Goodyear Dunlop’s truck tyre service and breakdown network, TruckForce has launched a Twitter feed, coinciding with the full introduction of EU tyre labelling legislation. Goodyear Dunlop said the feed will initially focus on providing information relating to commercial vehicle tyre labels, while also including relevant industry and Goodyear Dunlop news and advice on topics such as winter driving and improving fuel efficiency.
Last weekend saw the Dunlop British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) come to a close with Gordon Shedden taking his maiden touring car trophy, with Dunlop once again the proud sponsor and the sole tyre supplier. Across the ten rounds of the season, Dunlop supplied 4,616 tyres to the championship, 656 of which were wet v-grooved tyres. Each round is attended by a 15 strong motorsport service team who ensure the teams are running the correct tyre set up for their vehicle.
PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk's nine month 2012 net sales grew 7.6 per cent to 9,381 billion rupiah from 8,722 billion rupiah last year. According to the company, the main impetus for this growth was “increased tyre demand in all categories in the domestic replacement…market.” However, profits were also assisted by a softening of historically high raw material costs in addition to double-digit percentage increases in domestic aftermarket sales.
In the past government-backed public sector contracts were seen as the safest business commitments around. With the economic environment being what it is, it is easy to see the attraction of securing business that you know will be paid for. However, with the finances of various European governments looking less stable than they have been for a long time, and with ministries such as the Department for Transport suffering from poor handling of rail bids such as the West Coast franchise, these types of contracts may not be the stereotypical cash cows they were once depicted as. And when you add in the fact that government contracts now have to manage the added administrative burden of labelling (which is effective from 1 November 2012), they certainly aren’t a walk in the park.
Rupert Kohaupt, formerly Goodyear Dunlop’s director of commercial vehicle tyres in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, has been appointed the tyre maker’s commercial vehicle tyre sales director for emerging markets. In his new Brussels-based role, the 30-year company veteran will continue the expansion of the growing emerging markets.
The HiQ fast fit network is switching its colours to pink this October as centres all over the country aim to raise £100,000 for Breast Cancer Care. HiQ has been a sponsor of Breast Cancer Care for three years, and in that time has raised over £87,000 for the charity. Its push to hit the £100,000 target sees franchisees across its 140 centres taking part in various ‘Project Pink’ activities this month.
As part of Goodyear Dunlop’s International Customer Service Week between 1 and 5 October, company’s customer service team visited tyre dealers, franchisees, retailers and wholesalers in no less than 54 locations throughout the UK. The aim was to build relationships and get face to face with the customer, and Goodyear took the opportunity to congratulate its customers for their continued support and cooperation following what it calls a “year of diverse internal improvements.”
This week an important automotive component celebrates its 110th birthday. No, it’s not the pneumatic tyre – John Boyd Dunlop is credited with its creation in 1887 – the birthday kid is the speedometer. To mark 110 years of its existence, automotive supplier Continental has released a text explaining where the speedometer came from, how it works and where it is heading:
Goodyear Dunlop is now sole tyre supplier to the 500 vehicle fleet operated by A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd after the West Midlands-based logistics firm signed a service agreement with the tyre maker. The deal, which will involve A.F. Blakemore fitting a combination of Goodyear’s Regional Haul range and NextTread products, was brokered by Truck Tyre Solutions – a member of Goodyear Dunlop’s TruckForce network.
New fuel solutions can only be optimised with equally new tyre design concepts, according to Dunlop Motorsport, which invited journalists to both witness the unveiling of the latest GreenGT vehicle and learn more about the cutting edge rubber cars like it will be running on.
New Zealand-based firm Eurotread Ltd. has reported continuous growth in sales in the last three years. Managing Director Glad Rack has maintained the high quality standards of Bob Cranfield, the entrepreneur who started the business – and the close strategic partnership with his material supplier Kraiburg Austria, helping the independent Auckland-based retreader to turn over the equivalent of just under 1.9 million euros in 2011.
At this week’s IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Germany, Goodyear is launching its first ever dedicated European-market coach tyres, the Goodyear Marathon Coach and Goodyear Ultra Grip Coach winter drive tyre. Both tyres are available in 295/80R22.5 and 315/80R22.5, with all products to be available on the market by the end of October.
Dunlop, a company with almost 125 years worth of British motorsport heritage, has announced it will match the total raised by the Donington Park items that went under the hammer at the Goodwood Revival Auction. The lots sold by Bonhams raised £1500 for Leicestershire based charity – Hope Against Cancer.
According to George Rietbergen, when Goodyear Dunlop releases a new tyre-related innovation, it doesn’t do so because it wants to release something ‘sexy’ – it has to be a meaningful innovation, one that will help its customers reduce costs and improve safety. A product that fits squarely into this category is Goodyear Dunlop’s Air Maintenance Technology, or AMT. The public first caught a glimpse of AMT at March’s Geneva motor show, where it was displayed in its passenger car tyre guise. Now, at the IAA Commercial Vehicles Show, the tyre maker has presented AMT for commercial tyres. The technology is still under development and therefore full technical details aren’t being shared at present, yet Rietbergen stated his belief that AMT will be a “game changer.”
At the end of August Dunlop Motorsport announced it will develop tyres for the world's first hydrogen fuel cell racing car. GreenGT H2, as it is known, will compete in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours, and features electric powertrain technology. Dunlop will be working closely with the team, in its words, to drive tyre technology forward to provide the grip that will maximise the ‘future power’ of motorsport.
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