Landsail Tyres headline sponsor for Performance Car Show
Landsail Tyres has confirmed its sponsorship of the 2015 Performance Car Show, in association with Autocar and PistonHeads.com. The leading UK exhibition dedicated to enthusiasts of sports and performance cars, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, on 8-11 January 2015. The brand, manufactured by Qingdao’s Sentury Tire and distributed in the UK by Grouptyre member Oak Tyres, will communicate with visitors about the depth and breadth of its range, with high performance, ultra high performance, and SUV fitments. The manufacturer, founded in 2009, has been moving to differentiate itself in a populous field of Chinese tyre brands selling into the UK. At the beginning of December it stated that it would offer tyres for magazine testing to prove the quality of its products, having presented some eye-catching European tyre labels at its Reifen debut.
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Goodyear Dunlop opens winter test circuit in Finland
Goodyear Dunlop has opened a new winter tyre testing facility, the Arctic Centre, in Ivalo, Finland. Located 300 km north of the Arctic Circle, near the town of Ivalo in North Eastern Finland, the Arctic Centre is one of Europe’s leading winter tyre testing centres, and as of December 2014, will be exclusively used by Goodyear Dunlop. Jean-Pierre Jeusette, general director of Goodyear’s Innovation Centre, Laurent Colantonio, director of global tyre performance prediction and, representing the company‘s Nordic Region, Ludvig Nauckhoff, general manager Nordic were present as the ribbon was cut.
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Michelin to cut 10% of Western European dealers from its Exelagri network
In early December, Michelin shared plans to “further develop” its Exelagri dealer partnership programme “with a new vision.” While the French tyre maker aims to increase the size of its 2004-established agricultural tyre dealer network from the current level of 770 partners to 1,000 in the next ten years, Michelin’s plans involve placing much more attention on the growing Eastern European market. In a press statement released in its German-language markets on 3 December, Michelin relayed an intention to boost its Eastern Europe market presence from 38 to 350 points of sale. But the figures Michelin gave also tell another story – if the company achieves the stated ten-year goals, it will involve a considerable reduction in the number of Exelagri partners it has in Western Europe. In response to our questions, Michelin’s headquarters in France explained how and why it intends to divest partners in Western Europe.
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Nokian announces ‘A’-rated winter tyre for electric vehicles
Nokian Tyres is claiming an industry first with the release of a Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 fitment designed for the electric BMW i3. The Finnish manufacturer says the winter tyre has achieved an ‘A’ European tyre label rating for rolling resistance – a boast that not even the most optimistic tyre maker has voiced since the label’s introduction in late 2012. But given Nokian’s impeccable credentials as a winter tyre specialist, we can be confident that this particular Hakkapeliitta R2 does exactly what it says on the tin. To quote the manufacturer, the tyre “allows for safe, economical, and high-performance driving on snow and ice in demanding Nordic winter weather.”
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‘We fulfilled our brief’ – Pirelli compares 2014 F1 season with 2013
Pirelli’s motorsport director reports that changes to its Formula One tyres, particularly the soft tyre, led to increased possibilities for different race strategies in the 2014 F1 season. This year’s tyres, Paul Hembery explains, were a departure from those supplied to teams between 2011 and 2013: “After three years of making tyres that feature deliberate degradation, in accordance with our brief, this year’s revolutionary new rules with turbocharging and increased torque prompted the need for more consistent and predictable tyres, leading to the same average number of pit stops per race (2 or 3).” The average total pit stops seen in a race during the 2014 season was 44, seven less than in the previous season.
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Conti: CV registrations slow, but truck tyre market up
Figures for new truck vehicle registrations have revealed 2014 has been a “predictably slow year” as the market continues to feel the effects of the introduction of Euro 6 legislation, according to UK managing director for Continental, David Smith. Smith, who in 2013 was promoted into a wider European market management role, which now includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, was speaking at Continental’s annual market trends briefing on 5 December. During his presentation he described the results for 2014 as “unsurprising”, due in part to the rush to register Euro 5 models before the legislative cut-off dates. Year-to-date figures released by the SMMT have shown that total registrations for trucks in 2014 are down by nine per cent, with bus and coach registrations also down this year, by three per cent.
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Continental producing first Taraxagum-based test tyres
Continental has produced a limited number of Russian dandelion rubber-based tyres for product development and testing purposes. The first products featuring the new natural rubber alternative will be winter tyres. Speaking at a press conference in London on Friday 5 December, David O’Donnell, senior vice president research and development for Continental’s tyre division, shared a number details relating to both the natural rubber replacement material and the tyre production strategy related to it.
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Chinese JV exit gives Cooper Tire flexibility to plan for a changing tyre market
In recent weeks and months, Roy Armes has voiced on a number of occasions that Cooper Tire & Rubber still views China as an important part of the company’s future plans, despite its experiences at the Cooper Chengshan Tire (CCT) joint venture factory in 2013. Most recently, the chairman, chief executive officer and president confirmed during a conference call on 4 December that the country “will continue to be an important part of our long-term growth strategy.” But that doesn’t mean Cooper Tire can’t or won’t adjust its activities in China to meet global market conditions. In light of a new round of tariff measures in the US, which came into effect shortly after Cooper Tire sold its 65 per cent share in CCT, the company has shifted some of its production from China to other global locations, and it will continue to do so should conditions favour this strategy.
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Pro-Align presents latest automated Revolution
While the financial context of the last five years has undoubtedly provided a challenging market environment for many players in the tyre industry, the premium garage equipment sector has seen opportunity. As tyre retailers have broadly seen margins squeezed further as consumers look to save on tyres, so has the importance of maximising ancillary services grown. On the occasion of the launch of another trail-blazing addition to its range with the Revolution tyre changer, Hunter garage machinery supplier to the UK Pro-Align took the opportunity to show Tyrepress the effects of providing innovative services to the sector.
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Chengshan forms new JV with investment group
Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Company Ltd has succeeded Cooper Tires joint venture with Chengshan. The previous JV was dissolved when Cooper closed the sale of its 65 per cent share to Chengshan Group Company Ltd on 1 December. Unveiled at Reifen China 2014 in Shanghai, the new joint venture has been formed with Prairie Investment Company.
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Continental: UK car tyre market stable, getting larger and AFV fitments growing
Continental executives opened their annual market trends briefing in London with the positive assertion that the 2014 UK car tyre market demand is stable at roughly 35 million tyres for the year. Contis definition of the market includes imported tyres, 4x4 tyres and part worns, so this figure is broadly in line with other estimates.
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Tyre labelling ‘debacle’; ‘4-6.5m part worn tyre sales’
RH Claydon’s John Parker gave his first Tyre Wholesalers Group speech as chairman at the group’s annual lunch in November. Parker covered the current state of the market, before summing up current views on part worn tyres and tyre labelling, the latter of which he labelled a “debacle”. Attending the event, Tyres & Accessories reports the contents of Parker’s speech below. Parker contextualised what he had to say with current UK market figures. Saying that the consumer tyre replacement market has “stabilised at about 34m units give or take”, he reserved judgement on whether this represented a corner starting to be turned, while noting that this did not take into account part worn sales.
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Everything pointed to UK tyre market growth in 2014, but…
Without being too dramatic, 2014 was a bit of a disappointment. All the macroeconomic and sector-specific indicators seemed to point to 2014 being the year when the tide turned and when sell-out replacement tyre volumes finally started growing again. And yet the market looks like it is going to be down again when the full-year 2014 figures come in. Despite being a fully mature market, the UK car tyre replacement sector has basically been on varying degrees of a downer for the last six years. Things are not as bad as they were, but they certainly aren’t showing the signs of slow, stable growth they once were. With all this in mind, Tyres & Accessories spoke with GfK automotive account director Kevin Glynn in order to get a handle on what happened this year and what we can expect in 2015.
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US imposes Chinese tyre import tariffs
The US Commerce Department (USDOC) has moved to impose import tariffs on tyres manufactured in China and imported into the US. The USDOC has also agreed to initiate work on an additional nine subsidy programs identified by the USW. The preliminary finding suggested that Chinese-made tyres in this category are unfairly subsidized and should be subject to countervailing duties of 17.7 per cent and 81.3 per cent. The precise percentage depends on the manufacturer in question, but the standard rate is reportedly 15.69 per cent. This is the second round of passenger vehicle and light truck duties since the millennium. The first round ran from 2009 to 2011 and ranged from 35 to 25 per cent.
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Blackcircles on expansion, investment and going international
When Blackcircles.com appointed two new directors in early November, it was about more than simply expanding the range of experience available to the firm. It was also about driving the company’s international expansion plans forward. Tyres & Accessories recently caught up with founder and managing director Mike Welch in Edinburgh and found out more about […]
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