Dunlop will be the title sponsor of the MSA British Touring Car Championship for the next three years. As the sole tyre supplier to the BTCC for the past two seasons this latest agreement extends the relationship and reinforces the manufacturer’s brand marketing programme.
Goodyear Dunlop has been given planning permission for a new retread facility. The announcement signals the move of the truck tyre retread facility from its existing location to a newly refurbished building at the south end of the company’s Bushbury, Wolverhampton, plant.
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Limited has announced the appointment of Clive Powell as director, commercial business unit, headquartered in Birmingham, West Midlands. Mr Powell joins the UK organisation from his current position as sales director, Truck Tyres Europe. The new commercial business unit director will be responsible for the truck and bus tyre business, including the development of the TruckForce service network in the UK. Mr Powell’s predecessor, Wim Reijmerink, left the organisation to pursue other interests, the company said.
Richard Johnson, managing director, UK Operations stated: “Across Europe, Clive has played a major role in driving the development of our ‘best in class’ support services such as FleetOnlineSolutions, RoadsideAssistanceServices and TruckForce. We are confident that Clive can accelerate the successful implementation of these services in the UK to reaffirm our leading position in the truck and bus tyre market.”
Team d’Antin MotoGP has announced that it will use Dunlop tyres in 2005. The team will enter Roby Rolfo on a Ducati Desmosedici GP04. The 2005 MotoGP World Championship starts in Jerez on 10 April.
Team owner Luis d’Antin and Roby Rolfo recently visited Dunlop Motorsport’s European R&D headquarters in Birmingham. “We are delighted that Dunlop has decided to support our programme,” confirmed Luis d’Antin “it will be a very interesting challenge for our team to help Dunlop move forward with their MotoGP tyre development.”
The Austrian Automotive Club, ÖAMTC, has tested five winter, two all-season and one conventional off road tyre for winter performance. All products were size 215/65 R16. According to the automobile club, snow braking performance really “separated the wheat from the chaff.” At a speed of 40 km/h the all-season tyres had a substantially longer braking distance than winter tyres.
One year after becoming chairman of the NTDA’s Tyre Wholesaler Group (TWG), Peter Gaster addressed his second TWG annual lunch. In his speech the managing director of Kings Road Tyres conveyed the TWG’s support for three millimetre tread depth, shared his thoughts on how businesses can protect their ever-decreasing margins, while warning members of the continuing and expensive reality of health and safety scrutiny. One of the industry’s best-known figures, Sir Tom Farmer, also addressed the collection of members and invited guests.
According to TWG chairman, Peter Gaster, profits margins are under continued attack: “In reality we all face many of the same problems and as we know tyre prices are on the way up, I think we will all have to carefully consider the need to remain competitive and take into account our rising costs, as I don’t think that wholesale margins can absorb these increases,” he said adding, “as wholesalers we need to focus on maintaining service, as essentially that is what we are, service providers. But rising costs are putting us under pressure to maintain this level of service and keep prices down.”
In his speech, Mr Gaster went on to define one source of this continuing pressure, the requirements of the health and safety executive. “I am not complaining about the need for proper and safe working conditions, and I understand that this needs to be monitored, but it appears to me that the tyre industry is under scrutiny and I can only repeat what I have said before – if you have not had a visit, you probably will,” he explained.
Wholesalers are not tax collectors
For Mr Gaster, the devil is in the detail: “I don’t hide from the fact that I am personally concerned about the increasing bureaucracy, red tape and legislation that this government continues to burden the industry with.” Warning that the powers that be were responsible for the current situation, the TWG chairman told of his frustration at being treated as an unpaid tax collector: “If anyone from the government should hear or read this speech, I will be very happy to explain in detail about my frustrations. I recently received a letter from our local MP who wanted to know how all the advantages of ‘government working with business’ was helping our company – I am still working on my response.”
However there was definitely a positive side to the story: “The good news is that the NTDA has been working closely with the health and safety executive and has recently agreed upon an advisory package regarding the manual handling of tyres in the workplace. I think it is fair to say that if the NTDA had not been consulted, the resulting regulations would have been extremely difficult to apply.”
When is an E-marked tyre not a European tyre?
The love/hate relationship between wholesalers and manufacturers was also briefly touched on. “I received a letter, as many of us did, from Goodyear/Dunlop regarding their right to protect their trademark on the one hand, and warnings about compounds etc on the other. In seeking clarification of these intentions I would ask one question. If a tyre is E-marked and is homologated for the EEC, wherever it is made, is that tyre not legal and fit for use in the UK?” From Sir Tom Farmer’s point of view this kind of banter comes with the territory. “They are just doing their job,” he said, adding that “its all part of the fun.”
Mr Gaster also highlighted the TWG’s “unanimous support” for the current campaign to improve awareness of three millimetre tread depth, which is being driven by Brian Smith of Continental. “We at the TWG and the NTDA are firmly behind this campaign and will do all we can to support it via out association and by choice as individual companies. Let us not forget that our parliamentarians and police forces do not ride on tyres with less than three millimetres tread depths.”
Referring to the government’s landfill directive, Mr Gaster explained that he was “delighted” to confirm that “the current thinking is the industry has taken care of the problem so far and has increased the recovery rate away from land fill up to approximately 85 per cent. Therefore the government has agreed to monitor this progress and in the meantime will not be putting forward mandatory legislation.”
Goodyear Dunlop has teamed up with Southern Vectis providing tyres for ten IVECO 59-12 vehicles that the bus company is pledging to Asia Bus Response, a UK-wide appeal for vehicles by the bus industry.
Dick Johnson, general manager of Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK, has been awarded the title ‘Foreign Manager of the Year for 2004’ by the Slovenian media.
Dunlop’s appearance at the Autosport show saw the company launch a new 22 inch SP Sport Maxx size and promote its 2005 Race Academy. There was even the opportunity to virtually compete, with a race simulator. The motivation behind all this? In order to increase its exposure amongst the key “lifestyle” target audience.
The Autosport show was the first time that Dunlop has exhibited the 22 inch version of its SP Sport Maxx tyre in the UK. Developed in association with tuning companies that build modified BMW and Mercedes machinery, the company says the new tyres are designed to complement the existing product range which begins with a more humble 16 inch fitment. The SP Sport Maxx will now be available in 265/35R22, 285/30R22 and 305/30R22 sizes.
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK has announced that it has appointed the RLA Group as its trade marketing agency. The agency will be responsible for developing and coordinating a trade marketing programme covering all group activities. RLA will represent the Goodyear, Dunlop and Fulda tyre brands and the Hi-Q retail vehicle and tyre service network.
The Aftermarket Show will open its doors to tyre industry visitors at the NEC from 13 to 16 January next year. Organiser, Haymarket Exhibitions, believes that the show will be both relevant and appealing to all sectors of the industry.
“The tyre section of the show is sponsored by the TIC, and the NTDA is again taking a stand; this is an exhibition that the tyre and fast fit market is keen and willing to support,” says Haymarket’s group sales manager Giles Brown.
Exhibitors such as Vredestein, Nordisk, Rage, Eurosport, Autopart and equipment suppliers like Supertracker, Tecalamit and Mace Industries will all be returning for a second successive year.
The last show was the first to combine all elements of an aftermarket industry, elements that had previously been exhibited as separate entities within Autosport International. The move is also an attempt to emphasise the combination of business and pleasure, and the automotive exhibition takes place over a full weekend for the first time. More than 90,000 people, including almost 25,000 from the automotive trades, attended the NEC for the two shows in 2004.
Although the focus is on the consumer, brands such as Dunlop, Pirelli, Uniroyal, Yokohama, Kumho and Silverstone will all be displaying their latest motorsport and high performance ranges to visitors. Fulda will also be present and is sponsoring the Live Action Arena at Autosport International as part of its campaign to launch its ultra-high performance car tyres in the UK.
The Royal Smithfield Show has always been the place to be seen for those involved in agricultural tyres. Renowned as one of Europe’s largest and most comprehensive agri-business events, this year’s exhibition will span 60,000 square metres of indoor space and is expecting up to 50,000 visitors from around the world.
Around 20 companies, including ATS Euromaster, Bridgestone, R H Claydon, Goodyear Dunlop, Michelin, Mitas UK, Solideal, Tyremart and Wheel Solutions, will represent the agricultural tyre and wheel sector with a range of new and existing products. Tyres & Accessories will report the latest information from the agri-world and in the light of ongoing UK trade show debates will ask whether this is one tradition the UK industry can really afford.
Goodyear Dunlop’s pan-European internet-based tyre management system, FleetOnlineSolutions which was launched to truck and bus fleet operators late last year, has been expanded. The improvements that have been made include major functionality upgrades, web-based interactive reporting and intensive training, says the tyre manufacturer. There are now more than 3,500 contracted vehicles on the system, based in three countries. FleetOnlineSolutions utilises the internet and is accessible to the customer, contracted tyre service providers and Goodyear Dunlop. All details of a customer’s tyre contract are available via the secure FleetOnlineSolutions website which also handles all reporting, invoicing and stock ordering, related to contracts. This means that whenever a customer needs tyre-related work to be carried out, it is done exactly to the specification agreed in the contract. In other words, the service-provider works precisely to each customer’s individual tyre policy and pricing structure as originally agreed with Goodyear Dunlop.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has said its Belgium-based joint venture with Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries has arranged financing worth up to $365.5 million (£189.52 million), the associated press is reporting.
The transaction, which will be completed in euros, will provide $219.25 million to Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe BV, Europe’s second-largest tyre maker. That amount, which will be secured through accounts receivables, could expand before the facility’s term ends in five years. Goodyear said the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and will replace an existing $109.6 million facility. The deal is subject to customary annual renewal of back-up liquidity lines, Goodyear said.
Shares of Goodyear rose 84 cents, or 6.43 per cent, to close at $13.91 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock increased another 5 cents to $13.96 in after-hours trade.
As the third incarnation of the Sir Bob Geldof’s charity song is about to hit the charts, Dunlop is also lending a helping had to some less fortunate people. In a bid to make Christmas a little bit brighter, the tyre manufacturer has sponsored Hand of Help IOM as a way of assisting the charity’s work in a certain part of Romania.
One of the trustee’s of Hand of Help, Chris Baker, visits an orphanage, a dystrophic baby hospital in Botosani and a drop-in centre in Dorohoi twice yearly. He also runs house-building projects to provide housing and employment for needy families. To help with the trip Dunlop has provided Mr Baker with a set of Grandtrek MT2 off road tyres to help tackle the poor road conditions and the amount of snow experienced on the trip at this time of year.
Trips are normally run during the summer, however much of the hardship is endured during the winter months. The trip was therefore moved to Christmas with Christmas gifts, warm clothing and other specialist items taken to bring some joy to people in the area.
“We are extremely grateful to Dunlop for sponsoring our trip. It is difficult to convey how much suffering is endured by the people in this area of Romania and the hope we bring to the area with our visits can not be underestimated,” said Mr Baker
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