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Vacu-Lug to Make 15 Redundant in Ops Review

Grantham-based retreading firm, Vacu-Lug is set to make 15 employees redundant in an operational review following difficult trading conditions in the commercial tyre sector. The company, which is Europe’s largest retreader of commercial and industrial tyres, is struggling to retain previous levels of demand in some business areas thanks to current market difficulties in haulage and logistics industries.

A spokesman for the company told local news sources that the review was the company’s response to the slowing economy, while the redundancies do not reflect the expanding nature of other sectors of the business. The company was eager to stress the fact that the move comes as “a restructuring exercise, which will help us continue our growth in other areas of the business.”

17th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Sanchez Appointed President of Remy Unit

Remy International Inc. appointed Jesus “Jay” Sanchez as president of the company’s Electrical Aftermarket business unit.

Sanchez had been managing director of the Arvin Meritor Light Vehicle Aftermarket business in Europe and South Africa.

Sanchez is a graduate of Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis., with a degree in mechanical engineering. (Tire Review/Akron)

17th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Truck Visual Designer Wins Award

MetaDesign, the agency behind the brand communication on Continental’s new Commercial Vehicle Tyre, has been recognised for its “outstanding work in Visual Imagery” on the new corporate brochures. The award was presented at the iF Design Awards ceremony on behalf of an independent 16-member jury from the iF Industrie Forum Design based in Hanover.

Creatively-speaking, says Continental’s marketing manager Dr. Michael Korpiun, the idea was to base the advertisements around Continental’s customers: “It is our customers who deliver our bread, take our children to school and build our houses. It was therefore only logical to put them at the centre as ‘everyday heroes’.”

15th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Promotes Two Key Sales Executives

Continental has promoted Phil Scanlan and Tom Whittaker into new roles as European sales director and sales manager – Car Fleets respectively.

Phil Scanlan has moved into the European sales director role responsible for Kwik Fit account after a number of years as fleet sales manager. His key role is managing the Kwik Fit account for Continental across Europe. In the coming months he will be working with Kwik Fit to maximise the new opportunities in supply chain through their new national distribution centre. The European sales director role is based in the UK and reports into the Hanover-based new distribution business unit.

11th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Pressure Check Campaign Visits Stoke

Despite particularly heavy downpours, this month Michelin staff have been giving members of the public free tyre pressure checks – all part of the company’s “Fill up with Air” campaign. The tour (which is being run in parallel across Europe) is designed to communicate messages warning of the dangers and expense that come with underinflated tyres. The plan is to reach out to consumers at high footfall sites, such as: Eurotunnel; Tesco and Asda branches; and Total Fitness gyms. In addition the tyre pressure roadshow will visit Michelin’s Ballymena truck tyre production plant in Northern Ireland.

11th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Appoints New Head of Akron Tech Centre

Yasutaka Enoki has been named the new technical chief of the Bridgestone Firestone Tech Centre in Akron, Ohio. The executive will commence his tenure in the role at the beginning of August. Yutaka Yamaguchi, the outbound head, will take up a new position with Bridgestone Europe as assistant managing director of the company’s Rome Technical Centre.

Enoki’s extensive tyre development experience with Bridgestone stretches back to 1975. His new appointment sees him also elected to the boards of Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire and Bridgestone Americas Holding.

10th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Sponsors Ultimate Street Car

Maragoni Tyre is to act as title sponsor of the forthcoming Ultimate Street Car (USC) show. The announcement follows the success of Fast Show and more recently Jap Show. Marangoni is returning to Santa Pod, as title sponsor for the USC event, on the 1 – 3 August, 2008. The Marangoni stand will feature a live DJ, girls, project cars and a live Marangoni Pit Stop Challenge. Project cars on display include “the mighty Progetto Marangoni Toyota Yaris” and the UK debut appearance of the Marangoni Fiat 500 Road Car.

Marangoni expects the USC to draw in crowds of over 30,000 visitors, making it the largest modified car event in Europe. The marketing department’s hope is that visitors to Marangoni Fast Show, Jap Show and Marangoni USC will not fail to recognize and accept the brand as a top quality UHP tyre choice.

10th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Clean Your Garage With Gunk

Fluid maker Gunk has gone green with the launch of an environmentally-friendly version of its multi-purpose degreasers and cleaners. Gunk Green – distributed exclusively in the UK by Gadco Europe – is a powerful, effective, all-purpose cleaner and degreaser. What makes Green Gunk different is that it is now packed with the latest cleaning and degreasing technology as well as biodegradability and low-odour. Gadco anticipates demand for this new range will build year on year and will possibly outsell the Gunk Orange label by 2010.

9th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

New Rugao Factory Increases Double Coin Production

China’s Double Coin – one of the country’s first manufacturers producing radial tyres – has announced that it is to increase production to six million tyres with the construction of a third factory. In producing the additional product quantity, the company hopes to meet market demand for radials, which it believes is rising.

At Reifen 2008, Double Coin reported a great deal of European interest as well as other international tyre specialists, a fact the company puts down to its greater experience in different markets, which it says has enabled the company to produce a product of increasingly high quality.

8th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandag Retreads OE on 10,000 DSV Road A/S Trailers

Operator of one of the largest independent trailer fleets in Europe, DSV Road A/S has chosen to fit Bandag retreads as Original Equipment to all of its trailers – a deal that sees 60,000 retreads fitted on trailers delivered to the transporter by German company Bernard Krone GmbH. The job of tyre management for the operation – including the full stock of replacement tyres – has been outsourced to Bandag subsidiary Eurofleet.

8th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Analysts Downgrade Michelin Shares to Sell

Michelin shares have dropped by 6.44 per cent following Societe Generale SA’s decision to downgrade the leading French tyre manufacturer’s stock to ‘sell.’ Societe Generale had previously rated Michelin as “hold.”

According to the analysts, Clermont Ferrand-based Michelin is about to feel the pinch of slowing sales of new truck tyres in Europe: “The European market for new truck tyres will probably slow as of 2009, given the end of an equipment cycle as well as the clear deterioration in the economic climate.” According to Bloomberg, Michelin’s share price has fallen 43 per cent this year. Societe Generale estimates the tyre manufacturer’s share price may fall to 39 euros, a 17 euros drop in its previous price target of 56 euros.

8th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Sibur Expands Into Europe

During May’s Essen show, plenty of rumours about Sibur Russian Tyres was bidding for Amtel-Vredestein were circulating. The difficult part was trying to pin someone down to go on the record and confirm what we all thought we knew at the time. Sibur Russian Tyres’ export department head, Oleg A Kataev, for example was tight-lipped when asked about the Amtel-Vredestein/Sibur negotiations. Instead, he was much more interested in explaining how Sibur’s European service has improved since the company opened a new office in Germany.

At the moment this means increasing supply into Germany and the neighbouring markets, particular with regard to Sibur Russian Tyre’s Tyrex truck brand. This direct, concerted sales effort remains a relatively new venture for the Russian company that has (since the deal with Amtel-Vredestein was completed – see elsewhere in this issue for further details) grown from a very strong to totally dominant position in the its domestic Russian market.

7th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Reifen 2008: South China Tire & Rubber Co

The South China Tire & Rubber Co. spent its time in Hall Six, Booth 300A promoting their “SUNNY” brand. The company aimed – with some success – to find new distributors in the European market.

Representatives of The South China Tire & Rubber Co. stated that the organisation has “identified cooperative intentions or even concluded transactions with some dealers in western, northern and eastern European market. Besides, we also availed ourselves of this opportunity to establish business relationship with dealers outside Europe and now we are discussing the further details.”

7th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Granutech-Saturn Has Best Ever Show

Representatives from Granutech-Saturn Systems report they experienced the highest level of traffic ever at their booth at the Reifen show in Essen, Germany, this past May. According to Mike Hinsey, Granutech’s International Vice President, the benefits from that event continue to make themselves evident.

7th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandag Delivers Strong Reifen Essen Presence in Golden Jubilee Year

For its 50th year of business Bandag delivered a strong presence at the Essen show with a sizable booth, in which was displayed the company’s latest product and technological innovations. The running of the Reifen Essen was also chosen as an opportunity to give several new Bandag released their first public airing, including the company’s new Application Specific product line featuring Bandag designed premium retread products.

Part of this range is the new BTR-WB (E), the Bandag Trailer Regional-Wide Base. A premium offering for the 3-axle trailer segment, the BTR-WB (E) is, says Bandag, the result of exhaustive testing. Wide base trailer tyres used in regional applications are used under tough operating conditions and must cope with endless tight turns and manoeuvring. The result can often be irregular wear patterns, and Bandag had this in mind when it began developing the new tyre. Several prototypes, hundreds of test tyres and many millions of test kilometres later, Bandag introduced a product it believes performs well in all circumstances.

4th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors