The Nation’s Favourite Van
New research published by Direct Line for Business, reveals the A-team’s classic GMC Vandura is the nation’s favourite van. Despite the cult TV show ending in 1987 the A-team van has become an enduring pop culture icon capturing 43 percent of the vote. Thousands of Britons voted the iconic black and metallic grey vehicle with is characteristic red stripe, driven by Sergeant Bosco Albert B.A Baracus played by Mr T, in the show as their favourite.
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Pirelli 2014 F1 tyres first details, special winter spec tyre for Jerez
Pirelli has released the first details of its Formula One tyre line-up for 2014 ahead of the first winter test in Jerez. The supplier will bring new tyres designed to operate with the wide range of regulations brought in for the 2014 season, which Pirelli describes as a “technical revolution”. Headlined by the presence of […]
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Rema Tip Top unveils UK TPMS strategy
While Rema Tip Top has a significant Tyre Pressure Monitoring heritage, it might be said that the TPMS part of their offering has been flown somewhat under the radar – in the UK at least. Now however, the company’s management is sharing details of its broad offering in what is quickly becoming an important part of the professional tyre retail business.
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Automotive suppliers, smart cars, intelligent tyres and safety concerns
The proliferation of electronic driver assistance systems is making the average vehicle more dependent on computing power than ever before. The latest trends see cars becoming more connected to their user’s personal computing systems and the Internet than ever as well. The combination of the two raises security questions, but are they valid and how does all this related to the tyre/TPMS business?
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£3.5m investment to support Dmack PCR, TBR, motorsport range expansion
Carlisle-based tyre brand Dmack has secured an investment of £3.5m from private equity managers Maven. The injection of funds will help to fund the next stage of its growth, according to Dmack, boosting its production capacity and range of road-going and motorsport tyres.
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‘Reifen’ show moving to Cologne
The trip to Essen every two years has been a fixture for those active in the tyre industry within Europe and beyond for around half a century, but as of 2018 the renowned Reifen exhibition will have a new home some 45 miles away. The show’s organiser took the decision to leave the city synonymous with the exhibition after plans to modernise the ‘Messe Essen’ site were turned down by a local referendum on 19 January.
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Strategic investment group buys controlling interest in Kings Road Tyres Group
A controlling interest in Kings Road Tyres Group (KRT) has been acquired by a strategic investment group with members in China, Europe and North America. The UK management team, which bought out the company in the second half of 2011, will “continue to retain a significant equity position in the company and will maintain responsibility for day-to-day operation of Group businesses,” said a statement issued to Tyrepress by KRT today. The company said that the deal would “secure significant new equity investment” for KRT, which it said would help it develop its position as one of the leading players in the UK tyre industry.
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Randall appointed managing director of Halfords Autocentres
UK automotive and cycling services retailer, Halfords Group has appointed Andy Randall as managing director of its garage servicing and auto repair business, Halfords Autocentres. Randall joins the business in March.
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Micheldever extends GT Radial Exclusive Distribution Agreement
Giti Tire and Micheldever Tyre Services have renewed their Exclusive Distribution Agreement (EDA), extending the wholesaler’s sole UK supply rights for GT Radial passenger car, 4x4 and light truck tyres for the next three years. Under the terms of the agreement, which began in 2010, Micheldever will continue to develop the GT Radial Performance Centres (GTPCs) network as a priority while utilising the product offering to expand other wholesale and VMA business.
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Mesnac consolidates regional operations into global tooling division
In order to consolidate its operations in the USA, UK, Slovakia and China into one single business unit, Mesnac has created a new global business, the Mesnac Tooling Division (MTD). This division will provide tooling support to Mesnac’s Tire Building machine divisions in China and Slovakia and to its subsidiary Beijing Jingyie. The divisions technology platform will be based on the established Wyko brand but will also control Mesnac’s other tooling brands, which are primarily sold in Asian markets.
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Littlewood takes on Maxxis brand manager role at Stapleton’s
At its recent annual conference, Maxxis International and UK distribution partner Stapleton’s (Tyre Services) Ltd announced the appointment of Alan Littlewood to the position of Maxxis brand manager. Maxxis International says Littlewood has taken on the role to help strengthen the Maxxis brand throughout the UK and to further develop the partnership between Maxxis, Stapleton’s and the Maxxis Key Dealer network.
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Tronchetti Provera bids Pirelli adieu
To mark his upcoming 66th birthday on 18 January, Marco Tronchetti Provera granted German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a long interview. During this he shared his intention to step down as Pirelli’s chief executive in the coming two years and subsequently sell the family’s 25.1 per cent share in the company. His three children are following their own paths and anyway it is difficult to inherit the role of business entrepreneur. Until last year, Tronchetti was also engaged in a showdown with the Genoa-based Malacalza industrial family. Tronchetti originally invited the Malacalza family to become investors, but later Tronchetti gained the impression they were trying to oust him. In the course of this struggle Francesco Gori, in charge of Pirelli’s tyre business, lost his job. He now serves as an advisor to Malacalza Investitmenti, which is currently the second-largest Pirelli shareholder but openly interested in expanding its involvement.
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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.
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Bridgestone’s first ‘large and narrow’ tyre hits the road on BMW’s i3
BMW UK says the new electric i3 electric “defines the car of tomorrow”, a sizable claim backed up by exclusive tyre supplier Bridgestone, who describes the i3 as representing a “milestone in automotive history”. The tyres designed specifically for fitment on the i3 also required, says Bridgestone, the adoption of an entirely new concept. The answer was something it calls ‘ologic technology’.
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