Dmack launches UK-made gravel tyre range
After what it says was an intensive development programme, FIA World Rally Championship tyre supplier Dmack has launched a new range of gravel tyres. These tyres have been designed and produced in the UK and developed specifically for competitors in WRC 2 and those driving R5 class cars.
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EU tyre label under scrutiny – authorities begin 24-month project
One of the chief criticisms of the European tyre label since its introduction in November 2012 is the absence of effective third-party control; abuse is inevitable in a system that allows tyre manufacturers to evaluate their own products. The Market Surveillance Action on Tyres 2015 (MSTYR15), a project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon2020 programme and coordinated by the Product Safety Forum of Europe (PROSAFE), aims to bring accountability into tyre labelling.
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Better together: Regional NTDA meetings show national strength
At the end of February Tyres & Accessories attended the NTDA’s North West region meeting. For years the National Tyre Distributors Association kept in touch with the grass roots of the industry via a regional structure. This dissipated and virtually evaporated in recent decades, but not in the North West where it has continued to be strong – representing the local needs of the association and working together for the common good of tyre distributors as part of the national NTDA organisation. Latterly, the NTDA has experienced something of a resurgence of the regional approach with other regions being re-invigorated (prior to the North West meeting, the South East and Central South regions met in Watford on 10 February).
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Nokian Tyres’ boss: How could we “have been so stupid”? – Ari Lehtoranta talks tyre test manipulation
“I didn’t have any choice.” – Ari Lehtoranta, president and CEO of Nokian Tyres, is convinced his decision to go public about the Finnish manufacturer’s manipulation of tyre tests in Europe over decades was the right decision. Lehtoranta, who has led the company since October 2014, wonders why Nokian Tyres went to the effort of supplying specially-made test tyres – particularly as the company’s non-manipulated products have always gained good results in tyre tests. In an interview with Tyres & Accessories, Lehtoranta explains why it is now important to take part in the current public discussions on the subject and, through these talks, develop new industry-wide transparency rules.
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Klarius to invest £1.5million from 2016
The UK’s largest manufacturer of exhausts, CATs and DPFs for the aftermarket has announced £1.5m of project investment to begin in 2016. Klarius Products states that it has allocated the money to production capacity increases, quality improvements, and lead time reduction on new parts.
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Goodyear’s new Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 boasts strong improvements in mileage and braking
Goodyear’s latest Ultra High Performance (UHP) tyre offers performance that is a large step ahead of its premium competitors, company representatives explained at the online launch of the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 today (23 March 2016). According to company representatives, who base their claims on extensive testing with TUV Sud and Dekra in addition to in-house research and development, the new tyre outperforms not only its predecessor (the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2), but also the latest comparable tyres produced by Bridgestone, Continental and Michelin in terms of wet braking, dry braking and mileage.
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Kwik Fit expanding into Italy, across Europe
The Kwik Fit Group has agreed a partnership deal that sees the Kwik Fit tyre retail and fast-fit brand expand into Italy. Under the terms of the agreement, 200 centres are set to open over the next decade. The expansion is based on a franchise agreement with CDG-ONE, part of Segema S.p.A., a leading tyre distribution group in Italy. Segema imports and distributes Yokohama tyres in Italy through Yokohama Italia S.p.A. and GiTi Tyres through Magri Gomme S.p.A.
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BMW selects Hankook UHP, winter tyres for 7 Series OE fitments
Hankook will supply runflat versions of its ultra-high performance and winter car tyres to BMW for original fitment on its new generation 7 Series. The luxury car will roll on the Ventus S1 evo2 in mixed 245/50R18 Y *RSC (Runflat Safety Component) (front) and 275/40 R19 Y*RSC (rear) sizes in summer, and the i*cept evo in size 245/50R 18 H *RSC for winter use. Both tyres were developed in the Hankook’s German-based European R&D Centre, and are supplied to BMW directly from Hankook’s European high-end factory in Hungary.
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Pirelli truck tyres separating and merging with Aeolus/ChemChina
Pirelli’s Chinese owner ChemChina has officially entered into negotiations relating to the separating out the Italian firm’s truck tyre business in order to combine it with Aeolus and the three other ChemChina-owned tyre businesses.
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Pirelli previews latest P Zero tyre in Geneva
Of all the tyres fitted to prestige vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show, 51 per cent were made by Pirelli. Pirelli’s premium vehicle share at the show was 32 per cent. According to Pirelli general manager, operations, Gregorio Borgo the Geneva shares are pretty much the same as Pirelli’s real-world market share. Now consider the fact that registration of prestige marques (the most exclusives brands) have increased seven-fold since 2000. During the same period, the registrations of premium marques have tripled. Meanwhile, general market registrations are only 1.5 times greater than they were at the turn of the millennium. With this in mind, you can see why Pirelli was keen to preview its latest P Zero tyre in the context of the Geneva motor show and why the company is emphasising so-called “marked tyres” more than ever.
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When it comes to tyre testing, where’s the line?
Last month, talk of tyre testing irregularities came to the fore following Nokian’s admissions of “mistakes” in this area. In the April edition of Tyres & Accessories we follow up on this story in some detail with a survey of leading manufacturers’ responses to the issue of the day and an exclusive interview with Nokian president and CEO Ari Lehtoranta. While the detailed views of the world’s leading tyre makers are many and varied, they are all unified in their denials of any underhand behaviour relating to magazine and association tyre testing (see Top tyre manufacturers deny involvement in tyre test manipulation for the full story). And yet Nokian’s Lehtoranta has clearly pointed the finger at the broader industry on a number of occasions in the past – and apparently is continuing to do so.
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Wang Feng resigns as Aeolus Tyre chairman
Aeolus Tyre Co. Ltd. has reported the resignation of its chairman Wang Feng. In a Chinese-language statement issued on 15 March, the tyre maker shared that Mr Wang has resigned due to “job changes.”
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Balance of performance – GT Radial SportActive targets a changing UHP segment
Upon launching its Savero SUV tyre last September, the company behind the GT Radial brand gave a sneak preview of a new tyre scheduled for introduction in 2016. As we reported at the time, this tyre, the SportActive, takes the baton from the GT Radial Champiro UHP1 and Champiro HPY to become the flagship UHP tyre in the GT Radial portfolio. Following a limited launch in several non-seasonal markets, manufacturer Giti Tire has now released an initial range of 27 SportActive sizes in all European markets.
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