(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has taken the first steps toward closing its Athens, Georgia, retread rubber and racing tyre plant by the end of summer. The news comes after the yremaker filed paperwork with the Security and Exchange Commission outlining the write-down it expects to take as a result of the action.
Avon Tyres is promoting its online brand exposure with the launch of a new web site, accessible at www.avontyres.com The new site streamlines the tyre selection process, and provides a comprehensive guide to Avon Tyres and their extensive list of products.
An EU-funded project, involving nine European partners and the University of Bath, has resulted in a prototype urban vehicle called CLEVER (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport). The idea behind the 2.16 million euros (1.5 million Pounds) project was to produce a new type of vehicle for city motoring, less than one metre wide.
Avon Tyres’ competitive debut in the British GT Championship is being hailed as a resounding success by teams and drivers alike at Oulton Park, Cheshire last weekend. Race winner, Chris Niarchos in his Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430, said: “The race was good all round…[the car] ran faultlessly and credit to Avon. The tyres were brilliant….they allowed us to push very early in the race which, historically to be fair, we’ve never been able to do that much.”
The seat belt has been named the most important innovation in car safety of the past 50 years in a new poll from Avon Tyres. The much maligned speed camera was voted the 10th. One of the first acronyms to appear on our cars, ABS, or Anti-lock Braking System, came second in Avon’s survey to find the safety innovation that has had the most impact. Airbags, Cats Eyes and Crumple Zones rounded off the top five. Despite much criticism and an explosion in their usage (there are now roughly 6000) speed cameras were named as the most important innovation by 2 per cent of motorists. Avon Tyres surveyed more than 1,100 motorists.
(Australian Tyre Dealer) Stuckey Tyre Service in Victoria and Kostera Tyre Service in Western Australia have been appointed as distributors for Dunlop, Avon and Waymaster brand vintage tyres in Australia.
Chris Marchant, managing director of Vintage Tyre Supplies UK (exclusive worldwide distributor for Dunlop, Avon and Waymaster brand vintage tyres), has made these appointments in order to service its exclusive range of Vintage and Classic tyres in Australia.
“A dream collection of exotica” is one description of the line-up of cars that will be racing at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend, as part of the Brookson DWF F3/GT Festival. Supercars from 12 manufacturers, including Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lotus and Porsche will contest the first round of the prestigious Avon Tyres British GT Championship. The front running cars in the championship are capable of reaching 60 mph in 3 seconds and have the potential to reach almost 200 mph.
Vaughan Freeman, a motoring writer for leading national newspaper The Times, has published an article promoting the use of cold weather tyres. Under the title “Tests Show Winter Tyres Can Cut Braking Distances”, the article explained all the important features about the introduction of cold weather tyres in the UK.
The British GT lap record could be about to fall, according to series tyre supplier Avon Tyres, and its tyre are set to play an important part.
After close season development, the most recent test (2 February), involved teams from the GT2 and GT3 categories. Despite an ambient temperature hovering around freezing, TracksSpeed’s team manager Piers Masarati, who was testing a Porsche 911, managed to set a time 0.7 seconds quicker than last year’s pole position for the GT3 category. (Piers Maserati set a time of 1 min 11.2. Last season’s pole position time for the GT3 category was 1 min11.9.
Leading tyre retailer, Kwik-Fit, and UK manufacturer, Avon Tyres, have published research on UK drivers’ winter tyre awareness habits. The Kwik-Fit research shows that 6.9 million UK motorists (25 per cent) don’t check their tyres at all during the winter. Not surprisingly, 12.9 million British motorists (47 per cent) admit to losing control of their car on a wet or icy road – with nearly one-in-five of these incidents (17 per cent) leading to an accident.
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co has appointed Kerry A Barnett as director of financial planning and commercial analysis and Gary C Schroeder as director of credit.
In her new position, Barnett will be responsible for developing annual plans, monthly updates and forecasts for Cooper’s North American tire division and will consolidate operating plans for Cooper-Avon and the company’s Asian operations. Barnett will also oversee customer accounting and customer profitability reporting, commercial analyses and financially related sales and marketing activities, Cooper stated in a release.
Global logistics service provider, Kuehne + Nagel, has recently been awarded a contract by Cooper-Avon Tyres Ltd to manage the movement of 12,200 tonnes of tyres and raw material over the next year to and from its Melksham facility. A official statement explained that Cooper-Avon will be able to streamline its supply chain, managing the movement of cargo on all trade lanes more efficiently through carrier flexibility, competitive pricing and the re-loading of import containers for export.
Avon Tyres has launched Ice Touring, a brand new winter tyre range. Designed to cope with the demands of winter motoring, the Avon Ice Touring range comes in a variety of sizes to fit most small to medium-sized vehicles, from the Vauxhall Corsa to the Volkswagen Golf.
According to the manufacturer, engineers developed the bespoke tread, and high silica content rubber, in some of Europe’s most challenging winter conditions. The end result is a tyre that provides exceptional braking in the snow, grip on ice and resists aquaplaning in the wet. The Ice Touring is the result of an 18-month extensive test programme conducted in the demanding Kaunertal glacier region of Austria. The new range will be available across the UK.
Cooper is celebrating the premiere of a new look that the company says is designed to embody its “position as a leading tyre brand.” The new look was unveiled at a press conference held at the SEMA exhibition in Las Vegas. “The transformation of our brand reflects our uncompromising commitment to compete with the best in the world as a manufacturer and marketer of great tyres for all consumers, regardless of what they drive, on the road or off. It’s time for our logo to reflect the exciting things we’ve been doing at Cooper, and SEMA is the perfect venue to unveil our new image,” said Tom Dattilo, chairman, president and CEO.
The new Avon GT tyre, which will be used in next season’s British GT championship, has seen its first racing debut.
Damax team drivers, Aaron Scott and Rod Carmen, assessed the tyres in their Ferrari 360 throughout two TAG Heuer 250 GT races at Brands Hatch in support of the inaugural A1 Grand Prix.
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