UK winter tyre sector is growing
The UK tyre industry has been taking deliberate steps to develop its fledgling winter tyre market for more almost a decade. Over the years improvements have accelerated with the passing of time. Now, new research produced by market analysts GfK suggest sales are accelerating faster than ever.
Continue ReadingA presence in Europe part of Blackcircles’ growth plan
In addition to announcing a 30 per cent rise in sales last year, Blackcircles.com appears set to expand across the Channel in the near future. Company founder and managing director Mike Welch states the online retailer aims to grow market share both in the UK and internationally and claims that Blackcircles.com is now in talks with parties in Central Europe; if all goes to plan, an announcement regarding a partnership or acquisition will be made before the end of this year.
Continue ReadingPirelli industrial incident returns to the news
Lurid local newspaper headlines have rekindled media interest in the industrial incident that resulted in the death of a man at Pirelli’s Carlisle tyre factory. However, with the Police having already confirmed that they are no longer pursuing a criminal investigation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation ongoing and with no date for the inquest, there is little more to report and no further comment from the parties involved.
Continue ReadingBosal: BAIC business offers product supply continuity
Bosal is reassuring aftermarket customers about future supplies of products following the 28 March announcement that Bosal UK’s administrators had not been able to secure a purchaser for the manufacturing business. Following the closure of the company's facility near Preston, Lancashire, Bosal Group announced that it is setting up a new UK sales and marketing company - Bosal Automotive and Industrial Components Ltd (BAIC). BAIC, which will continue to be based near Preston, will look after the needs of current and future customers for Bosal products and services.
Continue ReadingBosal UK ceases production – 116 redundancies
Philip Duffy and David Whitehouse, both of global financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps and Joint Administrators of Preston based Bosal (U.K.) Limited, have announced the sale of certain assets of the Company which relates to sales and marketing activities to Bosal International N.V. and Bosal Tobo B.V.
Continue ReadingWhat is the National Measurement Office?
The history of the NMO goes back to the Magna Carta, but more recently it was known as the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML). In 2006, NWML became responsible for the enforcement of RoHS Regulations (Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2008) in the UK. On the 28 June 2007 NWML (more recently renamed the National Measurement Office) became part of the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
Continue ReadingNational Measurement Office to enforce tyre labelling
The National Measurement Office (NMO) has been named as the enforcement body of the European tyre labelling legislation that was implemented across the continent in November 2012. The NMO’s remit covers the effective implementation of tyre labelling in the UK and includes scope for retail checks as well as monitoring the authenticity and accuracy of the labels themselves. News of the appointment bridges the gap between the legislation put in place and the industry take steps to adapt to it. Now however, there is reason for renewed positivity. Not only because there are people to take responsibility for the deployment of the law, but because we will hopefully now be able to begin gauging the real effects of the legislation on how tyres are bought and sold.
Continue ReadingFuel duty binned, and other budget highlights
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has delivered the latest UK budget including the cancellation of planned fuel duty increases. Other key points include confirmation that the income tax threshold will be raised to £10,000 by next year and the first £2000 will be taken off all employers’ National Insurance bills. Growth is forecast to be 0.6 per cent this year, with £3 billion promised for infrastructure investment as a way of improving this. Beer duty will be cut by 1p a pint.
Continue ReadingPirelli responding to Crossover growth
Pirelli has identified the popularity of what it calls “crossover utility vehicles” (CUV), which continued to grow in popularity over the past year. The more compact SUV has begun to bring new motorists to the segment, with both the safety and comfort of its larger cousins, but also the promise of improved fuel economy. Pirelli’s Scorpion Verde in particular has provided an option within its range to motorists attracted to a more efficient SUV, designed as a low rolling resistance 4x4 tyre.
Continue ReadingGfK: UK 4×4 market depressed, but V-Z speed sizes grow
Anyone aware of the continued economic fug across the continent might have expected the news that UK and Europe-wide 4x4/SUV tyre markets were depressed in 2012; what you may not have so readily expected was that the macro-trend of increasing sales of V, W, X and Y speed rated SUV tyres would have continued to grow. Yet the latest data from UK market researcher GfK, read in the context of Europool and ETRMA figures, shows that this is exactly what happened during the last year, with more powerful road oriented models continuing to prove popular.
Continue ReadingGeneral Tire launches Grabber GT European SUV tyre
The Continental Tire Group’s General Tire brand has launched the successor to its Grabber UHP, with a new SUV tyre in its wide range most equipped to offer on-road performance, at an event in Gran Canaria for around 100 dealers representing 25 European countries. The largest single group amongst these guests was from the brand’s UK distributor, Micheldever Tyre Services and its customers. Visiting the last SEMA show in Las Vegas – “the home of 4x4” according to MTS wholesale director, Alan Baldwin – the wholesaler reported that General has a 4x4 market share into double figures, proving its significance in Europe, despite lacking the original equipment fitments that have come with nearly 100 years of American activity. The availability of General tyres suitable for Land Rover models, which dominate the UK 4x4 market, and the specific market focus of tyres like the Grabber AT have given the brand some notable success in the UK according to MTS marketing manager Amelia Lion – the newly launched Grabber GT taps into a different sort of European market specificity, namely the long-term tendency towards greater on-road performance.
Continue ReadingNTDA warns of Northern Ireland tyre scam
The NTDA have told us of a tyre scam currently doing the rounds in Northern Ireland. Regional Chairman Roy Nutt says that two retailers in Northern Ireland have been approached by a person looking to buy tyres with a stolen credit card. An enquiry was submitted via the website and, in what seems like an early April Fool's joke, the enquiry was submitted in the name of a Mr. Fraud and the e-mail address given was rip@tyretradeoff.com.
Continue ReadingBlackcircles hinting at closer Tesco connection
Blackcircles.com managing director Michael Welch has hinted that company may employ a closer relationship with leading supermarket Tesco as one way of moving towards its goal of £100 million (around 10 per cent of the UK market) in the next five year. Welch revealed the plans in an interview with The Telegraph published on 26 February, which also gave details of the guidance the company has received from a number of ex-Tesco executives and particularly former CEO Sir Terry Leahy.
Continue ReadingMichelin franchises to more than double within 5 years
At present, Michelin operates around 2,000 franchised dealer points of sale around the world; according to information published in the tyre maker’s 2012 annual results presentation, the exact figure is 2013. Yet within a few short years, this number should this number should increase by around 150 per cent. Michelin says it intends to have 5,000 franchised dealer points of sale by 2017.
Continue ReadingQuinton Hazell Cheadle sold, other sites closing
Klarius Group Limited put its Quinton Hazell Automotive Limited (QH) into administration on 6 February 2013. Following their appointment, the administrators reached an agreement to sell the Klarius emissions business based at Cheadle, Staffordshire to Klarius Products Limited, preserving 234 jobs. The deal will formally complete during the course of 7 February (today). In addition, the intellectual property rights relating to the QH business were sold separately to Tetrosyl I-Tec Limited, part of Tetrosyl Limited.
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