Recently, Denmark-based wholesaler NDI decided to establish a warehouse in China near to where its Nordexx private brand is manufactured. From this warehouse the wholesaler will directly supply Nordexx-brand and other products to its European and international customers. Last week the first shipment of Nordexx tyres arrived in the new Qingdao warehouse, and NDI says it will have the full Nordexx range in stock there within three weeks.
Under a new partnership agreement, T. Hansen Gruppen A/S will take on responsibility for distributing the Westlake passenger car tyre range in Denmark. The Danish tyre, automotive spare part, rim and camping equipment specialist is one of the country’s largest consumer market suppliers and sells its products through online portals, mail order and nearly ninety retail outlets. The company employs approximately 700 people.
Eldan Recycling recently delivered a complete tyre recycling plant in Papua New Guinea. According to the company this is designed to process all kinds of tyres including truck tyres and huge mining tyres that can be over four metres and a weigh several tons each. The system will produce 0-4 mm rubber granulate (99.9 per cent free of textile and steel) at approximately four tons per production hour.
The Euromaster Group, the Michelin-owned fast-fit service provider present throughout much of Europe, including in the UK as ATS Euromaster, has announced its entry into the Turkish market. The company says it has taken on 230 passenger car and truck service outlets in Turkey, the 17th European market where Euromaster is active. In total, Euromaster now operates 2,250 fast fit outlets Europe-wide, 790 of which are owned by franchise partners. ATS Euromaster is responsible for more than 380 outlets in the UK, supported by a select number of network partnership agreements with independent dealers in towns where there is currently no ATS Euromaster presence.
Pan-European retail business point S says it is on top of the world – almost literally – after sponsoring the two races in the Nordic World Cup opening which was held Kuusamo, Finland on the weekend of the 1 and 2 December. point S congratulated the winners of the races it sponsored, which were: Marit Bjørgen, in the lady’s 5 km Cross Country and Petter Northug in the men’s 15 km Cross Country men’s. The event saw 25,000 spectators watch 10 World Cup contests, with 400 competitors from 30 nations and television coverage estimated to reach 100 million people.
Goodgrip.co.uk have released a series of tyre comparison and consumer advice videos to help UK motorists better understand the performance characteristics and differences between different types of tyres available to them.
Bridgestone has expressed pride in the contribution its Ecopia tyres made towards the completion of a 12,500 kilometre journey made by three all-electric Nissan Leaf cars within a 42 day period. This feat, the tyre maker comments, is thought to be the longest journey achieved by these electric vehicles in such a short period of time.
ATS Euromaster will service tyres fitted to global transport and logistics specialist DSV’s 7,000-strong European trailer fleet, having secured the major three year contract. ATS Euromaster’s team of mobile technicians will provide complete tyre maintenance, comprising routine tyre safety inspections and any follow-up service work, to up to 1,000 DSV trailers transiting through the UK every day. The company says it will be fitting “premium remould tyres”, supplied predominantly by Vacu-Lug and Encore, to the trailers, replacing a former Bridgestone policy.
In 2012 Aeolus Tyres will enter the European passenger car tyre market in partnership with Netherlands-based Heuver Tyrewholesale. Although Aeolus will be entering the passenger car market for the first time, the company reports that it was certainly not an overnight decision to do so. A whole new factory has been built in China and an international team of experienced tyre specialists is being used to develop the tyres. In addition Heuver reports that it is providing “frequent technical input,” to enable it to fulfil the requirements of the European market as well as possible.
Denmark’s Nordisk Dæk Import A/S (NDI), developer and manufacturer of the AP Wheels range, has appointed a new exclusive Australian distributor for its AP+ Dual wheels line-up. As of January 2012 Armstrong Tyres has taken on this role; the company, which is based in the state of Victoria, has been active in the agricultural sector for more than 65 years and supplies tyre and wheel combination for a variety of farm-related applications.
A world first has been claimed by Denmark’s Starco. The company reports it has begun coating the steel wheels it produces, both pressed and spun, with the ‘e-coat’ nanotechnology treatment. The application of e-coat during the steel wheel production process began at Starco’s Beli Manastir, Croatia wheel plant at the start of this year, following the installation and commissioning of equipment there in the final quarter of 2011. Starco says it is currently the only press wheel manufacturer using e-coat.
Michelin’s product marketing manager, Steve Dolby has said that Which? magazine’s winter tyre tests – in which the manufacturer’s Alpin A4 and Primacy Alpin PA3 cold weather tyres were awarded “best buy” ratings – will help to raise awareness amongst consumers and educate them about the benefits of fitting cold weather tyres during the winter months.“There has been considerable interest from UK consumers in cold weather tyres this year,” Dolby said, “and sales so far are estimated to be more than half a million tyres – up nearly 50 per cent over the same period last year.”
On the evening of 10 December, the management and employees of Denmark’s Starco celebrated half a century in the business. The 50 year anniversary was commemorated at a function at the home of company CEO Peer Ejlersgaard and at regional Starco premises worldwide.
A survey by online retailer in the UK mytyres.co.uk, part of Delticom, found that staying mobile in winter was important to an overwhelming majority of motorists (82 per cent). Almost two thirds of respondents rated staying mobile as “very important” or “critically important”, the company says. However, the company contrasts this desire to stay on the roads in winter conditions with the results from another independent survey from vehicle auction company Manheim. According to the results from their survey, only five per cent of motorists are planning to purchase winter tyres this year.
A new online tyre retailer in the UK has reported that sales and enquiries about winter tyres have exceeded its expectations, with “sales that are comparable to Denmark”. Goodgrip.co.uk launched in the UK market in October and is a trading name of Bythjul Norden AB, which has a presence in the Nordic markets dating back to 2001 selling over half a million tyres, and recently launching in Germany.
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