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New Avon ZV5 a First Glimpse at Cooper Tire’s European Know-How

Cooper Tire’s European Technical Centre in Melksham, opened a little over a year ago, has borne its first fruit – the all-new Avon Tyres ZV5 range. This new tyre, intended as a replacement for the ZV3, is aimed at the saloon car market and will be offered in numerous sizes to fit a range of vehicles as diverse as the VW Polo through to the Ford Mondeo and Audi A4.

The asymmetric tread pattern used on the ZV5 incorporates elements that emphasise handling in dry conditions, such as the broad open slots of the tyre’s shoulders, and in the wet, like the wide circumferential grooves intended to minimise the opportunity for aquaplaning. The tread blocks and siping have also been designed to slice through thin films of water, further enhancing braking performance. Steering response compared to that of the ZV3 has been sharpened through the addition of a stiffer lower sidewall layer.

10th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Announces PCR & LCV Tyre Price Increases

Continental has announced Europe-wide price increases of between 3.5 and 5 per cent for its passenger car and van tyre product lines. The increases affect both summer and winter tyre ranges and will take affect as of June 1. The reason behind the planned price increases is a familiar ones, with the need to counter rising raw materials, such as steel, oil and rubber cited by Continental.

10th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Supports 4×4 Charity Event

Cooper Tire & Rubber Europe has announced that it is supporting one of the UK’s largest off-road charity events this year as 4×4 enthusiasts aim to raise more than £100,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support. The “Mac 4×4” takes place from 7-9 March and challenges off-roaders from around the UK to take on a 1000-mile trek across some of the country’s most challenging and breathtaking terrain. The 2007 event raised an incredible £108,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support and this year, with the 60 entries filled within just 10 days, organisers are aiming to raise even more.

Carl Liversage, from Hampshire, and Nick Gage, from Surrey, opted to use Cooper’s Discoverer STT tyres for their Mitsubishi Pajero, thanks to the rubber’s reputation for tackling off-road courses with ease. Cooper will supply the rubber for free with Merityre, fitting them free of charge. “This event means a lot to people who take part, as they or someone they know has been affected by cancer,” said Liversage, who names his 4 x 4 “LePaj” and uses it as a family vehicle when not off-roading.

5th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Uniroyal Launches RainSport 2

Uniroyal claims a successful tradition of sport oriented rain tyre, and is confident its new RainSport 2 will follow in this vein. The new tyre builds on the established reputations of the RTT 1, RTT 2 and Rainsport 1 – products combining safety on wet roads with sporty driving performance. These features were suitably demonstrated when the tyres were used in the legendary 24 hour race on the northern loop of the Nürburgring, as well as when they were fitted as standard tyres in the Uniroyal Funcup, the racing series held right across Europe.

New structures in the base and sides of the grooves, together with their V-shaped profiles, enable water to be channelled even more quickly out of the contact patch, whilst the silica compound makes even higher deceleration values possible. The design of the tread ribs has also meant shorter braking distances on dry asphalt. A wear indicator on the tyre’s shoulder reveals faulty track alignment, thereby preventing reduced mileage.

5th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Asian Manufacturers Could Hold 8% of CV Tyre Market in Next 5 years

Herbert Mensching, Continental’s manager Sales and Marketing Commercial Vehicle Tires Europe has predicted that Chinese and other Asian manufacturers could occupy between 6-8 per cent of the European truck and bus replacement market in 5 – 10 years time. Speaking at the recent re-launch of the ContiNetwork group in the UK, Herbert Mensching told Tyres & Accessories that his company was prepared for the “further complications” this may bring to markets like the UK.

Mensching also pointed out that while the numbers of cheap budget products sold in the roughly 1.3 million unit UK CV replacement tyre market has doubled in the last five years (from 100,000 to 200,000 units), these products don’t have the same retreadability properties or whole-life sales and marketing support as premium brands like Continental. With 70 per cent of UK CV casings currently re-used as retreads, this remains a key market factor, he continued.

4th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Promotes New Grandtrek Touring A/S Tyre

Dunlop has announced the introduction of the all-season SUV tyre Grandtrek Touring A/S. The new tyre for modern Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) has been developed to include Dunlop’s Touch Technology for balanced, all-season, all-condition performance and strong road feedback. According to the manufacturer, the launch of Grandtrek Touring supports the continued growth in popularity of SUVs.

With its all-season technology, Grandtrek Touring encompasses a range of properties that are designed to ensure top performance. The tyre features a unique polymer blend tread compound for driving in all weather conditions. The Grandtrek Touring’s tapered shoulder grooves, are said to provide “innovative stiffness distribution,” while the asymmetric tread design reportedly combines with the shoulder grooves to optimize the tyre’s all-weather capabilities. The reinforced, stiffer sidewall controls the important displacement of energy that is usual from large vehicles when cornering.

3rd March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Europe Names Hee-Se Ahn VP Sales & Marketing

Hankook Tire Europe has elected Hee-Se Ahn (48) as Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for the tyre manufacturer’s European regional headquarters, located in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt/Germany. He succeeds Byeong-Jin Lee who has moved to a new management position at the group’s headquarters in Seoul/Korea. Mr Ahn’s responsibilities will include successfully integrating the company’s new 500 million euro Hungarian production plant into its future European marketing strategy.

29th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear: Dalian $1 Billion Tyre Factory Report ‘Inaccurate’

Following reports that Goodyear was about to sign an agreement to invest a 10-figure sum in a production plant in Dalian, China, Goodyear has responded to Tyres & Accessories with the following statement. According to Keith Price, Goodyear’s National Media Relations Director: “Dalian is already an important location for Goodyear and further investments in that location are possible, however we continue to explore opportunities in Asia and Dalian is one of them.”

According to Price, Goodyear is not currently in a position to invest the huge figure Reuters reported: “$1 billion in one plant in less than several years is an impossibility for Goodyear. We will make the appropriate announcements once any decisions have been finalized.”

“We also are continuing to evaluate strategic investments in high-value-added and low-cost capacity in Eastern Europe and Asia,” the statement continued, adding: “As indicated in Goodyear’s fourth quarter investor conference call, the company remains committed and on track to reduce our net debt, improve our cash flow and achieve our next stage metrics.”

28th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

OTR’s TotalTyreLogic Proving Popular in Scotland

Quarrying TotalTyreLogic, OTR Tyre’s ‘cradle to grave’ earthmover tyre management system, is said to be making a big impact in Scotland’s quarrying industry, and is already in use in more than 30 quarries there. The company reports that major quarrying groups are appreciating the ‘total’ service offered from OTR – from sourcing and supply of tyres through retreading to disposal and replacement.

TotalTyreLogic tracks, monitors and manages the condition of tyres, encompassing site surveys and detailed recommendations of operational practices, to aid budgeting and give visible asset management. Tyre data is correlated by OTR’s Tyre Service Engineers through on-site visits and recorded into hand held organisers before being downloaded directly to bespoke software for interpretation and analysis. The centralised database software then collates the information, which includes tyre manufacturer, tyre type, tread pattern plus wear and repair details, for each OTR customer.

27th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Moody’s Downgrades Conti’s Long-Term Rating

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term rating of Continental AG and its units to ‘Baa2’ following the company’s marked increase in debt and leverage resulting from the 11.4 billion euro acquisition of the Siemens VDO unit. The ratings agency said the downgrade concludes its July 26, 2007 review regarding a possible downgrade following the company’s announcement of the intended acquisition. Moody’s added that the one notch downgrade is in line with its previous announcement of a limited downward revision and takes into account the company’s recent track record of successfully integrating larger acquisitions.

27th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Dunlop Invests in Next Tread Equipment

Goodyear Dunlop UK has taken delivery of new machinery at its Next Tread truck tyre retreading plant in Wolverhampton. The two new Next Tread machines represent a six figure investment for the company’s truck tyre business.

Ken Wilson, QTECH Manager, Retread Europe explained the role of the machines: “The investment is in quality to enable highly accurate, repeatable process control, thus ensuring the highest possible standard of tyre to our customers. The machines are used to buff casings and in the building of the Next Tread (retreaded) tyres.

27th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Extends Fleet Hire Agreement

Kwik-Fit Fleet has extended its business partnership with leasing and fleet management company Fleet Hire into a fifth year with the signing of a new 12-month solus preferred agreement. The Solihull-based company operates a fleet of almost 6,000 vehicles and now uses Kwik-Fit Fleet for the supply of virtually all fast-fit related services, from traditional tyre repair and replacement utilising Kwik-Fit’s High Street centre network and 200 Mobile units to brake, exhaust and battery services.

25th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

80% of Nigerian Tyre Market Imported

International News, News

An estimated 80 per cent the 3.3 million tyres used in Nigeria are imported, according to Dunlop Nigeria Plc, Nigeria’s only domestic tyre manufacturer. The company also said over 150 different brands of tyres are imported into the country from Europe and Asia, among others. Dunlop Nigeria Managing Director Mohammed Yinusa blamed the figures on […]

22nd February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Increase Prices in Europe

Rising raw material costs have prompted Michelin to announce price increases for its passenger car, light commercial vehicle, truck and farm tyres in European markets. Car and light commercial tyre prices will rise by 3.5 per cent in most markets, however in the UK and CIS countries these increases will be 7 and 6 per cent respectively – this greater change, reports Michelin, is necessary to offset the negative impact of the local currencies compared to that of the euro.

22nd February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Alcoa Releases Even Lighter Wheels

In March of this year, Alcoa Wheels will be 60 years old. To mark this anniversary, Alcoa Wheel Products Europe has succeeded in making their most popular size truck wheels even lighter than before. The weight decrease applies to the following sizes:

22.5 x 8.25 from 24.18 kg to 22.79 kg = – 1.39 kg
22.5 x 9.00 from 24.73 kg to 23.21 kg = – 1.52 kg
19.5 x 7.50 from 18.67 kg to 17.76 kg = – 0.91 kg
19.5 x 8.25 from 19.23 kg to 18.54 kg = – 0.69 kg

The first lightweight wheels were produced in the Alcoa plant in Hungary on 1 February 2008. The first forged aluminium truck wheel was made by Alcoa in Cleveland/USA in 1948, and they have not stopped reinventing it since.

21st February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors