The tyre business along with the rest of the automotive industry was hit hard by the effects of coronavirus. This tag brings you the latest news as it happens.
BKT has set up one of the first-ever contactless E-ICU, COVID-19 treatment facilities to be built in India outside of a hospital. The centre is located at the tyre maker’s Bhuj site, and its doctor and eight healthcare workers are responsible for treating workers and their families affected by coronavirus.
The exclusive tyre supplier to Formula 1, Pirelli has confirmed that Mario Isola, head of F1 and car racing, has tested positive for Covid-19. The test result was returned on Sunday 15 November during the series’ regular Covid testing schedule at the Turkish Grand Prix. Pirelli adds that while he is asymptomatic, Isola is now isolating and will adhere to local medical guidelines. All close contacts have been declared, retested, and no further positive cases have been returned. Isola will be repatriated to Italy following all the relevant stringent health protocols.
The 2021 Commercial Vehicle Show will take place from 8-10 June 2021 at the NEC in Birmingham, having been rescheduled from its traditional April date.
BM Catalysts is reassuring business partners that it is “business as usual” despite the second UK national lockdown.
According to the company, “The team has implemented strict procedures and systems to ensure we can continue trading as normal, in the safest way possible, while adhering to Government guidelines.”
Tyrexpo Asia had originally been planned for March 2021 at The Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. However, the event’s organiser Tarsus Group reports that “it has been necessary to reschedule the Tyrexpo Asia show in Singapore to 17 – 19 November 2021” due to “COVID-19 still continuing to affect all promotional business events around the world for the foreseeable future”.
In May, analysts reported that Q2 European trailer registrations were 44 per cent down and that full-year 2020 trailer registrations were set to be down north of 28 per cent. Now however, the same analysts – Clear International – are echoing the findings of other indicators and suggesting that things will turn out slightly better than expected this year.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a five-month extension to the furlough scheme is good news for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes described the decision to prolong the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which pays employees 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500, a “welcome lifeline” in a challenging environment of car showroom closures and lockdown. But he stresses that government support won’t suffice to keep the country’s vehicle manufacturers afloat.
Following a corona-related delay, off-highway tyre specialist BKT is gearing up to introduce a new, supersized OTR tyre. It has now produced a prototype of its BKT Earthmax SR 468, a size 40.00 R57 tyre developed for use on rigid dump trucks. Over the coming months, the tyre maker’s engineers will test the prototype ahead of the line’s market debut.
When the Covid-19 pandemic led to the first national lockdown in March 2020, it wasn’t immediately clear what was allowed to be open. It also took time to clarify who exactly could be defined as key workers. However, it quickly became apparent that – whatever else happens – logistics fleets and blue-light services were indispensable. And these vehicles can’t get anywhere without tyres. Therefore, garages and tyre-fitters were swiftly categorised as exempted businesses and key workers respectively. Having learnt the lessons of the first lockdown, this time things are clear: Tyre garages are allowed to remain open during lockdown. And tyre specialists are key workers.
Trade fairs can be corona-safe. This is the message from Koelnmesse, organiser of The Tire Cologne, and to prove this it set up a model exhibition bristling with measures for keeping exhibitors and visitors healthy.
Motorsport UK has consulted on the implications for motorsport in England with the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in respect of the plan to enter a four-week national lockdown on Thursday 5 November.
Drive My Career is the employment initiative launched by the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) in 2018. Drive My Career polls its target audience regularly to investigate their perception of the automotive sector and, more recently, the impact that Covid-19 has had on employment.
The National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA), which represents motorcycle dealers in the UK, is introducing its ‘Safe to Ride’ campaign. The purpose of the campaign, says NMDA head Paddy O’Connell, is to “promote the use of motorcycles as an ideal alternative to public transport.”
The Independent Garage Association (IGA) has been shortlisted for the ‘COVID Champion Award’ at the 2021 Learning Awards, for the support they have given to garages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This award is a new category for 2021, created to honour and pay tribute to those that have shown great strength and a deep passion for helping others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Good news in a year where this has been in short supply: Michelin reports that global demand for its tyres “picked up more strongly than expected” in the third quarter of 2020 after falling steeply in the second quarter. That said, demand is still below where it was this time last year.
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Cottonbro; Pexels