Bakers coaches launches Michelin-equipped Hybrid bus service
Stoke-based bus and coach operator Bakers Coaches has launched its first hybrid bus service, ahead of its 75th anniversary celebrations in November. The three hybrid buses, which use a Volvo B5 RLH chassis with Wrightbus Gemini bodywork, went into operation on 3 October and will operate under the bakerbus brand – owned by Bakers Coaches. The buses have been purchased primarily to carry students and are used on a dedicated contract with Staffordshire University and London Midland Trains. The low-floor, diesel-electric buses are the greenest, cleanest buses in the county.
Continue ReadingVauxhall backs Autosocks
Vauxhall has become the latest in a run of vehicle manufacturers to offers its customers winter traction advice, however while most vehicle main dealers who have take a public stance on this have promoted the benefits of winter tyres, Vauxhall appears to promoting the temporary AutoSock option. According to the company, Vauxhal retailers are once again offering “a comprehensive range of accessories in preparation for the winter months,” including AutoSock Snow Socks cold weather tyre covers.
Continue ReadingMark Griffiths joins Continental UK communications team
Continental Tyre Group Ltd has appointed Mark Griffiths as communications assistant to work alongside communications manager, Laura Hardy within this newly created role, covering all aspects of the brand’s public profile. Griffiths 24 recently returned from a year living in Paris teaching English. Before this, he studied for his BA Journalism degree in 2008 graduating with 1st class honours, going on to complete his MA in Automotive Journalism in 2010 with Merit.
Continue ReadingVenture provided £37.5 million for Unipart deal
Venture Finance provided a funding line of £37.5 million to finance H2 Equity Partner’s recent acquisition of a controlling stake in Unipart Automotive. And what’s more there is said to be “increased appetite for structured private equity deals.”
Continue ReadingUnipart and H2 Equity complete deal
Unipart Group and H2 Equity Partners have officially completed the previous announced deal that sees H2 acquire a controlling stake in Unipart Automotive, one of the UK’s largest independent suppliers of car parts, workshop consumables and garage equipment.
Continue ReadingSaab dealerships offering winter tyre packages, snow socks
Swedish car brand Saab is offering winter tyre packages through its dealerships in October, offering alloy wheels and winter rubber from £559, excluding fitment. David Leighton, business development manager for aftersales at Saab GB, notes that winter tyres “reduce braking distances and suffer less wear and tear, thus offering not only peace of mind, but a cost-saving benefit too.”
Continue ReadingHow social nets, price comparison are influencing online tyre business
Things move quickly in the online world. Even business moves “at the speed of thought” as Bill Gates suggested in the title of his book of the same name. While the tyre industry has shown some signs of reticence when it comes to doing business over the Internet, in recent years the tide has turned and most large (and many small and medium sized) tyre companies now see online involvement as a permanent part of their business. However recent developments in social marketing and price comparison sites only go to show that if you don’t keep up you may lose out. Tyres & Accessories analysed the latest data and spoke to some leading players on the frontiers of tyre e-business to see what pitfalls and opportunities lie ahead for the UK and European tyre business.
Continue ReadingH2 acquiring controlling stake in Unipart
H2 Equity Partners has announced plans to acquire a controlling stake in Unipart Automotive, the UK’s largest independent supplier of car parts, workshop consumables and garage equipment. Unipart Automotive is currently owned by Unipart Group. The agreement, which is expected to be concluded shortly, sees H2 Equity Partners taking majority ownership in the UK operation. Unipart Group will hold onto 49.9 per cent. Patrick Kalverboer, managing partner at H2, will become executive chairman of the new company.
Continue ReadingHalfords Autocentres to use 1link Service Network
Halfords Autocentres has signed up to the 1link Service Network as a supplier of service and maintenance for light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes. The company, which has 246 centres across the UK, is a long time user of the e-commerce platform for company car servicing but this is the first time van and light truck servicing will be processed using 1link. The company currently looks after many thousands of commercial vehicles each year for private customers, SMEs through and large national fleets, while all 246 Halfords Autocentres in the network can look after all Car Derived Vans (CDVs) and over 150 centres have the access, lifting equipment and tools to look after LCVs up to 3.5tonnes GVW, according to a company representative.
Continue ReadingSo long and thanks for all the tyre sales
After an eight-year long mutually beneficial relationship Maxxis International UK Ltd has decided to part company with its long-term distribution partner Grouptyre. The news came in the form of an announcement that the two companies have ended their exclusivity agreement, which implies that the firm will continue supplying Maxxis tyres for the time being. However, Tyres & Accessories understands that there is more to the story than that.
Continue ReadingBond launches Tyregiant.com
It is certainly not the only development to take place within Bond International during 2011, but the wholesaler's recent launch of Tyregiant.com is likely to be the most headline-grabbing. Over the years various sources representing all the UK's largest tyre wholesalers have spoken of their capability of offering an online retailing capability, but up till now few – if any – have ventured onto the information superhighway. The solitary pioneering effort in this area was Grouptyre's GoodTyreGuide, which ambitiously seeks to fuse retailing, reviewing and wholesaling through its membership of whole operations. A year on from that, with the jury still out on whether this concept has delivered the kind of results expected at launch, Tyregiant is pitching itself as a straightforward retail site for consumers. The clever part for Bond (a company that has always shied away from retailing itself so as not to alienate its business to business customers) is that, like GoodTyreGuide before it, it is seeking to offer additional business to its customer base rather than itself becoming a competitor.
Continue ReadingWith sales and profits up, Bond plans UK and international expansion
Based just North of York in Pocklington, the relatively small size of this North Yorkshire town belies the current scale and influence of the tyre wholesale operation it is home to. Bond International was founded in 1966 by Reg Bond when the qualified automotive engineer suffered an industrial injury that blinded him in one eye. In spite of the incident, Bond demonstrated great vision by investing his ensuing compensation into expanding his business to incorporate tyre wholesale. Now the company is firmly in the top flight of UK tyre wholesale operations and has purportedly risen as high as number three in recent years (see next month's Wholesale Feature for an update on the current state of UK tyre wholesaling). With an overseas office already located in Singapore, now Bond is considering its European options, while pointing out that there are still opportunities in the UK. On top of this the company recently launched its first foray into the online marketplace, which executive hope will – over time – develop a whole new source of business for it and its retail customers alike.
Continue ReadingEx-Tesco CEO Leahy a Blackcircles ‘mentor’
According to The Independent, former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy is providing “mentoring services on an ad hoc basis” to Blackcircles.com. Leahy, who the newspaper describes as being an “acquaintance” of Blackcircles.com managing director Mike Welch, also disclosed that he owns a stake in the online tyre retailer. Yet while admitting being a shareholder for some three years now, Leahy stressed to the newspaper he had “no hand” in orchestrating the Tesco Tyres partnership between Blackcircles.com and the supermarket giant. Further distancing himself from potential mutterings over conflicts of interest, Sir Terry reports he informed Tesco chairman David Reid upon acquiring his share in Blackcircles.
Continue ReadingWhy Bridgestone believes its new European structure takes it closer to the market
In the final quarter of 2010 Bridgestone announced that it was reorganising its European operation into key “regions“. At the start of 2011, this plan entered its second phase with the establishment of the North Region (consisting of the UK, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland and Sweden). As a direct result of this, there were a number of promotions for executives at the company’s UK headquarters. On 1 January 2011 John McNaught became North Region managing director with Sam Enya as the North Region deputy managing director and also sales administration director. At the same time John Folliss became North Region commercial sales and marketing director with Andy Lane taking the position of North Region consumer sales and marketing director. Six months into his new role, Tyres & Accessories met with Andy Lane and learnt details of how the company sees the UK and other North Region markets progressing or otherwise this year and how the new approach positions the company to deal with this.
Continue ReadingFormula One opens two new depots in South
UK chain Formula One Autocentres has announced the opening of two new depots in August 2011, following its expansion programme and bringing the total number of sites to 58. The new centres are situated in Basingstoke and West Quay, Southampton. Leon Glencross, managing director of F1 Autocentres, comments: “We identified West Quay and Basingstoke as key areas because the properties fit the F1 profile requirements in that they are highly visible, have ease of access and onsite parking”.
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