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On 14 October, Guizhou Tyre (also known as Advance Tyre) answered several questions from investors during an online T&A. Tyrepress has analysed the questions and presents a selection of Guizhou Tyre’s answers here.
Hankook Tire correctly observes that a cross-industry collaboration between a tyre company and fashion brand “piques curiosity” as these businesses “seem to have less or no connection at all.” But a lack of relatedness hasn’t stopped such an unlikely pairing from becoming reality: Hankook is launching apparel in collaboration with South Korean fashion company Handsome.
A team of 40 riders drawn from the transport and logistics industry have completed a 505km cycle challenge across southern Malawi in soaring temperatures, pedalling through the spectacular Liwonde National Park to raise more than £205,000 towards Transaid’s projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The remarkable sum of money adds to the £25,000 raised by the 16 riders who took on Hadrian’s Cycleway over two days in September. Combined, the non-restricted funds will be used by Transaid to focus on improving road safety and increasing access to healthcare in rural communities.
The tyre boffins at Auto Bild have been busy of late, evaluating no fewer than 56 products for their 2022 winter test. After looking at the size 255/55 R17 tyres’ braking performance in wet and snowy conditions, Auto Bild selected the 20 with the shortest average stopping distances and subjected these to further testing on dry, wet and snow-covered surfaces and also examined their comfort, noise, mileage and rolling resistance. The motoring publication declared two tyres joint test winners and gave five products the highest ‘exemplary’ rating.
The iON name is one we’ve recently become acquainted with on Hankook car tyres. With the launch of the iON Evo and iON winter, Hankook Tire has a range of summer and winter tyres specifically aimed at electric vehicles. The South Korean tyre maker is now launching a series of iON truck and bus tyres in its domestic market, and this is worth noting as Hankook says some of these products are being developed with European markets in mind.
According to off-highway wheels and hub systems manufacturer moveero, its high-speed Profi-Flex tractor wheel addresses the issues of runout that can occur on manually adjustable track wheels used on high-speed applications. The company says this results in high levels of comfort, ride quality and tractor performance.
Mercedes-Benz is starting to equip its EQE and S-Class models with door handles containing materials gleaned from end-of-life tyres, and those involved in the project have been acknowledged for their contribution. Pyrolysis-based recycling specialist Pyrum Innovations, together with BASF, Mercedes-Benz and Witte Automotive, received a Materialica Design + Technology Award 2022 at this month’s eMove360 ° trade fair.
Manufacturing equipment is being installed within the KamaTyresKZ joint venture tyre plant in Kazakhstan ahead of the facility’s commissioning with an initial capacity to produce 3 million car tyres and 500,000 truck tyres annually. A second project phase will add capacities
for rubber products such as conveyer belts, while agricultural tyres will join the production programme in the third phase.
The Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe plans to close its UK tyre manufacturing plant in Melksham, Wiltshire by the end of 2023. The company will now begin a consultation process on the proposed closure involving 350 Cooper employees and the relevant employee representative bodies. Previous cutbacks at Cooper’s Melksham plant, one of the few new tyre producers remaining in the UK, were announced in 2018. Car and SUV tyre manufacturing were moved to newer facilities in the company’s manufacturing footprint, such as its plant in Serbia. The remaining functions of the site were the production of motorsport and motorcycle tyres, as well as the company’s Europe headquarters and Technical Center. The merger of Cooper and its new parent company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was finalised in June 2021 following the announcement of its acquisition in February. Goodyear approved a plan to streamline its global administrative structure in the second quarter of 2022.
The World Brand Lab has released the list of Asia’s 500 most influential brands in 2022. Tyrepress analysis shows seven brands related to tyres among those ranked, namely: Bridgestone, Hankook, Kumho, Doublestar Linglong, Sailun, and Sumitomo. The Sumitomo brand involves diversified industries, but its subsidiary Sumitomo Rubber is a world-renowned tyre manufacturer.
Tyres have always been a highly technological product, but the influence of technology in the distribution and retail parts of the business hasn’t always moved at the same pace. Recent years, however, have seen the role of Internet and e-commerce take-off. That progress was compounded during the last couple of years of pandemic-related lockdowns. Now, as workers at one of the UK’s leading tyre retail chains recently told us, online orders and bookings account for the lion’s share of business. Indeed, those particular staff members reported that online orders make up as much as 90 per cent of the business they deal with each working day. With that in mind, in October’s magazine, Tyres & Accessories takes a closer look at the Digital Tyre Business, which for the purposes of that feature includes the e-commerce, e-tail and stock management parts of the tyre business.
For more relating to the online tyre business, look out for the Digital Tyre Business feature in the October 2022 edition Tyres & Accessories magazine. Not a subscriber? No problem, click here to become one.
In September 2022 Asahi Kasei Europe joined a joint project on blockchain technology relating to ISCC PLUS certification. Led by the Dutch software provider Circularise and the Japanese trading company Marubeni, this project aims at enhancing the efficiency of the certification process and the integrity of the certified data.
Just as too many cooks spoil the proverbial broth, multiple stakeholders can sometimes be problematic in the business world. Peter-Alexander van ‘t Hof tasted this particular broth a few months ago and found it bitter and unpalatable. Yet he isn’t letting this ruin his appetite for the tyre industry.
The suggestion that the UK tyre distribution space is ripe for consolidation is not new. But during the single week that we went to press with the latest edition at the start of October, three big tyre retail announcements were made. First Stop broke through the 150-branch barrier. Point S announced that its buying group of independent tyre retailers now numbers 300. And Halfords bought Lodge Tyres for just over £37 million.
In July, TyreSafe held its first post-lockdown in-person day conference and awards event. More recently the NTDA named the winners at its annual Tyre Industry Awards event. And our sister publication WhatTyre.com has also published names of the winners of its 2022 WhatTyre Tyre of the Year awards. What these three things have in common is that they all aim to give credit where credit is due. They all aim to reward success.
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