Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has been selected by Bombardier to supply tyres for the new 100-seat CRJ1000 Next Gen regional jet. The aircraft has 45 firm orders with carriers including Adria Airways and Brit Air. Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, one of two approved suppliers for the CRJ1000, will manufacture and retread the tyres at its facility in Birmingham, UK.
In order to address increasing European market demand for passenger car and truck tyres, the Goodyear Dunlop group is increasing production volume at its facility in Wittlich, Germany. To facilitate a higher volume the plant is being expanded and an additional 90 jobs will be created at Wittlich by September 2010.
Late last year the Goodyear Dunlop group completed the expansion of warehouse storage capacity of its European logistics centre in Philippsburg, near Stuttgart in southern Germany. Work on the centre’s offices, from where the company’s Europe-wide logistics are directed, has now also been finished, marking the completion of a 20 million, one and a half year project. The centre was officially inaugurated by Heribert Rech, minister of the interior for the province of Baden-Württemberg along with Eberhard Louis, director of Distribution & Operation at Goodyear Dunlop Europe, and Dr. Rainer Landwehr, chairman of Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany.
India’s Monotona Tyres Ltd has become a subsidiary of fellow Ruia Group company Falcon Tyres Ltd. This arrangement allows Monotona to take advantage of the technical assistance agreement Falcon has operated with Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries since 2007 and will lead to its products being marketed in the Indian replacement market under the Dunlop brand name.
Chop Swee Hoe and Continental Sime Tyre Sdn. Bhd. (CST) opened a new BestDrive Continental Passenger Car & Light Truck (PLT) Centre in Malacca (the third smallest state in Malaysia) on 23 May, 2010. According to Choong Kee Seng, sales and marketing director of CST, the BestDrive PLT centre empowers partners with the ability to make use of this brand to become positioned as uniform, specialised tyre dealers catering for the premium customer segment. “We have now completed a total of 18 BestDrive Continental PLT centres throughout Malaysia, with the opening being done in stages,” said Choong Kee Seng.
Pawan Kumar Ruia, owner of Dunlop India and Falcon Tyres, is said to be one of the bidders for SsanYong Motor. The South Korean vehicle manufacturer, which has been in court-led restructuring since early last year, was announced for sale this week. Bidders have until May 28 to submit a letter of intent. Sources reported by Calcutta, India based newspaper The Telegraph say Ruia is prepared to pay up to US$500 million for the company.
Following an evaluation by the Thames Valley Police Driving School, Chiltern Transport Consortium has selected Dunlop to be tyre supply for its fleet of BMW R1200 RTP fully homologated, police specification bikes. The BMWs will run on the Sportmax Roadsmart, a tyre predominantly aimed at the sports touring bike sector.
As one of the largest distributors of passenger car tyres in the UK, Stapleton’s offers customers a comprehensive selection of high performance tyres. The company stocks ultra high performance ranges from all premium brands such as Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear, Pirelli and Michelin, as well as offering customers a wide choice of good value own-brand high performance tyres. Stapleton’s exclusive and private brand ranges include Prestivo, Matador, Nexen and Primewell.
The International NorthWest200 came to a close on Saturday 15 May with Dunlop given particular reason to be satisfied with the performance of riders using its tyres. First places in the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport races went to McGuinness, Amor and Hutchinson, all using Dunlop rubber; in total 11 out of the 18 available podium places went to riders using the manufacturer’s products. Company representative Pat Walsh thought the weekend’s successes boded well for the rest of the season: “This impressive start puts us in a good position for the Isle of Man TT which starts in two weeks time.”
Dunlop tyres were the choice of BMW Motorsport in winning the Nurburgring 24 hour race this weekend. The classic race, held on the tortuous circuit that Sir Jackie Stewart once described as the ‘greatest and most challenging’ in the world, was won by the latest BMW M3 GT2, equipped with Dunlop Sport Maxx race tyres. The Dunlop tyres were designed, developed and manufactured in the company’s Motorsport centre at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, England.
Pirelli Motorcycle has launched what is says is the first motorcycle tyre riders can customise with their own initials, name, individual words or whole messages. According to the company, consumers that wish to stamp their own mark on their tyres can also reproduce images and logos, which can then be applied to the tyres’ sidewalls with special labels created by the rider. The sides of the new Diablo Rosso Corsa tyres were designed to accommodate the adhesive labels that anyone can design on Pirelli’s website and receive at home.
Stapleton’s Tyre Services reports that over the past 12 months the company has “continued to flourish.” The wholesaler, which occupies a leading position in the UK market, has more than 70 years experience in passenger car tyre distribution. It distributes to both the specialist tyre retail trade and the car dealership sector. Stocking tyres from all major manufacturers, including Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin and Pirelli, Stapletons offer a full range of tyres from budget to premium, including exclusive and private brands: Nexen, Primewell, Capitol, Prestivo and Matador. Primewell, produced by Giti -the largest tyremaker in China, is the latest addition to the company’s range.
Tyrepress.com reported the opening of the Dunlop High Performance Centre earlier in the year. To follow up on the launch and to discuss Goodyear Dunlop's plans for the new retail innovation, we visited the new Centre to speak with Mark Davison, Goodyear Dunlop’s consumer director.
In March we mentioned that Dunlop was introducing its SP StreetResponse range at the Geneva Motor Show. For those of you seeking further information on this new summer tyre in these pages, the wait is finally over….
The range of Goodyear truck tyres certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay programme has been enlarged by the addition of a new product, the G662 RSA Fuel Max. The qualities purchasers will find in this all-position regional tyre, Goodyear reports, are a deep tread, enhanced tread design and scrub-resistant compounds to help maximise tyre life in urban and regional driving conditions.
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