Awards
Varta’s start-stop batteries have scooped two industry awards, reinforcing the brand’s prominence in both the OE and European aftermarket. Heading the accolades is a bronze Edison Best New Product Award in the Energy and Sustainability category. The annual Edison Awards are one of the most renowned business prizes, with the jury honouring the most progressive, creative and successful products and services from industry and commerce.
Tyre manufacturer Mitas Tyres Ltd and distributor B.A. Bush have developed a close working relationship which has helped to create benefits for both parties, with both companies reporting recession-beating performances as Tyres & Accessories found out.
With the recession biting hard, there has been a significant amount of turmoil in the tyre market. However, for two companies in the business, tyre manufacturer Mitas Tyres and tyre distributor B.A. Bush Ltd, the business outlook is apparently very positive.
Autosport International kicks off the 2012 motorsport season at the Birmingham NEC, UK, on 14-15 January and we’re offering three readers the chance to win a pair of tickets. If you want to win, all you have to do is answer this very simple question: Which tyre manufacturer took over F1 tyre supply from Bridgestone during the last season? To be in with a chance, simply email your answer to info@77.237.250.82 or post it the old fashion way to: 6a Salem Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5PR. Mark your entries "Autosport Competition" and don’t forget to include your contact details. The three winners will be drawn from all the correct answers. The closing date is 9 December 2011.
Bosch reports that members of its battery range landed both ‘Best Buy’ and ‘Recommended’ accolades in this year’s Car Mechanics magazine awards. The tests used to determine the best product in each category looked at usability, durability, capacity and cranking. The Bosch S5 Silver Plus, which features 610 cranking Amps, a 63AH capacity and a five-year warranty, was determined the ‘Best Buy’ – with the maximum score of 20/20, while the – Bosch S4 Silver, with 540 cranking Amps and 60AH capacity, received a ‘Recommended’ accolade.
TW Tyres from Rugby has won the national final of Bridgestone’s First Stop Karting event held at Daytona Milton Keynes. The team claimed the prize after almost three hours of intense racing in the pouring rain at the famous outdoor circuit, beating 15 other teams in the process.
With a trend of consistent sales growth over the past five and half years, and with the company on-track to exceed £350 million in total turnover this year, Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS) is shaping up to be the largest business of its kind in the UK despite a challenging market environment. To put this in perspective, the best turnover of a company in this sector reported last year was somewhere north of £330 million. Tyres & Accessories recently met with wholesale director Alan Baldwin and the company’s new wholesale marketing manager, Peter Hayden, to find out more.
Axeon, a Dundee-based independent supplier of lithium-ion batteries, says a project it undertook with two other companies, Ricardo and Allied Vehicles, has succeeded in developing a new battery for use in electric cars that offers a more than 35 per cent improvement in range compared with batteries weighing the same and employing existing technologies. The parties involved are said to currently be in “active discussions” about the commercialisation of the new technology.
Tyre Shopper has just been awarded an Experian Hitwise Top 10 Award for the 10th time in the 5 years since its launch. Experian Hitwise monitors over 8 million online consumers in the UK to provide independent data about the websites they interact with.
Michelin’s Protek Max inner tube has been presented with a Gold Award in the accessories category at the 2011 Eurobike Awards. A jury of bicycle industry experts decided the Michelin product was worthy of one of 10 gold medals. 430 products were entered. In the last seven years of the awards, the jury has rewarded innovation, practicality, environmental friendliness and longevity with Eurobike awards.
TAFF Industry Advertising Campaign Award nominee Hankook has launched the second phase of its global television advertising campaign, running with the slogan, “Be One with It”. In Europe campaign will run across September and October having first launched in May 2011, on air in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia and the UK.
While UK wholesaler Grouptyre no longer has the exclusivity distribution rights for Maxxis, it does distribute a range of “margin brands”, including the exclusive brands Evergreen, Federal and Goodride. The joint statement released by Grouptyre and Maxxis to announce the mutual dissolution of their exclusive distribution agreement spoke clearly of the differing directions of the companies’ strategies, and the wholesaler’s managing director Karl Naylor has subsequently reaffirmed the “evolution” of its strategy: “Our strategy has evolved as we have seen a number of external factors influencing the tyre market in recent times.” Instead of one main brand in Maxxis, Grouptyre’s future strategy seems to place greater emphasis on a range of products.
Omitec has announced that it will supply and provide support for diagnostic tools throughout the National Tyres and Autocare network in the UK. The equipment supplier will provide its OmiScan II professional diagnostic scan tool to all 227 branches over the summer months. Each branch will receive initial training and will have access to the Omitec support line for ongoing information. Each tool is updated on a continuous basis with the latest software releases from Omitec.
Michelin is to communicate a series of wet grip orientated messages with the next phase of its UK advertising campaign. This time the safety themed ads are designed to show the Michelin Man (Bibendum) protecting a motorist from treacherous wet driving conditions. Through a mix of TV ads, outdoor posters and on-line banners, the next phase of Michelin's global ad campaign will be rolled out across the UK. The first television ads will appear on Monday 12 September.
It is certainly not the only development to take place within Bond International during 2011, but the wholesaler's recent launch of Tyregiant.com is likely to be the most headline-grabbing. Over the years various sources representing all the UK's largest tyre wholesalers have spoken of their capability of offering an online retailing capability, but up till now few – if any – have ventured onto the information superhighway. The solitary pioneering effort in this area was Grouptyre's GoodTyreGuide, which ambitiously seeks to fuse retailing, reviewing and wholesaling through its membership of whole operations. A year on from that, with the jury still out on whether this concept has delivered the kind of results expected at launch, Tyregiant is pitching itself as a straightforward retail site for consumers. The clever part for Bond (a company that has always shied away from retailing itself so as not to alienate its business to business customers) is that, like GoodTyreGuide before it, it is seeking to offer additional business to its customer base rather than itself becoming a competitor.
Micheldever Tyre Services has told tyrepress.com/Tyres & Accessories that the company is “absolutely delighted” to be nominated for the 2011 TAFF Wholesale Awards. A spokesman for Micheldever firmly stated its appreciation: “We are very grateful for the support of our customers in recognising our efforts and backing this with a nomination in the Wholesaler Category.
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