If you are not happy with the results below please do another search
Hankook Tire is expanding its iON product line for electric vehicles with the introduction of the Hankook iON GT. This range includes the iON GT summer tyre for battery-powered city cars and saloons, and the iON GT SUV for compact SUVs. These new products debuted at The Tire Cologne and will be available from autumn 2024 in sizes for 16- to 20-inch rims.
The organiser of The Tire Cologne 2024 has expressed satisfaction with this year’s show. Koelnmesse reports that some 14,400 visitors from 109 countries attended the event in Cologne, Germany between 4 and 6 June, meeting with 430 exhibitors from 35 countries.
The latest Brand Finance data shows that Michelin is “the world’s most valuable and strongest tyre brand” followed by Bridgestone in second and with Continental rounding off the podium. However, Far Eastern brand value is rocketing, with Giti the fastest-growing tyre brand in the ranking, following a 19 per cent brand value increase. Similarly, Sailun, Linglong Tire and Sentury Tire accelerates off the back of an overseas demand surge.
Marangoni has engaged in a retread cooperation with Prinx Chengshan’s Austone brand of truck and bus tyres. Following the reorganisation of certain aspects of Prinx Chengshan’s commercial vehicle tyre business in the Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH) region, which specifically includes refreshing distribution of the company’s Austone and Fortune-branded products, Marangoni experts tested a number of the tyremaker’s casings in Italy.
Sustainability was the order of the day on the still-performance-driven Pirelli stand at The Tire Cologne. Within that remit, Pirelli unveiled its new P Zero Winter 2, which embodies how the company has worked to close the performance gap between those two apparently opposing poles. Meanwhile, Pirelli also announced that the company has worked with the BMW Group to unveil a new 20-inch P Zero Winter 2 tyres for the BMW 7 Series which focuses on range capabilities, thanks to its “A class” European labelling for rolling resistance.
On 30 May, Cheng Shin Rubber released its 2023 annual report. In terms of sales, the tyre manufacturer’s sales in 2023 were all lower than the previous year. Among all categories of tyres, the sales of motorcycle tyres increased by 0.34 per cent year-on-year, which was flat. However, the sales volume of PCR, TBR, bicycle tyres, inner tubes and other tyre products all declined to varying degrees. The decline in PCR and TBR products was 12.92 per cent and 26.08 per cent.
On 31 May, Kenda chairman Yang Chi-Jen revealed some of the tyre manufacturer’s operations at the shareholders’ meeting. In his words, the company’s Phase II project at its Shenzhen factory in China stopped production on 1 June and was converted into a sales centre and shipping warehouse. After the suspension of production, the products distributed to the southern Chinese market will come from Kenda’s other tyre manufacturing bases, including the Kunshan and Tianjin factories. Before the suspension of production, the project mainly produced motorcycle tyres.
Retail sales at the lower end of the UK’s ultra-high performance tyre segment have seen a trend away from premium tyres, with the third-tier Budget segment continuing to increase its share, according to the latest panelmarket data from market analyst GfK. In last year’s edition of our feature on the UHP Tyre segment, Tyres & Accessories noted that there are three long-term factors at play in causing the sector dynamics we are currently witnessing: OEMs’ continued move towards the specification of 17” and 18” tyres on mass market, sub-premium car models; macroeconomic conditions in the UK, which have led to increasingly expensive retail goods at the same time as soaring borrowing costs and extremely soft growth in both the economy and wages; and the expansion in availability of low-cost tyres from sub-Premium, sub-Mid Range tyre manufacturers.
Davanti has extended its ultra-high performance tyre range with a new semi-slick track tyre. The Protoura Race joins the Protoura Sport in its range of bold, budget-conscious designs engineered to deliver high levels of performance on the road and on the track.
The Bridgestone Potenza Race tyre empowers drivers to perform confidently, benefitting from leading control on track in dry conditions. Bridgestone’s new semi-slick Potenza Race has set new best lap times, best dry braking performance and outstanding longevity when compared to main competitor tyres. The Potenza Race is Bridgestone’s first-ever dedicated replacement tyre for track days, and the result of the strong Potenza heritage and the first Potenza Race original equipment (OE) fitments including the Lamborghini Huracán STO and SEAT Leon Cupra.
Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing will start an unprecedented five BMW cars in the 52nd ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring endurance race, including the high-profile ‘Girls Only - Ready to rock the Green Hell’ team. The team qualified with two podium finishes across four races in their BMW M4 GT4, and regular drivers Carrie Schreiner, Fabienne Wohlwend, Pippa Mann, and Beitske Visser will again lead the team on the track, with team manager Nicole Willems leading the entirely female team. All five Giti-supported cars will race on the GitiCompete GTR1 tyres, part of the manufacturer’s extensive competition tyre range. It adds that this proven technology transfers to its range for passenger cars, especially focusing on how its motorsport tyres can inform more sustainable motoring.
Pirelli is supplying tyres to entries in six different classes at the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring. Describing the event as “one of the most important” in motorsport, Pirelli’s partners include the Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by the Italian Dinamic GT team in the blue riband SP9 category (FIA-GT3) from which the overall winner will emerge. The #54 (PRO) will run the latest generation Hard, Medium and Soft compound Pirelli P Zero and if it rains, it can rely on the Cinturato Hard and Soft, for heavy rain or a drying track respectively. Pirelli said the event presents “an opportunity… to put to the test [its] entire range of GT and Turismo tyres, designed to suit the characteristics of all the different types of car taking part.” The race famously features highly variable weather conditions over the course of the combined Nordschleife and GP-Strecke’s 25.378km.
Tyre management at the Rally di Sardegna, the sixth round of the World Rally Championship, is “even more important” with a more compact 16-stage schedule, according to supplier Pirelli. Returning to Alghero, the event covers a total of 266.12 timed kilometres over three days of competition. There will be no service or tyre changing before the repeat runs, by which time the cars and tyres will have already been subjected to a lot of stress, meaning careful tyre management will benefit teams. In Sardinia the hard compound Scorpion KX WRC HB will be the prime and the soft compound Scorpion KX WRC SB will be the option.
Long before the topic became a priority in the corporate world, the frequent disposal of tyres in good condition caught the attention of Vipal’s founder, Vicencio Paludo who was at the time owner of a fuel station in Nova Prata, in southern Brazil. This prompted him to acquire machines to retread used tyres. Vipal’s business was consolidated to avoid waste and the generation of residues.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.