tyrepress.com has a new question of the month – visit the homepage at www.tyrepress.com to join the debate: What do you think will be the direct result of President Obama’s Chinese-manufactured tyre tariffs? 1) The European market will take the excess product and prices in the budget segment will fall 2) Nothing except more Chinese-made tyres coming to Europe 3) The market will remain the same
The UK government is to extend the successful “bangers for cash” scrappage scheme until February 2010 with £100 million in extra funding. Alongside the increased funding the government will work with manufacturers to extend the benefits to van owners with vehicles over 8 years old rather than the current 10 year requirement. Car owners will also get a boost, with the age qualification changed by 6 months to extend the benefits to cars registered on or before 29 Feb 2000 (V registration). The scheme will come to an end in February 2010 or when the funding runs out, which ever is sooner.
So far 227,750 orders have been placed through the scheme. The increased funding enables the scheme to fund a further 100,000 vehicles, bringing total budget to £400 million and covering up to 400,000 vehicles in total. The extension continues as a government and manufacturer partnership, with matched funding providing the £2,000 discount for each scrappage order.
Announcing the news Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “The sector has been strongly affected by the recession, but the scrappage scheme has delivered a boost to manufacturers and the supply chain. We have listened to the concerns of manufacturers and are increasing the funding of the scheme to £400 million.”
The White House is now working on plans to wind down the popular Cash for Clunkers program. At the urging of car dealers, who want a defined end date for the program so they don’t get caught out on the incentive program, the Obama Administration may announce this week when the consumer incentive program will end.
The promoter of Automechanika 2010 reports that this year’s fair is defying the crisis. The number of registrations received for the exhibition to date has exceeded all expectations, reports Messe Frankfurt. With still over a year to go, registrations have been received for a significantly greater exhibition space – altogether more than 100,000 square metres – than at the comparable time before the last event.
Bosch has invested approximately $8 million to renovate its vehicle test track in Flat Rock, Mich., to provide a state-of-the-art facility that will be used to test a variety of automotive technologies.
The renovation included repaving and expanding the surface size of the site’s Vehicle Dynamics Area, and reconfiguring the test facility to accommodate Bosch’s vehicle dynamics and foundation brake testing. Facility improvements include expansion of the pad size from 417,000 to 937,000 square feet; addition of a three-lane high bank curve; extension of the track loop from 3/4-mile to 1.4 miles; and the installation of a hydroplane surface.
British and International Tyre Supplies (BITS), part of the County Tyres Group, recently bought a new static axle weighbridge from Axle Weight Technology Ltd (Axtec) in order to help it stay within strict axle load weight rules. According to the company, the increased weight of tyres has been making it more difficult to judge if the company’s delivery vehicles are within legal limits when they set off on their daily delivery runs. BITS wanted to achieve the maximum payload of around 1.2 tonnes on its 3.5 tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, while also staying on the right side of the law.
Taking 10 kgs as an average weight per tyre meant that 120 tyres can usually be safely loaded onto the Sprinters. But this way of doing things is a bit haphazard as the product mix can change the weight significantly, especially if heavier 4 x 4 or ‘run flat’ tyres are being carried, leading to the risk of an axle or gross weight overloading.
A worker who started a fire that caused £700,000-worth of damage at the Budget Tyre Auto Centre in Edinburgh has been sentenced to 28 months in jail. Colin McReadie reportedly drank 20 (yes, twenty) pints of lager when, paranoid about the potential loss of his job, he took a gas torch to a rack of tyres before locking the building and – incredibly – going back to the pub.
McReadie had recently been promoted to branch manager, having worked at the branch for three months. The fact that he pled guilty at the first opportunity cut his potential sentence considerably from a possible 42 month stretch.
While flagging Western markets are offering handouts to carmakers in order to lubricate sales, in China – with a car market still widely regarded as booming by comparison – has announced that it is to increase its own scrappage budget from one billion yuan (£95.6 million, $146 million) to six billion yuan (£573.6 million, $876 million). According to a China4Auto.com report, the move follows the success of the incentive program in rural areas.
Formula One’s off-track happenings continued to rival its race-days in terms of drama as the sport’s longest running and most successful team issued a stunning ultimatum, threatening to end its involvement if proposed budget cap rules are implemented next season.
FIA chief Max Mosley has proposed a system that would allow teams remaining within a £40 million budget cap to operate with fewer technological restrictions than those that chose not to. Ferrari argues that this would create a two-tier championship stating, “The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of… endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are priorities for the future. If these indispensable principles are not respected, and if the regulations decided for 2010 will not change, Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars.”
On Friday 24 April Amtel-Vredestein OJSC’s shareholders recommended that managers enter the Russian part of the wider Amtel-Vredestein company into bankruptcy proceedings. At this stage the proposal remains a suggestion and it is expected to be weeks before the company makes a final decision on whether or not to enter bankruptcy protection. Tyres & Accessories contacted various Amtel-Vredestein OJSC company representatives, but none were willing to comment on the likelihood of Amtel-Vredestein OJSC declaring bankruptcy or what the effects would be on the company.
Were Amtel-Vredestein OJSC to enter bankruptcy, article 106 (2) of the Russian Federation Federal Law on Insolvency sets out a clear order of priority for creditors’ claims: According to Craig Averch, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development claims of citizens to whom the debtor is liable for harm to life or health shall be satisfied first; followed by settlements for the payment of “severance pay and wages with persons working under a labour agreement, including under contract, and for the payment of royalties under copyright agreements.” Third, creditors’ claims for obligations secured against property are to be taken satisfied, following by claims for “mandatory payments to the budget and for extra-budgetary funds.” The process concludes with settlements being made to all other creditors.
UK chancellor, Alistair Darling announced in the Budget that UK fuel duty will increase by two pence per litre on 1 September 2009, and will be followed by an additional penny – in real terms – every year between 2010 and 2013. The measure is designed to “support the public finances, while also driving the move to a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy”. The Budget predicts that the move will “save 2 MtCO2 per year by 2013-14”, while also providing additional funds for “medium-term fiscal consolidation” (otherwise known as propping up the public coffers with your hard-earned).
Cooper Tire has appointed Cathy Hissong its new director of corporate communications. In this position, Hissong will be responsible for employee communications, including oversight of employee publications and intranet communications, direction of various business projects and management of Cooper’s Visual Communications Center. Having joined Cooper in 1986 as a budget analyst, Hissong’s time with the Ohio, US based manufacturer has seen her employed in the roles of capital equipment buyer, regional credit manager and audit manager before training as a Six Sigma black belt, her most recent position.
Continental has announced that it is in the process of launching a new budget brand into the industrial tyre market, the Barum Industry. According to the manufacturer, the new solid tyre range promises end users great performance and resilience unrivalled by competitors in its class. The Industry line is described by company officials as “the perfect choice for companies running forklift trucks in less demanding applications combining a good quality tyre at an attractive price. The Barum Industry offers low rolling resistance, robust construction and long tyre life.”
A full product range should include something for every requirement and budget, and Rema Tip Top reports that its workshop equipment line-up includes run-flat solutions spanning the spectrum from entry level to high end solutions that will keep even the most demanding workshop happy.
The Butler Topline tyre changer is a superb introductory machine, reports Rema Tip Top. It adds that this unit represents an intelligent evolution to the award winning Airdraulic and Aircombi tyre changers. One of the new standard features on the Topline is the ‘safety belt’, which has been developed to reduce the mounting stress particularly whilst fitting low profile, UHP and self supporting tyres, thus preventing damage to any part of the tyre or rim.
The Trade Group boasts a wealth of experience in every area of garage equipment and, the company believes, nowhere more so than in wheel care products. As Trade Group spokesman Terry Bullworthy explains, “We not only select and specify the most advanced, most user friendly and most cost effective equipment but we will always offer our customers a choice to suit their budgets and because of this our range includes market leaders Hofmann Megaplan, Beissbarth and also the newly introduced range of Trademaster tyre and wheel equipment.
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