Renault Vans and Penny Hydraulics have got together to offer fully equipped tyre service vehicles, complete with tools and lifting equipment, available from £377 a month. A demonstration Renault Master highlights the two companies’ capabilities under a “Partners in Success and Safety” theme.
The second generation Mercedes-Benz M-Class continues to set the standard, using a new tyre set up from Bridgestone that is said to offer a sportier ride without compromising high speed stability or on-the-road comfort.
The classy SUV bears all the hallmarks of the ground-breaking mark one M-Class that paved the way for modern off-roaders following its launch in 1997 – majestic looks, stunning performance, a stylish interior and masses of load capacity.
(Akron/Tire Review) Michelin brand passenger and light truck/SUV tyres are now being produced in Mexico for the very first time. Michelin North America upgraded its production facilities at its plant in Queretaro to allow Michelin-brand tyre production.
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.
Businesses are being reminded today that used tyres can no longer be sent to landfill from 16 July 2006 when new regulations come into force across England and Wales. Liz Parkes, Head of Waste Regulation at the Environment Agency said: “From 16 July, regulations will ban used whole and shredded tyres from being disposed of in all landfill sites.
Kim Jong Il has visited the newly built Pyongyang Taesong Tyre Factory, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The factory has a total floor space of more than 2,000 square metres and all its production processes are automated.
Hayes Lemmerz is to build new facilities at its plant in Pune (200 kilometres south of Mumbai) where it currently produces steel truck wheels. The joint venture factory is 85 per cent owned by Hayes Lemmerz with Indian company Kalyani (one of the largest suppliers of automotive components, especially castings) as junior partner.
(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire Co. has officially begun production at its new tyre plant in Tianjin, China, near Beijing. The $210 million plant will have the capacity to produce some 5,25 million tyres per year. Some 50 per cent of the production from the plant will be exported, according to Kumho, while the other half will serve the Chinese automotive and replacement tyre markets.
Following the opening of a 600,000 square foot warehouse in Miami, Florida-based wholesaling operation Tire Group International (TGI) is setting its sights on greater international business. TGI has expanded 750 per cent since its foundation in 1992. In addition to its Miami, Florida and Leon, Mexico warehousing space, the company maintains warehousing capacity in Laredo Texas and Hamburg, Germany.
Following a strong 2005 winter season in some of Europe’s largest markets, Taiwanese manufacturer, Nankang has announced that it is extending is product range and broadening the distribution of the company’s Sonar second brand.
Nankang’s Sonar brand was previously only sold in Taiwan. But when the company recently increased capacity to 10 million units per year, it began looking abroad for distribution opportunities for these tyres. For the same reasons, outside of Taiwan Nankang is only planning to bring Sonar into what it sees as major markets.
When it came to expanding into Europe the UK market was the first stop on Kenda’s list. Now expansion is reportedly going well as the company spreads out into the rest of Europe. “We want to be careful to be successful from the very beginning,” said Kenda Rubber Industrial Co Ltd president, talking to Tyres & Accessories. And the German Reifen exhibition is a good place to do it – “The Essen show is about the world and not simply Germany,” Hongder Chang adds. Having just launched its new Kaiser high performance tyre, Kenda also introduced a new all-season and snow tyres for sale in “the northern territories.”
Ceat Tyres plans to expand production capacity at its Nashik radial tyre plant. Managing director Paras K. Chowdhary told local newspapers: “The Nashik plant has a production capacity of 40,000 tyres per month, which would go up to 65,000 after expansion.” The company plans to raise to capacity to 100,000 PCR tyres per month six months after the first phase is complete.
“Business is going really well. We are changing over to a new warehouse and on 2 May we became the official importer of Double Coin truck tyres across Europe,” says Inter-Sprint’s Wim Zoet, summing up all the recent developments at Dutch wholesaler.
When asked to sum up his company’s year “business is going well,” is the response given by Deldo sales manager, Stani Delcroix. By this he means that the company has once again broken its own sales records with turnover growing 10 per cent to 235 million euros. Delcroix said he believed this was impossible to beat, that was until the company achieved a further 8 per cent growth (year-on-year) in the first quarter of 2006.
Last year Van den Ban group turned-over roughly 250 million euros through the sale of around 4.7 million tyres. Now the company is aiming to increase the range of products and improve its service through the construction of a new “24,000 square-metre logistic tyre centre and a 20,000 square metre container terminal.” Tyres & Accessories met with managing director Frans van Lenten during the recent Essen show and found out more.
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