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£400,000 Contract Win For Bandvulc

Ivybridge-based Bandvulc Tyre Contracts (BTC), the management arm of the Bandvulc Group of Companies, has won a major new contract from Axis Intermodal, one of the leading European hirers of Trailers, Trucks, Rigids and Intermodal Swap Bodies. The new deal is worth an estimated £400,000 per annum.

BTC will manage Intermodal’s 5,000-strong fleet across the UK and Europe delivering real time cost savings through a comprehensive package of benefits. One such benefit is the ability to provide specific recharge reports, enabling Axis to monitor and control damaged tyres.

7th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Nexen Sponsors Prodrift Team

As the 2007 drifting season comes to a close, Korean tyre manufacturer, Nexen Tire Corporation, have confirmed that they will enter the 2008 drifting market as a partner to Europe’s leading drift series, Prodrift. Recently, at a sponsorship signing ceremony held at Mondello Park Circuit outside Dublin, General Manager for Nexen Tyre London Bong-Wan Lee and General Manager of Nexen Tyre Europe John Bosco Kim met with members of Prodrift management and the drivers of the 2008 Team Nexen to confirm the details of this exciting 2008 drift programme. “We are pleased to sponsor Team Nexen for the Prodrift 2008 series. As becoming a global motor sport brand, we have no doubt that Prodrift would perform an excellent and exciting drift series in 2008”, said John Bosco Kim, General Manager of Nexen Tyre Europe.

21st December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandag and Conti go their Separate Ways

At the end of this year, the ContiTread cold retreading partnership between Bandag Europe and the Continental AG will come to an end. In a message to Bandag partners in Europe Mike Tirona, Vice President and General Manager Bandag EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), explained that the decision was made jointly and in a friendly atmosphere. The question is who will now produce ContiTread treads? Will they be made in Continental’s factories or in partnership with another manufacturer? The latter certainly appears to be the case. While no details have yet been officially confirmed, Continental representatives told Tyres & Accessories that negotiations with “another international retread supplier” are already at an advanced stage and that these are expected to be completed in early 2008, with the first Conti-Tread strips to be produced outside of Bandag’s Belgian Lanklaar factory to follow in March 2008.

21st December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Avon Celebrates 23 Rallycross Titles in a Year

Avon Tyres is celebrating the fact that racers using the manufacturer’s rubber have won 23 rallycross titles across Europe in 2007. In the world’s premier series, the FIA European Rallycross Championship, Lars Larsson, Kenneth Hansen and Andreas Eriksson took the top three Division 1 places on Avon tyres, while Michael de Keersmacher and Jos Sterkens took the Division 1A and Supercup titles respectively.

17th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone to Increase Prices in all European Markets

Bridgestone Europe has announced price increases for all tyre brands and categories in every European market. Passenger car, 4×4, and light commercial vehicle tyre prices will rise by between three and five per cent, while all other sectors will be subject to increases of between five and ten per cent. These price adjustments are scheduled to be implemented as of February 1, 2008.

12th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

The FIA Honours Bosch for Contribution to Road Safety

The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) has awarded Bosch its internationally acclaimed “FIA World Prize for Road Safety, the Environment and Mobility” in recognition of the contribution Bosch has made to global road safety through its ESP safety system. On December 7 FIA President Max Mosley presented the trophy to the CEO of Robert Bosch GmbH, Franz Fehrenbach, at the FIA gala in Monaco.

“Bosch has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of the most effective car safety system since the invention of the safety belt,” Mosley explained. In his acceptance speech, Fehrenbach replied: “This prize is a distinction for all our associates: for the engineers who developed the system, for the associates in our plants who have been producing this system to the highest quality standards for many years now, and not least for the marketing experts who have never tired of communicating the benefits of this system.” The FIA World Prize is presented every year to a person or an organisation that has made an outstanding contribution in the areas of road safety, the environment or mobility.

11th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

EU to Form Part of Larger Goodyear Strategic Business Unit

Executives at Akron have redrawn the borders on Goodyear’s global map, combining its European Union (EU) region with that of Eastern Europe,
Middle East and Africa (EEMA). The new grouping, to be known as Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), will be the manufacturer’s second largest geographic region and second largest, after North America, in terms of annual sales revenue. In 2006 the combined annual sales revenue for the two former regions was US$6.5 billion. The amalgamation of the two regions takes effect on February 1, 2008.

11th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Reaffirms Commitment to Vehicle Modification Group

As part of its commitment to motoring that is both enjoyable and responsible, Hankook Tire recently signed a contract at the Essen Motor Show confirming its ongoing partnership with the German tuning organisation VDAT. Vehicle tuning and modification enjoys a very strong following in this country and Hankook’s third consecutive year of support for the VDAT ‘Tune it! Safe!’ campaign sends a clear message that the manufacturer is fully behind those involved in the tuning scene – so long as the modifications made to vehicles are safe and legal.

10th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Giti Tire To Exhibit at CV Show

Giti Tire, the largest tyre manufacturer in China, has booked a “large” stand at next year’s Commercial Vehicle Show at Birmingham’s NEC. Company representatives told Tyres & Accessories that Giti Europe has invested a “significant amount” in publicising the company’s ever-increasing range of truck and bus tyres at the show. The stand has been designed to raise the profile of both Giti’s brands and product range and the position has been strategically selected near some well-known tyre manufacturer stands.

10th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

NETE Appoints New Retail Director

North Eastern Tyre & Exhausts has announced the appointment of Roger Griggs to the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Griggs joins the board following the announcement of Ray Darcy’s retirement, and he will take on the role of Retail Director.

Roger Griggs brings considerable experience with him to NETE, having spent over thirty years within the tyre industry, twenty-seven of which have been with Continental. Between 1993 and 2000, Roger was Sales Director UK/Eire before he was asked to spearhead Continental’s successful development with Europe’s largest independent tyre retailer, ‘Kwik Fit’.

10th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

WTO Rules Brazil Must Allow Retread Imports

A World Trade Organization appeals panel ruled on December 3 that Brazil did violate international commerce rules by restricting importation of retreaded tyres from Europe. Brazil claimed that the European Union was dumping millions of used tyres on its market, creating a greater risk of disease and environmental damage as the country had no means to effectively recycle the used tyres. Because Brazil allows such imports from South American countries, the WTO ruled that Brazil’s ban on the retreaded tyres was, in fact, as restriction on international trade.

5th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Costly Carelessness

Efforts to educate on the benefits of correctly inflated tyres seem to be falling upon deaf ears – Michelin has found that almost 80 per cent of cars on British roads are running with incorrect tyre pressure and over half have levels considered dangerous. This mind-boggling news comes courtesy of a nationwide inspection survey conducted by the manufacturer, during which more than 2,300 cars were inspected at 13 venues in the UK. From this sample population, 36 per cent were found to have at least one tyre between 7 and 12 psi below the recommended pressure, and an additional 15 per cent had a tyre at least 14psi or more below the specified level – potentially only 50 per cent of the recommended safe level of inflation. Furthermore, 13 per cent of all vehicles had a tyre containing a puncture.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

German Winter Tyre Sales Down, Reports Association

Germany has long been presented to UK motorists as the ‘poster boy’ for winter tyre sales in Europe, but it appears that this year the market boasting a winter segment accounting for around half the total passenger car tyre sector is shaping up to be somewhat lacklustre. Hans-Jürgen Drechsler, head of Germany’s tyre dealer and retreader association, the Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk e.V. (BRV), has commented on this year’s lower sales in an interview with the Handelsblatt business newspaper.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo also Considering Germany as Site for New European Factory

In mid-November the joint managing director and COO of Apollo Tyres, Neeraj Kanwar, reported that “we are looking at project feasibility in the Eastern Europe region in terms of cost of manufacturing and approach to market.” A local media report from northeast Germany, published a week later, indicates that Eastern Europe is not the only location under consideration.

News coming from the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania reveals that the Indian tyremaker has engaged the services of high-profile German corporate consultancy Kienbaum to seek information from the regional authorities in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, requesting they send information on the province, information that will form the basis of a feasibility study about establishing a manufacturing facility there. It also appears likely that a delegation from Apollo Tyres will visit northern Germany some time in the “near future.”

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Delticom Pre-tax Profits up 69%

Delticom AG, Europe’s leading Internet tyre retailer, has increased revenues by approximately 34 per cent year-on-year in the first 9 months of this year to 146 million euros (2006: 108.9 million euros). EBIT rose by 69 per cent to 6.9 million euros (previous year: 4.1 million). At the same time, net income for the period was up by 92 per cent to 4.8 million (previous year: 2.5 million euros).

26th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors