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Compound Interest

Road transport dominates Europe’s haulage business, with over 80 per cent of total freight in the region shipped by this means. The story is much the same in North America and in most world markets, and the pressure to remain competitive is high. Opportunities to reduce operating costs without compromising the standard of service are limited, and fuel economy is viewed as one of only a few factors that can be positively manipulated. Indeed, the September 2008 PricewaterhouseCoopers report “The Truck Industry’s Green Challenge: headwind or competitive edge?” identified fuel economy as the road transportation industry’s number one purchasing criteria. Yet an innovation widely embraced by manufacturers of passenger car tyres, the use of silica in the compound to facilitate lower rolling resistance, has remained beyond the commercial sector’s reach – until now. In November 2008, two established providers of solutions for the tyre industry, Rhodia and Dow Corning, announced the formation of an alliance to address this problem. The result of their joint work is already on the road.

24th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Growth Continues in Many 4×4 Tyre Areas, says MTS/Southam

Micheldever/Southam reports having distributed three quarters of a million 4×4 tyres in the UK tyre market in 2008, a figure they say possibly makes the company the largest distributor of 4×4 tyres in Europe. Still the only UK wholesaler to operate a specialist 4×4 division (which is based at Southam), the MTS group offers next/same day delivery nationwide on all major brands including every OE fitment, a comprehensive range of quality budget 4×4 tyres from Enduro, and the market leading mid-range replacement brands including BFGoodrich, General, Kumho, Falken, Insa Turbo and Toyo.

20th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

A focus on changing perceptions

Retreading has long been recognised by commercial fleet operators as a major means of saving on operating costs, yet in some quarters retreads are still seen as offering less than their new tyre equivalents. Putting a stop to these misperceptions through elevating public awareness of retreading’s economic and environmental benefits has been a major focus of the US based Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau – more commonly known as TRIB – for almost four decades. Recently Tyres & Accessories spoke with TRIB managing director Harvey Brodsky about an industry that commercial vehicle operators simply cannot afford to ignore.

20th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Setzer to Head Conti Car Tyre Temporarily

Continental has announced that, as of 1 March 2009, Nikolai Setzer will take up the temporary management of the manufacturer’s Car Tyre Division. He will continue to head up the Replacement Business Car and Light Truck Tyre Division Europe and Africa positions he presently occupies, though there will be no change in structure between the sectors. He will report to Dr Hans-Joachim Nikolin, the board representative of the Commercial Vehicle Tyre Division and – provisionally – the Car Tyre Division.

17th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Stapleton’s Supplying 4×4 Tyres to Suit Every Pocket

As one of the largest distributors of passenger car tyres in the UK, Stapleton’s says it attempts to ensure it has a tyre suitable for every retailer and in every price bracket. In the 4×4 and SUV tyre segment the company accommodates retailer requirements by stocking all major brands.

Of late, 4x4s have found themselves on the wrong end of new tax policy, and this combined with the credit crunch and high fuel prices, has affected the already above average running costs associated with this type of vehicle. Some consumers now feel the need to more closely monitor their spending and make savings of their purchases. To make sure it can help tyre retailers faced with this situation, Stapleton’s says that its wide 4×4 rage includes both premium and more price oriented products.

13th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Targets 10% Domestic Alloys Market

Leading Indian manufacturer Apollo Tyres has launched a range of alloy wheels under the brand name Acelere Wheelz to be sold through its passenger car tyre dealers in Dehli, Bangalore, Chennai and other major cities. At the launch, the company stated that it was “confident of capturing between 7 per cent to 10 per cent of the alloy wheels market in India,” and that it plans to release a new collection of rims every six months.

You don’t have to be an osteopath to realise that the company is adding muscle to the existing bones of its tyre business, but to underline the point Apollo plans to make Acelere Wheelz available in “combo” offers with the company’s Acelere, Acelere Sports, Aspire and Hawkz passenger car tyres. At present, the Indian alloy wheels market stands at an estimated figure of around 90,000 per month, of which 40 per cent is aftermarket, says Apollo. As yet, only 15 per cent of these come from the organised sector, with the rest imported.

10th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

YHI Offers a Comprehensive Range of Automotive Products

For the YHI Group, Tyrexpo Asia is a hometown show. Although the distributor and manufacturer boasts subsidiaries and associated companies in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UAE and Italy, the Group’s activities are directed from Singapore. From humble beginnings as a sole proprietorship in 1948, YHI has grown to become a mainboard-listed company on the Singapore stock exchange and a recognised distributor of high quality automotive and industrial products and a quality manufacturer of after-market alloy wheels. The tyre brands YHI distribute include Yokohama, JK Tyre, Achilles and its own brand, Neuton.

3rd February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Work in Progress – Sibur/Amtel Debt Deal in the Offing

The path towards an arrangement between OJSC Sibur Holding and Amtel-Vredestein has been littered with complications, yet as of early 2009 it appears that the persistence of the parties involved has paid off. On January 28, Sibur Russian Tyres (SRT) announced the planned issue of 7.6 billion securities bonds, valued at 12.69 billion roubles (£246,47 million), each convertible into a single ordinary SRT share. This bond issue, commented SRT deputy general director Igor Karavayev, provides a tool for the possible redemption of Amtel-Vredestein’s Russian business debt with creditor banks; under this scheme, the creditor banks could acquire up to 45 per cent of SRT’s shares. According to SRT, arrangements with creditors should be finalised some time in February.

3rd February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Dates of Pirelli Carlisle Shutdown Announced

The dates for the shutdown of Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle have been confirmed – between February 24 and March 4, production at the plant will be cut to compensate for a dropping demand for passenger car tyres. The News & Star reports a company spokesman as saying “there will be a staged close down and restart commencing from February 24 until March 4. During this period it is anticipated there will be around six days shutdown per production department.”

According to the spokesman, Pirelli attempted to coincide the shutdown with the half-term school holiday break, but was unable to due to previous scheduled maintenance work.

30th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Autocar Tyre Test Reports on Premium/Budget Quality GAP

Autocar’s latest tyre test reports on the extent of the performance gap between premium and budget products when it comes to wet weather handling. Autocar tested five leading budget brands (GT Radial, Linglong, Nankang, Triangle and Wanli) against an established Continental tyre. The magazine conducted its own tests for wet handling and braking, dry handling and braking and aquaplaning, plus a stringent high-speed test at the Contidrom test centre in Hannover. Summing up Autocar senior tester Jamie Corstorphine said: “We expected the bargain tyres in this test to fall short of the Continental, but we were not prepared for just how poorly some performed.”

30th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Achieves ISO Certification in Hungary

Hankook Tire has announced that its European facility, located in Rácalmás, near Dunaújváros, Hungary, has achieved full ISO-certification. The certification attained by the plant includes both the factory’s Quality Management System, certified according to ISO/TS 16949:2002 as well as its Environmental Management System certification according to EN ISO 14001:2004. The plant’s 1,200 employees, adds Hankook, are now producing a daily capacity of 15,000 tyres (5 million per annum), and manufacturing over 300 different sizes for European passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks.

26th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Hunt For Elusive Mis-Labelled Tyres Begins

In the US, Goodyear has been ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 18 incorrectly labeled tyres. The offending units were manufactured in the company’s Lawton, Oklahoma factory in the second week of January 2008, and barring roadside mishaps all one and a half dozen of these Goodyear Eagle RS-A P235/55R18 99V passenger car tyres may still be plying the roads of America.

22nd January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Producing Tyres for Yokohama in Brazil

Yokohama Rubber and Continental AG have entered into a tyre production partnership in Brazil, reports Asia Pulse’s Asia in Focus. Under the partnership, the Japanese manufacturer has begun receiving a supply of Yokohama branded passenger car tyres, in small car dimensions, from a Continental factory in the Brazilian state of Bahia. The number of tyres being produced under this agreement has not been disclosed.

15th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Australia Optimistic About 2009 Despite Downturn

Bridgestone Australia is not allowing itself to be drawn into speculation over the future of its factory in Salisbury, South Australia, and instead has expressed its optimism about 2009. Following news published by Australia based business information analyst IBIS World that tyre manufacturing is an industry in which job losses are most likely this year, Bridgestone’s public relations company Michels Warren said the tyre maker “did not want to add any weight to the story”, and released a statement saying the company remained positive about this coming year.

14th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

India Restricting the Importation of Truck/Bus Radials

Imported bus and truck radial tyres have been categorised as a restricted item by India’s Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). News of this action was given in a DGFT notification dated November 24, 2008. Items restricted by the DGFT generally can only be imported into India via the obtaining of an appropriate license.

8th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors