 million, up 31.6 per cent compared with 2020’s £194.1 million.
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Tread test driver triumphs at Silverstone in MG series
Tread managing director and test driver, Ray Collier, won two races in the MGCC Cockshoot at Silverstone three weeks after claiming two wins at the Oulton Park season-opener.
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NBRA to host Greener Bodyshop Awards
“Following the success of the first Greener Bodyshop Awards ceremony in 2019, the NBRA is pleased to announce we will be holding a second bigger event later this year, which will recognise vehicle body repairers in the industry who are committed to reducing their impact on the environment, by implementing measures for pollution and energy reduction”, says Chris Weeks, Director of the National Body Repair Association (NBRA), the leading trade association for car body repairers in the UK.
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Frenni fits Wheely-Safe for peace of mind
Pembrokeshire-based haulier Frenni Transport is aiming to eliminate any risk of human error by protecting its entire truck fleet with the latest generation of Wheely-Safe technology. Frenni currently has Wheely-Safe’s intelligent tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), wheel loss and brake temperature sensors running on 12 of its 40 Volvo and DAF trucks, and will roll-out the system across the rest of its vehicles, having been hugely impressed with the effectiveness and simplicity of the technology.
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