The Independent Tire Dealers Group (ITDG) has announced its exclusive distribution and marketing of the Diamondback passenger car and light truck tyre brand in the United States. The buying group said it is working in concert with Husky Tire of San Antonio, Texas, which provides logistical support expertise.
Motor Wheel Service Distribution managing director John Ellis has sustained a lengthy campaign for increased safety checks on commercial vehicle wheels over the past few years – a campaign that has seen him address the British and more recently European parliaments. The results of his most recent explanation to the European Parliament of the insufficiency or non-existence of regulations and guidelines governing inspection procedures within the commercial vehicle wheel supply chain and vehicle servicing sector remain to be seen; his MWS report will continue to be discussed at EU level as its Roadworthiness Package is drafted. (See Tyrepress.com/issues of Tyres & Accessories for regular updates regarding Ellis's proposals.)
The UK distributor of TSW, Beyern and Mandrus replacement alloy wheels, Yokohama HPT has confirmed the addition of several new wheels to its UK line-up that use the “rotary forging” process to create strong, dynamic and lighter wheels. During manufacturing the outer rim is forged while the wheel centre and rim mould are spun at high speed. TSW’s Panorama and Tanaka, the Beyern Spartan, the Mandrus Rotec and the Victor Equipment Innsbruck are all products of this technique in the current Yokohama HPT range.
In recent times a website in Italy has raised the hackles of at least one wholesaler within that country. The site, gommaflash.com, uses an application that offers tyre dealers – for an annual fee of between 500 and 700 euros – the opportunity to view and compare the prices and conditions offered by all distributors. GommaFlash obtains the information by using the dealer’s passwords to enter each B2B distributor’s platform. Prices and other information are displayed in real time.
Wheel distributor Wheelwright has released details of a new addition to the premium AEZ range. The latest wheel from the German-Austrian brand is called the Bridge and uses a range of subtle OEM styling cues to create a tasteful and understated design.
Double Coin holdings Limited’s ownership of the Double Coin trademark in India has been confirmed in a dispute between the Chinese manufacturer and local distributor, Trans Tyre (India) Private Limited. The Hindu newspaper reports that the Chennai-based Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has ordered that the trademark registration granted to Trans Tyre in 2007 be nullified.
Singapore’s Mindtrac launched its new Ultra X range of Indian-manufactured cross-ply tyres for truck and light truck applications in a 20-strong line-up. The company said it secured business at the show with customers in Singapore, Pakistan and the Philippines.
China’s fifth largest tyre manufacturer by sales, Aeolus announced its entry to the southeast Asia passenger car market on 20 March with the launch of a complete range of PCR tyre products. The new venture comes on the back of the construction of a new car tyre manufacturing plant in Jiaozuo; the 625,000sqm factory is capable of manufacturing six million tyres a year. Aeolus is exhibiting its new tyres at Tyrexpo Asia 2013 in Singapore.
Heuver Tyrewholesale is well known for its distribution of the Aeolus brand in eight key European markets, however the wholesaler is active throughout most of Europe and also offers a number of competitive ranges for the countries where it doesn’t deal in Aeolus. This year, another brand has been added to this portfolio.
Taiwan’s Federal Tyres recently appointed Rito Marketing its exclusive distributor in Malaysia. Commenting on the decision, Jerry Lai, Asia sales executive of Federal’s Global Sales Division, commented: “Rito Marketing is a firm with an excellent reputation and we are sure they will be a first-rate ambassador in Malaysia for the Federal brand, as we hope our local customers will benefit from our product expertise and Rito’s market knowledge.”
Micheldever’s 4×4 tyre specialist distributor Southam Tyres has announced that it will add the Falken WildPeak WP/AT01 all-terrain tyre to its range. Falken Tyres UK director, Matt Smith says: “Falken will be adding more size ranges for the UK replacement market in order to meet the demand for performance 4×4 and SUV tyres.”
Kent-based supply chain specialist, Solstor UK Ltd has reported a reduction of almost 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions since moving to a Vacu-Lug new and remould tyre policy for its tractor unit fleet and from a new-only policy to a Vacu-Lug remould policy on its trailer fleet last May.
Mercedes-Benz is the latest vehicle manufacturer to grant global approval for the use of the new Hunter Road Force Touch wheel balancing system in its franchise dealer workshops. Although the balancer has only been on the market for a number of months and available in the UK since October, the Mercedes-Benz approval is the third of its kind that the Road Force Touch has received from a major vehicle manufacturer, following sign-offs from the Volkswagen Group and BMW. Exclusive national distributor Pro-Align also expects further OEM approvals for the Road Force Touch.
Al Dobowi Group company Eskay Tyres has announced the selection of Agripan SA as the authorised Westlake distributor for Greece.
Kings Road Tyres (KRT) has announced that it will exhibit at the new construction industry show, Plantworx as distributor of Michelin’s industrial tyre range. Taking place on 14-16 May, 2013 at Stoneleigh Park near Coventry and, with backing from the Construction Equipment Association and more than 100,000sqm of space devoted to live construction equipment, KRT says it is likely to be the largest event of its kind in the UK.
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