Uniwheels for sale? Controlling shareholder assessing “strategic options”
A sharp dip in the Uniwheels AG share price was reversed on the afternoon of 4 October after the company informed the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) about its controlling shareholder’s decision to “assess its strategic options.” Uniwheels Holding (Malta) Ltd., a holding company owned by former Uniwheels chief executive officer Ralf Schmid and his brother Michael, is currently “at an initial stage” with its assessment, reported the German alloy wheel manufacturer.
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Brexit means…
What does Brexit mean? ...Brexit? Breakfast, as the apparently hungry Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies mistakenly said in the mother of all Freudian slips during this year’s Conservative Conference in Birmingham? Who knows? Indeed, as a certain Tyres & Accessories colleague remarked upon hearing Davies’ innocently accidental verbal pratfall, Prime Minister Theresa May’s favourite phrase on the subject - “Brexit means Brexit” means just about as much as “Brexit means breakfast”!
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Hoosier Racing Tire now a Continental company
Germany’s Continental AG has acquired US-based tyre specialist Hoosier Racing Tire for an undisclosed sum. The deal to purchase the formerly privately-owned company was completed on 3 October. The acquisition of Hoosier Racing Tire follows seven years of collaboration with Continental, during which time the two companies worked together on various development and motorsport projects.
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TyreSafe signs up Chelsea FC
Chelsea FC has become the first Premier League club to lend its official support to the UK’s tyre safety awareness charity, TyreSafe. The high-profile signing follows support of Tyre Safety Month in 2015 by the Chelsea Ladies FC team, which has now grown to include the club as a whole. Yokoahama, famously Chelsea’s official shirt sponsor since the 2015/16 season, introduced Tyre Safety Month to the club last October, with features in matchday programmes and a message reminding fans to check their tyres played at the end of games.
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Avon launches TrekRider combined on/off-road ‘adventure’ motorbike tyre
Avon Tyres has launched its new TrekRider motorcycle tyre. The TrekRider is Avon’s first “adventure tyre”, and offers a 50:50 split of on-road versus off-road performance. Designed for light to medium trails, the tyre is designed to work as well in mud and gravel as it does on asphalt.
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Dmack team crowned BRC champions following Manx Victory
Dmack’s dominant one-two victory on Rally Isle of Man, the final round of the MSA British Rally Championship, gave the team a victory lap, having clinched the championship title on the previous event. Elfyn Evans and Craig Parry rounded off their season with their fifth victory from seven rallies, finishing only 5.9 seconds ahead of team-mates Mark Higgins and Darren Garrod. Both crews took wins on 16 of the event’s 20 special stages. The double podium ensured the BRC Teams Championship trophy for the Dmack team, while Dmack runners also won the overall, BRC1, BRC2 and Junior BRC classes. The Michelin shod team of Tom Cave and James Morgan, and Pirelli runners Jonathan Greer and Kirsty Riddick finished on the championship’s second and third podium steps respectively.
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Supertracker introduces 3D efficiency to wheel alignment range
Supertracker will introduce its first 3D wheel aligner in October. The company is marking its 30th year of successful trading with this new landmark. Managing director Trevor Lovesy says: “Over the past couple of years we have experimented with the new concept of 3D alignment and concluded that the crucifix style systems have a definite limitation in terms of space, flexibility and accuracy. However we have now introduced the STR600 3D wheel aligner that completely eliminates these problems as we have moved the camera location to the lift which eliminates the need to move a vehicle backward and forward to obtain readings.”
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Michelin: Tyres should perform throughout their legal tread life
While some manufacturers lobby for tyres to be replaced at 3 or even 4 mm, Michelin maintains that the current legal limit of 1.6 mm is “perfectly suited” to modern motoring and has reaffirmed its opposition to a change in the legislation. Indeed, during the course of the Paris Motor Show, Michelin’s top executives will be making this argument with journalists, OEMs and of course the public. Tyres & Accessories spoke with Michelin senior vice president and the person responsible for overseeing the company’s whole-life tyre performance project, Bernard Delmas. The over-riding logic behind Michelin’s argument is that “new tyres” don’t really exist because tyres begin to be worn from the moment they roll off the production line. Therefore Michelin argues that all tyres should offer strong and consistent performance across all criteria right down to the wear indicator at 1.6 mm.
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Goodyear presents Goodyear Urban CrossOver concept tyre for Lexus UX
Lexus has introduced its Lexus UX concept car, fitted with Goodyear Urban Crossover concept tyres, at the Paris Motor Show 2016. The car is matched with special tyres, showcasing the cooperation between the two companies.
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Road casualty reduction heralds start of Tyre Safety Month
The Department for Transport’s Reported Road Casualties Great Britain (RRCGB) analysis has revealed a reduction in casualties resulting from tyre-related incidents on Britain’s roads. 2015’s data shows a 28 per cent decrease in the number of people killed or seriously injured in tyre-related incidents with total casualties falling by 16.2 per cent when compared with 2014 figures. The results are good news for TyreSafe the day before the start of October’s Tyre Safety Month 2016; the latest figures mean there has been a 44 per cent decrease in all casualties caused by tyre-related incidents since the inception of Tyre Safety Month’s organiser, TyreSafe, in 2006.
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UK Sterling and euro tyre prices moving in opposite directions post-Brexit vote
While it was difficult to predict the outcome of June’s EU referendum, it is even harder to predict what the resulting Brexit vote means for the tyre business. Much of the discussion relating to the post-Brexit tyre market has focused on the legislative changes that may be coming. However, just over three months after the Brexit vote, the latest pricing data from market insight specialists Encircle Marketing appears to suggest that while UK sterling tyre prices are going up, exchange rate effects mean theses same UK prices are moving in the opposite direction when converted into euro equivalents.
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Goodyear’s A-rated rolling resistance truck tyre prototype at IAA
Goodyear’s new Super Fuelmax prototype truck tyres will be on show at the IAA commercial vehicle show 2016 in Hanover. The prototype steer and drive tyres, which are rated A in rolling resistance on the EU tyre label, will be fitted to one of the trucks on display at the DAF stand, which all stand out in highest fuel efficiency. The Super Fuelmax S steer tyre in size 385/55R22.5 and Super Fuelmax D drive tyre in size 315/70R22.5 are a further development of the low rolling resistance Goodyear Fuelmax range.
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Dunlop Aircraft Tyres confirms sale talks
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd (DATL) has confirmed that the company is looking for new investors. And this means that “initial discussions” with “a number of interested parties” are already underway. According to the company’s executive chairman Ian Edmondson, the goal is to find a suitable partner to help the company continue to move forward at its current rate of positive growth: “Our shareholders are now seeking to find a new investor who is in a position to help the business maintain the outstanding growth record that it has delivered in recent years.”
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Nokian Tyres’ president resigns
Nokian Tyres’ president and CEO Ari Lehtoranta has resigned in order to “pursue new opportunities outside of Nokian Tyres”. According to the company, Lehtoranta will continue in his present position until the end of 2016. Lehtoranta only joined Nokian in May 2014 and will be remembered for his decision to own up to company’s magazine tyre test manipulation in February 2016.
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Cooper regains global tyre social media crown
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (@CooperTire) has regained first place in Tyres & Accessories’ annual global tyre social media ranking. The US-based tyre manufacturer topped the chart in 2014, with a score of 84. However, the company’s score decreased to 78.3 in 2015 and the firm fell back to third place. Nevertheless, this year’s score of 81.7 is enough to return Cooper to the top of the tree, with 9.65 points of clear water between it and last year’s winner Pirelli.
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