Fort Dunlop to cease motorsport tyre production in September
Dunlop Motorsport has confirmed it will close its Fort Dunlop tyre production factory in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. The news follows the announcement last May that the company’s lease would not be renewed and that site was being sold to Jaguar Land Rover. Goodyear Dunlop representatives told Tyres & Accessories that the firm remains committed to the production of motorsport tyres and is still in talks with Birmingham City Council with regards to the possibility of finding another suitable site in the region.
The latest light commercial vehicle figures released show 2013 total registrations to 327,291 units, up 14.7 per cent. Vans rose 13.1 per cent over the year registering 271,073 units, boosted by 32.5 per cent growth in December. Truck registrations totalled 56,218 units in the year, up 23 per cent with the move to Euro 6 fuelling growth as predicted.
Could new Hunter machine help increase breadth of servicing sales opportunities?
Maximising the revenue opportunities offered by services is a key part of any modern garage’s strategy. The reduced margins available on tyres – and the effective outsourcing of the tyre retail process to e-Commerce websites – mean that making the most of services such as wheel alignment and diagnostic checks has become increasingly important. Pro-Align, the distributor of Hunter wheel alignment equipment in the UK, has offered one complementary tool in the recent past to speed up the diagnosis of misaligned wheels, the Hunter Quick Check, but the most recent innovation is the Quick Check Lane – a modular diagnostic system that allows garages to add brake and battery performance checks, in addition to tyre pressure and tread depth measurements to the alignment diagnosis procedure. Tyrepress visited Pro-Align’s recently refurbished and reorganised unit near Towcester, Northamptonshire to see the new unit in action, while business managers Paul and Kathryn Beaurain explained the background to the latest wave of Hunter equipment innovations.
With already high levels of OE TPMS fitment increasing as the 1 November 2013 fitment mandate approaches, Laser has launched a set of tool designed to assist in the aftermarket servicing of these products.
It must be a new record, following a freedom of information (FOI) request by the Institute of Advanced Motorists, it has emerged that a man from Liverpool accumulated 45 licence penalty points in November without losing his licence. In normal circumstance a driving ban follows the accumulation of 12 points. According to the information released by the DVLA in response to the IAM’s FOI, the points were all for failing to disclose the identity of the driver or exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road, between 1 October 2012 and 20 June 2013. By all accounts this beats the previous record of 42 points.
Paul Goggins MP has died just over a week after collapsing while jogging with his son on New Year’s eve. Member of Parliament for Wythenshawe and Sale East, Greater Manchester, Goggins was respected in Westminster and known in the tyre and wheel industry for his for his efforts to raise the standards of checks on HGV wheels and their suppliers. Indeed it was this work that won him the Parliamentarian of the Month’ award which was presented by road safety charity Brake and Direct Line.
TyreSafe welcomes Bedfordshire and Luton Casualty Reduction Partnership as latest member
Bedfordshire and Luton Casualty Reduction Partnership is the latest road safety organisation to become a member of TyreSafe. As such, the Partnership will build upon its successful tyre safety education and awareness work, which was recently recognised and rewarded when the organisation won a ‘safety in the community’ award from TyreSafe.
Top Pirelli Performance centres get a tour of McLaren
Around the end of December Pirelli rewarded its top performing Pirelli Performance Centres (PPCs) with a tour of the McLaren Technology Centre. Each of the top five performing depots in the 2013 retail standard audit won a pair of tickets.
Car registrations break 2.2 million mark, return to pre-recession levels
Car registration figures for 2013 appear to show that consumer confidence is increasing, with 2,264,737 cars registered in 2013, up 10.8 per cent on 2012. This exceeds the SMMT’s 2.25 million forecast for the year and is the highest annual registration total since 2007. December was the 22nd consecutive monthly rise.
November winter tyre figures point to strong season
While Britain has been batter by storms this winter, and while the environment minister announced today (6 January) that some 1700 homes have been flooded this season, it has been relatively warm with much of Britain being buffeted by storms and at the same time experiencing high single-digit temperatures. Tragic for some. Inclement for most. But not the kind of weather that traditionally leads to increased winter tyre sales. Nevertheless, the latest data from market analysts GfK suggests that November sales are significantly up on both the previous month and when compared with the same time last year.
A study across 10 major UK cities, quoted on the IAAF e-bulletin, revealed that some 10.1 per cent of vehicles checked in were found to have a failed headlight, sidelight, rear or brake-light; a proportion equating to some 2.6 million vehicles on UK roads right now.
The scale of the problem is also reflected in MOT failure rates with 1.16 million cars tested in 2012 falling short of required standards because of the condition of their lights.
The latest batch of UK vehicle production statistics covering the month of November 2013 was released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) just before Christmas.
Pirelli highlighting rallying return at Autosport International
At next week’s Autosport International, Pirelli will showcase its new range of FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) tyres ahead of the tyre maker’s return to world rallying. Pirelli will also bring four cars to the show including a McLaren MP4 12C, McLaren’s road-going car which exclusively uses Pirelli tyres as original equipment. Also on display will be a Pirelli-equipped McLaren GT3 to represent the Dutch Supercar Challenge, as well as a Ferrari 458 used in the Ferrari Open and GT Cup Championships – both of which use Pirelli as the championship control tyre supplier. Finally, a Pirelli-equipped Skoda Fabia S2000 that was used to win this year’s European Rally Championship will be on display to mark Pirelli’s return to WRC.
A study by Halfords Autocentres suggests that motoring goodwill has been in short supply this Christmas. The research found that drivers are concerned about the levels of impatient, aggressive and inconsiderate driving – which they say increases at this time of year.
Almost a quarter of motorists (23 per cent) who took part in the research said they felt that unfriendly, bad tempered behaviour – such as failing to allow drivers out at junctions, lane hogging and not indicating – is a major issue during the winter months.
Maxxis to use Autosport appeal to raise Macmillan funds
Maxxis has announced its support for cancer charity Macmillan at the Autosport International show in January. The tyre manufacturer will host motorsport stars, racing cars and bikes, and its own Maxxis Babes team to pull in attendees at the Birmingham NEC. The company has targeted the figure of £500, which it hopes to exceed through calendar sales on the Saturday of the show.
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