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MWheels has appointed Neil Hitchen to the newly created role of technical manager. Hitchen, a CPC-Qualified transport manager and experienced operations manager, will be responsible for the upkeep of the company’s in-depth technical library, as well as special projects including the introduction of new steel, Xlite and Xbrite forged aluminium wheels from global manufacturer, Wheels India.
The rise of low-cost Chinese truck tyre imports in Europe has been well documented in the pages of various issues of our ongoing series of Retreading Special supplements. The resultant risks affecting the industry have led to pan-European awareness-raising and lobbying efforts at a European level. This in turn resulted in a European Commission (EC) investigating and on the impact of Chinese truck tyre imports on European retread sales, which began late last year. Then product registration began in February 2018. The latest news marks something of a victory for retreaders in their bid to revive the business as now we know that tariffs of between 52.85 euros and 82.17 euros per tyre are being applied to all truck and bus radials imported into Europe from China.
In last year’s ranking of the top tyre retailers in the UK, Tyres & Accessories predicted that the pace of change in the top 20 chains by branch count would result in some jostling for position. This has proved entirely accurate, as two major acquisitions have brought two of 2017’s top 20 into the fold of higher ranked companies, leading to both Micheldever/Protyre, leapfrogging HiQ into fourth place as predicted last year, and Lodge Tyre, into the top 10 from joint-14th last year, making significant jumps in this year’s table. Most other retailers have held relatively stable positions in terms of the number of stores, while our most recent additions to the table, Eden Tyres (15 stores) and Elite Garages (13) were identified as narrowly missing out on places last year.
Eight technicians representing Michelin Auto Professional dealers across the UK and Ireland have become the first to complete Michelin’s new Licensed Retail Tyre Technician course – with a further eight scheduled to take part in July.
The group of 16 are undertaking the two-day course as part of Michelin’s Tyre Academy 2018 – a series of annual events run by Michelin to help advocate dealers retain the best talent within their dealerships.
The latest data from market analysis specialists GfK suggests that the market is predominantly made up of regional usage 22.5-inch tyres – a trend that is increasing year-on-year. Here Tyres & Accessories takes a look at the latest market data from a number of sources in order to give an overview of current trends. This article focuses on data provided by GfK, but – owing to the fact that it is current hot topic – also analyses different estimates about how many tyres are made in China, something that is outside the scope of the data provided by GfK and therefore our conclusions on this point are something quite separate to GfK’s input.
It is clear that European anti-truck tyre tariffs are already having marked impact on the shape of the market. This is putting pressure on affected importers and manufacturers alike, but – as we have seen elsewhere in this feature – it could also lead to price increases and product shortages. Here Tyres & Accessories takes a closer look at the issue and what is being done in response based on contributions of industry associations such as the NTDA and ITMA as well as key industry figures.
On 7 May the European Commission announced that it is implementing provisional anti-dumping duties of between 52.85 euros and 82.17 euros per tyre on new and retreaded tyres imported into Europe from China. It is a landmark move that is already having a huge impact on truck tyre markets across Europe. Tyres & Accessories spoke with TYM International managing director, Steve Eke and Triangle Tyre's general manager for Europe, Corrado Moglia (representative examples of affected importers and manufacturers respectively) in order to find out more.
After “years of extensive testing across Europe”, Prometeon Tyre Group has announced it is linking agricultural tyre distribution specialists Kirkby Tyres in order to bring Pirelli branded agricultural tyres to market. Voted the NTDA Tyre Wholesaler of the year in 2017, Kirkby has over 60 years of experience serving the market from the firm’s UK base in Liverpool. Kirkby will now be Prometeon’s exclusive wholesale partner serving the UK mainland and Ireland for the Pirelli Agricultural, PHP line.
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has announced the introduction of its Responsible Part Worn Tyre programme (RPWTP) at its 2018 forum day at the Belfry Hotel in Wishaw. The programme, introduced and strongly endorsed by Stefan Hay, chief executive of the National Tyre Distributors’ Association (NTDA) at the event, was detailed by Alan Bithell. The RPWTP has been designed with the purpose of raising standards of professionalism in retailers selling part-worn tyres, ensuring all tyres sold by participating retailers are legally compliant.
The need to increase the volume of training in the tyre industry, helping both to achieve uniformly better standards of service and for businesses to work to retain staff through training and qualifications, has increased, Bridgestone commercial and marketing director John Folliss tells Tyres & Accessories. More reasons for enhancing training programmes include the changes in skill base brought about by both new technology and legislation.
Rema Tip Top UK’s four consecutive NTDA/Tyre Industry Awards give the company a decent claim to being the country’s leading supplier of aftermarket tyre equipment. The Leeds based company is the UK distributor of Corghi equipment. The Italian brand’s recently introduced Exact Linear has been added to Rema Tip Top’s product range, extending the existing aligner running Exact software, the Blacktech.
The number of female mechanics working in the UK has risen by 125 per cent since 2011, accounting for almost 10 per cent of the current workforce. This statistic was released by online car garage and repair marketplace WhoCanFixMyCar.com, which also announced that it will launch a female mechanic awareness scheme, in partnership with its garages, to celebrate International Women’s Day and encourage more women into the field.
Yokohama has been shortlisted in the prestigious UK Sponsorship Awards for its work in promoting tyre safety with Chelsea FC and TyreSafe. Nominated in the Football Sponsorship (Domestic) category, Yokohama will be competing against the likes of DHL, Hays and Cadbury, in recognition of its work at Stamford Bridge in promoting tyre safety to travelling football fans.
The news that commercial vehicle tyre registration took effect on 1 February has been met with lots of questions from inside the trade. At the most panicked end of the spectrum, some wholesalers fear that all Chinese-produced truck tyres could end up being subject to at least a 30 per cent levy.
A year after the UK government began a consultation period on the question of whether or not to extend the period of the first MOT for cars and motorcycles from three years to four years, Jesse Norman MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads, Local Transport and Devolution has announced that the government is keeping the three-year first MOT policy we currently have:
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