Goodyear is raising prices on OE and replacement medium truck tyres, retreads and retread tread stock by up to 10 per cent as of 1 November, reports Tire Review. The price increase is for the US only, and impacts Goodyear, Dunlop and Kelly brands. It marks the 97th unique price increase announced for the US and Canada this year, the American journal notes.
The German Fulda brand – part of the Goodyear Dunlop group – has announced its new truck tyre ranges; the Fulda Ecocontrol 2 and Fulda Ecoforce 2. The new tyres offer reduced operating costs, thanks to their new design features, according to the company. Respectively for steer and drive axles, the new ranges are for both long and regional haul service as well as in distribution, making them operationally flexible.
The HiQ fast fit network says it is “well and truly tickled pink” with Dunlop British Touring Car Championship fans, whose clamour for official memorabilia helped raise £6,000 for Breast Cancer Care at Silverstone. For the third time this season, the Teams' Championship sponsor set up its pink stand and did a brisk trade in HiQ hats, large foam spanners and all number of T-shirts and goody bags. Through their efforts the HiQ team, together with the pink ladies Beverley Edwards, who won this year’s national grid girl competition, managed to boost the amount raised this season past the £15,000 mark. In total, HiQ has raised more than £80,000 for Breast Cancer Care since partnering with the charity in 2009.
Goodyear has launched a successor to its Regional RHT range of trailer tyre and claims the new product outperforms the tyre it replaces in a number of key areas. Perhaps most importantly, the new Regional RHT II, which is intended mainly for use on vehicles operating in the regional haul sector, boasts up to 30 per cent better mileage than its predecessor. This greater mileage potential is said to be due to a new tread compound and 15 per cent more wearable rubber volume; the tread of the Goodyear Regional RHT II is 10 mm wider and has eight per cent more depth than that of the Regional RHT.
Dunlop India Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange of its decision to suspend operations at the company’s Sahaganj factory. In a lengthy letter outlining the various problems the company has faced at this factory since acquiring the tyre manufacturing business in 2005, Sahaganj plant manager M A Khan said it is no longer “possible to keep the factory open, continue to make payment of unproductive wages to idle workers and take risk for the safety and security of [the] plant and its employees.”
Good news for the title sponsor and other supporters – official figures show the number of viewers tuning into watch the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – the BTCC to its friends – has grown an average of 43 per cent this year. The British Audience Research Board gained this statistic from an analysis of viewer activity during the first seven rounds of the current season versus the first seven rounds of 2010; this latest figure shows a growing interest in the ITV coverage – after the first three rounds the year-on-year increase was only 36 per cent.
A former high speed tyre tester is the latest HiQ franchisee, putting his product knowledge into practice at a fast fit garage in Frome. Chris Davison from Bath has invested £45,000 in a new business venture with HiQ after 15 years working in tyre design technology with companies including Goodyear Dunlop. HiQ believes Davison’s experience puts him in an excellent position to use his knowledge in a customer-facing enterprise.
On September 22, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany officially inaugurated its tyre test centre in Meuspath, near the world-famous Nürburgring racetrack. Upon announcing the centre’s opening, Goodyear Dunlop said the tyre test facility is an important institution both for the ongoing further development of its products and for training and education purposes. The 600 square metre site contains a range of equipment, including a complete tyre mounting workshop and hydraulic lifts, and will employ up to 15 test personnel during peak periods. The centre’s close proximity to the Nürburgring circuit’s Nordschleife track also counts as a major asset for Goodyear Dunlop.
The Dunlop Tyres Motorcycle division has announced that its former design engineer Mark Sears will take up a new role as product support manager from 1 October 2011. Sears has 23 years of experience with Dunlop, having joined the company as an apprentice in 1988. He replaces Bryn Phillips directly in his latest role.
Six major motorsport championship titles were won this weekend in cars fitted with Dunlop tyres. In the penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca, California, another podium finish for Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller in BMW’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing Team Dunlop equipped BMW M3 GT meant the drivers, team and tyre manufacturer achieved their championship ambitions with one race still to run this season.
GITI Tire UK has added five staff members to its number after a summer of interviewing and appointing personnel. Following Richard Lyons’ promotion to the new role of European general manager in May former Pirelli man Brian McDermott has become general manager GITI Tire UK effective 1 November.
Slovenian tyre brand Sava Tyres – a Goodyear Dunlop brand – launched its new range of 22.5” truck tyres in an event in Ljubljana, including a visit to the Goodyear Dunlop manufacturing facility in Kranj, earlier in the year. The new range, which comprises the Avant 4 steer tyre and the Orjak 4 drive tyre, has been developed to provide enhanced performance and lower cost per mile on both long and short haul transport operations. Goodyear Dunlop also suggested that an upswing in the European truck tyre market would be experienced in the eastern half of the continent.
The Slovenian Press Agency reports that Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires is to invest 6 million euros in the production of retreaded truck and bus tyres in Slovenia.
The Malay Mail reports that four armed intruders forced their way into a used-tyre factory in the township of Bandar Bukit Puchong, Malaysia, overpowering a security guard, who was bound and gagged, before driving off with a trailer loaded with 319 tyres.
The French tyre giant has done it again. As in all the previous online brand equity studies produced by Tyres & Accessories in collaboration with online brand research specialists Envisional, the 2011 data once again shows that Michelin has achieved the greatest degree of online prominence. What’s different this year is that the margin has somewhat decreased compared with the identical study we produced in 2010.
The companies occupying the remainder of the top six most-prominent brand slots all come from the same selection as before (namely Michelin, Continental, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Dunlop) but, this time Pirelli rose from sixth place in 2010 to third place in 2011, and Bridgestone dropped from second to fourth place. According to the analysis there was a significant drop in relative prominence between the top six brands and the remainder, amongst which small drops in position were seen for Firestone (dropping below Yokohama) and Falken (dropping below Hankook). Giti achieved the smallest degree of online prominence by a significant margin.
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