Exol invests in expanded Rotherham site
Exol has begun work on the redevelopment of its Rotherham site, with the aim to complete the project in July 2021. This new development is part of Exol’s continued reinvestment strategy.
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Kirkby Tyres positioned for post-pandemic growth
The growth of the construction and industrial sectors is currently faster than any other part of the private sector economy, says Kirkby Tyres, Speke-based distributor of OTR tyres. In order to support this growth, Kirkby adds that it is positioning itself to supply a comprehensive line-up of tyre patterns and applications to serve its customer base. While this growth is encouraging, wholesalers must contend with the unprecedented challenges currently affecting global supply chains, including long production lead times and increases in raw materials and shipping costs. Kirkby marketing director Michael Rosenthal tells Tyres & Accessories that these challenges are presenting a bottleneck to economic recovery. The wholesaler says it is working to reduce the impact of these challenges and support its customer base by replenishing its stockholding continuously and holding good stocks of the most common OTR tyre sizes.
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Triangle enters new phase in the UK OTR development
The off-the-road (OTR) segment is historically strong for Triangle Tyre. The China-based brand has recorded sustained and continuous growth around the world since it produced its first radial OTR tyre in November 2002, gaining a stronghold in the sector in Europe. The tyre-maker has achieved this by securing original equipment fitments with a wide range of manufacturers, demonstrating its ability to produce tyres for many OTR specialisms; it is a global supplier to Caterpillar, as well as supplying such construction and mining equipment makers as Komatsu and Liebherr. It has also built a network of professional distributors across Europe.
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Sizeable minority of Britons reject electric cars, survey shows
The car industry faces strong resistance from much of the British public in its drive to persuade us to buy electric vehicles, a nationally representative survey has found. Digital pollsters Findoutnow.co.uk asked nearly 5,500 people: Would you consider an electric car for your next purchase/lease? Fewer than 2 per cent said they owned one already, while more than 38 per cent offered a flat “no”. Less than half (45.5 per cent) answered “yes”.
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Autocentres growing in prominence – UK’s top tyre retailers 2021 (11-20)
As can be seen in the top 10 table published yesterday, Halfords Autocentres remains in second place nationally in our 2021 ranking of the UK’s largest retail operations by branch count. Continuing our three-article series on this subject, today’s instalment focuses on places 11 to 20 and finds that the medium to large sized positions are increasingly being taken by autocentre style businesses that make as much money from parts and repairs as they do from tyres (and more than traditional fast fits).
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PCL names new technical sales manager
PCL has appointed Ben Kershaw as technical sales manager. Kershaw will be responsible for growing sales and providing technical and product support in the petrol, automotive, industrial and fluid markets.
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RMI Academy of Automotive Skills opening new site in Lincoln
The RMI Academy of Automotive Skills is opening a new training facility in Lincoln to broaden the reach of its high-quality automotive training. The new site joins three existing locations in Southam, Runcorn and Winchester, and is the first of a number of additional academies planned as part of the trade body’s wider strategy to provide training for garages on a more local basis. A wide array of MOT and technical courses will be available when the site opens in July.
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NFDA welcomes What Car?’s findings on franchised dealers’ trustworthiness
“It is extremely positive that consumers continue to see franchised dealers as the most trustworthy place to buy their next used car; these findings indicate the crucial role that franchised dealers play in the buying process alongside the significant growth of online sales”, said Sue Robinson, Chief Executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle dealers in the UK commenting on the findings published by What Car? today, 26 May 2021.
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The top 10 UK tyre retail chains 2021
With a pandemic, an MOT extension and three lockdowns to contend with, describing the last year as “difficult” would be an understatement. Nevertheless, tyre retailers have demonstrated that they are not only key workers essential to keeping the British Isles rolling, but also versatile and resilient businesspeople during the last 12 months. A quick look at the top 25 UK tyre retail chains 2021 table reveals that it has been a more eventful year than normal in terms of branch openings and closings, but overall the clear message is one of consolidation. As a result, the top 25 UK tyre retail chains wield more power than ever. Specifically, the top 25 now run 2528 branches between them. When our coverage of this area began back at the end of the 2008/2009 tax year, the figure was 1978. During the interim, the rough estimate for the total number of tyre retailers national has stayed stable at around 10,000 specialists (that number is roughly double that if you include general garages). This means the top 25 occupy roughly 25 per cent of the number of branches, up 6 percentage points since 2009.
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NBRA to meet Small Business Commissioner to discuss review of contract terms
The Office of Small Business has agreed to meet with The National Body Repair Association (NBRA), to discuss steps to encourage motor insurers to review their repair contracts with vehicle body repair shops with more reasonable timeframes. Many NBRA members who provide car body, scratch, dent and other repair services to motorists across the UK, experienced a significant decline in demand for their services due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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TyreWatch to unveil cost-cutting, safety, environmental protection for fleets
Commercial vehicle tyre management system supplier TyreWatch will unveil two new products at this year’s ITTHub transport show. The company says the new additions will cut costs, improve safety and lower carbon emissions for operators across all commercial vehicle sectors. AutoAlign is a dynamic vehicle monitoring system designed to combat the widespread problem of wheel misalignment. TyreWatch says around a third of fleets suffer from misalignment unknowingly. The system will be rolled out in the UK in September 2021. Also due to be launched at the ITTHub show is a new version of the widely used TyreWatch VanSmart tyre monitoring system which, says the company, will improve safety and reduce running costs for light commercial vehicle operators. AutoAlign features Using the market proven TyreWatch ‘connected technology’ platform, AutoAlign continuously monitors each vehicle and detects any wheel alignment issue as soon as it occurs and automatically notifies the operator so that immediate corrective action can be taken.
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Torque from the Top – Andrea Manenti, vice president – Bridgestone North Europe region
Continuing our ongoing series of interviews with leading tyre executives, this month’s edition hears of Bridgestone’s achievements in the realms of sustainability, material development, retreading and more. Tyres & Accessories: What effect has the pandemic had on the day-to-day running of your business? Have you had to make any fundamental changes? Torque from the Top is a regularly feature in the print edition of Tyres & Accessories magazine. Not a subscriber? No problem, click here to become one.
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Ofgem to invest in EV charging infrastructure
After the news announced today that Ofgem will be investing £300m into the UK’s electric car charging network, Sepi Arani, Director of OEM at www.carwow.co.uk, said the following: “We’re pleased to hear that Government regulator Ofgem will be investing around £300m into the EV charging infrastructure here in the UK.
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Romanian car tyre retreader Radburg prospering in adversity
Founded in roughly 1994 as a casing collection company which focused on imports, Radburg is now one of the leading retreaders in Europe and certainly the biggest car tyre retreader in Eastern Europe and Romania. What’s different about Radburg compared with most of the other retreaders across the continent, is that the majority of Radburg’s annual retreaded tyre output (70 per cent) is made up of passenger car products.
Continue Reading Virtual event focuses on apprentices’ mental wellbeing
During Mental Health Awareness Week which ran from 10 to 16 May 2021, Drive My Career announced a new “Supercharged” virtual event which will take place on 9 June 2021 to support apprentices’ mental health and wellbeing. The session follows the success of the first “Driving Inclusivity in Automotive” event held in December 2019 in partnership with dealer group Lookers. External speakers from Babcock International, Ben, the automotive charity, Lookers and the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) will be covering a number of issues related to apprentices’ wellbeing.
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