Yokohama HPT has added three new ranges of alloy wheels to its product portfolio, with each range specific to a vehicle marque. The wheel ranges are from US companies Bayern, Mandrus and Victor Equipment and the marques are BMW, Mercedes and Porsche, respectively.
Ford has bought the Rover brand name from BMW for £6 million, raising hopes that the marque could yet rise from the ashes. Ford was granted an option of first refusal to buy the Rover brand when it acquired Land Rover from BMW for $2.7 billion in 2000. Although Ford did not comment on the future of the Rover brand, sources told The Times that the company wanted to build further upon its successful Land Rover brand in North America and has plans to design a so-called “crossover vehicle” using the Rover brand.
Hofmann has been one of Europe’s top names in lifting for a decade. A year ago the company celebrated the 10,000th two-post lift with baseframe sold in Europe. Now another milestone has been achieved, 10 years ago the MTF3000 baseframe-less lift, recently sales passed the 5000 unit mark.
Viking International has introduced a special battery promotion to cater for the autumn/winter demand for replacing car batteries. For all the early bird customers who buy 20 Varta or 15 Power Pak batteries before the end of September, Viking is offering a selection of goodies free, such as POS materials, a quality branded fleece and a battery stand worth £50. Customers can also enjoy extended credit terms as part of the offer.
Honeywell Friction Materials has launched its new Bendix Jurid Brake Pad and Disk Catalogue to the European market. This new multilingual edition covers the full range of Bendix Jurid brake pads, brake disks and brake disk kits for the passenger car and light commercial vehicle sectors.
Michelin is launching a summer campaign designed to benefit retailers and consumers purchasing its Pilot Road sport touring tyres during August and September. Consumers will get a free A3 Michelin European road atlas worth £11.99 with every pair of Pilot Road tyres purchased and will be entered into a draw to win £1,000 worth of World of BMW touring holiday vouchers.
Breyton Design has introduced several new sizes of its “Spirit” wheel. The 21″, 22″ and 23″ sizes are designed to complement the appearance of all models in the BMW range. The Spirit wheel comes with silver-effect paint and a stainless steel coating for its drop-base rims, thus ensuring a long service life and good value retention.
The new sizes are 9.0 x 21″, 10.5x 21″ and 10 x 22″ for the 7-series, the X5 and X3 and, last but not least, 11 x 23″ with 315/25 ZR 23 tyres for the X5.
All Breyton wheels are TÜV-tested and are, of course, supplied with TÜV certificates.
Maywood Equipment Group has supplied the Honda Formula One team, based in Brackley, Northamptonshire, with a floor-to-floor platform lift (The Move 30) for the team’s wind tunnel complex. The Move 30 is a high-rise elevator type vehicle lift with a travel range of 1.8 to 12 metres and a capacity of three tonnes. In addition to taking cars from one floor to another it is also ideal for basement or roof parking. At Honda the lift takes vehicles from the ground level to the wind tunnel on the first floor and then up to the museum on the second floor.
Bridgestone is responding to the fitment of run-flat tyres on a growing number of vehicles by giving expert guidance to technicians at BMW dealerships. To date 15 franchises comprising 22 individual outlets have completed the tyre manufacturer’s comprehensive Run-Flat Certificate Programme. It follows the fitment of Bridgestone’s Turanza ER300 RFT and Potenza RE050 RFT tyres as original equipment on BMW models such as the 1-Series, 3-Series, 5-Series and Z4.
Last year’s inaugural IQPC international congress on Intelligent Tire Technology has proved what today’s hot tyre industry topics are. Extended mobility concepts and tyre pressure monitoring systems promise to increase safety tremendously. But customers’ acceptance and satisfaction highly depends on adequate aftermarket supply. Other challenges for the tyre industry constitute the trend towards the intelligent tyres as well as the European Commission’s intention to ban highly aromatic oils as an ingredient of tyre rubber. Top-level speakers from leading OEMs, tyre manufacturers, suppliers and research centres such as Fiat, Michelin, Siemens VDO, Beru, Nira Dynamics, TSS International, Rema Tip Top and IKA, BMW and many more have confirmed that they will report about their first-hand experiences and results. The next congress will run from the 20 – 22 September 2006. Further information is available from www.iqpc.de/de-2526.
Sherbrook International is introducing two specific 4×4 designs to its Outlaw Wheels portfolio, combining up-to-the-minute styling with total affordability. The new styles – Samurai and Khukiri – are available immediately. Said CEO Peter Whitehouse, “Not only are 4×4 drivers looking for distinctive, cutting-edge designs but equally they want to be certain that replacement wheels are equal to or better than the OE spec, which is precisely the case with Samurai and Khukiri. The fact that the entire Outlaw range is not only European-manufactured to uncompromisingly high standards and beautifully finished, but is also fully TUV-approved and comes with our 12-month unconditional guarantee, is a huge assurance.”
BMW achieved strong vehicle sales in the UK during the month of March. With 21,605 vehicles registered during the month, BMW has recorded an increase of 24 per cent on this time last year and an overall rise in volume of 16 per cent year to date. One of the key influencing factors in BMW’s success has been the introduction of the new 3 Series Saloon and Touring models. Overall 3 Series has shown an increase of 63 per cent when compared to this time last year. Other strong performers in the BMW range are the 7 Series, 5 Series and 1 Series models, all of which have shown a sharp increase in registrations when compared year on year.
Summer tyre comparative tests carried out recently in Germany saw Pirelli surpass all its other competitors and achieve outstanding ratings. This despite the severity of the tests, conducted by the top car magazines as well as ADAC, the country’s motoring organisation.
These extremely favourable test results repeated the excellent results achieved in recent months by Pirelli’s winter tyre ranges.
The NTDA is planning to organise a series of seminars up and down the country devoted to the subject of run-flat tyres. The announcement follows a series of similar events centred around proposed new legislation on safe material handling, which attracted over 200 members during the winter months.
Nanjing Automobile Corporation (UK) Ltd (NAC), the company that bought the remains of MG Rover after its collapse, has signed a 33-year lease with site owner St Modwen Properties. Nanjing says it plans to renew production of the MG TF sports car in 2007.
The agreement will see Nanjing pay rent of £1.8 million per annum on 105 acres of the 469-acre site. This comprises the South Works of the former MG Rover plant, which incorporates two car assembly plants, the paint shop and administrative offices, together totalling more than 2 million square feet. Interestingly, the lease terms incorporate a six-month break clause in case Nanjing is unable to confirm a viable long-term future for the site.
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