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Michelin Romania Truck & OTR Tyre Production up 23%.

Michelin’s subsidiary in Romania, Michelin Silvania, has indicated it expects production at its facility in the city of Zalau will rise by 10 per cent this year, following an increase of 23 per cent during 2006. The factory, which focuses on the production of truck and OTR tyres, currently has an annual output of 600,000 units

Speaking to local media, factory manager Jana Popa painted an upbeat picture of the coming year. “We have already conquered the market of tyres for agricultural equipment, heavy vehicles and lorries, which will ensure an over 10 per cent increase in the volume of our production, while at the same time doubling the volume of semi-finished products exported to Eastern Europe,” she said. “We are also relying on the fact that we have regular clients buying our tyres and demand on the market is currently witnessing an upward trend.”

23rd April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Volvo to Offer Goodyear Self-Repair Tyres

Volvo is set to become the first truck manufacturer in Europe to fit self-repairing tyres to its products after the company entered into a supply deal with Goodyear. The deal will see tyres using Goodyear’s Duraseal become an option on the Volvo range.

The innovative design feature behind Duraseal is an extra-soft layer of rubber – a sealing layer. This sealing layer is inserted between the tread and the belted layer, and in the event of a puncture, the elastic, jelly-like material immediately plugs and seals the hole and retains the tyre’s air pressure. The tyre can seal holes up to 6 mm in diameter. The repair is permanent and the truck does not need to be withdrawn from traffic. It can continue to be used until the next scheduled service, which is highly beneficial in terms of productivity. Furthermore, major repairs involving vulcanisation of the tread layer do not damage the sealing layer.

23rd April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Urges Motorists: Think Before You Drive

Bridgestone is again urging motorists across the country to “Think Before You Drive”, as its campaign to encourage drivers to check the safety of their tyres enters a third year. In an effort to reduce accidents in the UK, Bridgestone joined forces with the RAC Foundation and FIA Foundation in 2005 to launch the Think Before You Drive campaign – and this year will see more activity than ever before.

“Since the campaign began, we have carried out tens of thousands of free tyre checks across the UK and Europe, in an effort to show drivers just how important their tyres are,” said John McNaught, managing director of Bridgestone UK. “Shockingly, we have found that only 6.5 per cent of vehicles had all four tyres correctly inflated, with at least one in eight cars having at least one tyre significantly under-inflated.”

20th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Win a Harley-Davidson

BEN, the Automotive Industry Charity, in Association with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles will be launching its National Bike Draw from Tuesday 24 April. The XL883 Sportster, which has been donated by Harley-Davidson Europe, is described as a pure and unadulterated street machine, an ideal entry level motorcycle for those joining the Harley-Davidson family. With its 883cc V-twin Evolution engine it has the addition of fuel injection for the 2007 model year. Tickets priced at £2 each can be purchased from Kelly Neal at BEN. Simply email her at Kelly.neal@ben.org.uk or call on 01344 294720. The Draw will take place at the International Motorcycle and Scooter Show, The NEC, on December 2, 2007.

20th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

USW, Unions in Canada and Europe Explore ‘Super-Union’

(Akron/Tire Review) Globalisation is happening everywhere. On April 18 the United Steelworkers (USW), Amicus and the Transportation & General Workers Union (T&GWU) of the United Kingdom began considering a possible merger, one that would create a labour union covering four countries and some 3.4 million members.

Representatives of the three trade unions – representing workers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland – signed an agreement in Ottawa establishing a merger committee. Within one year, the committee is expected to develop merger plans to create one super-union.

USW said the deal follows a “strategic alliance” between Amicus and the USW two years ago. Further, Amicus and T&GWU will already merge May 1, creating Unite, a union with some 2 million members. By contrast, the USW claims 850,000 members.

20th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

EU Sets Deadline for Bandag/Bridgestone Inquiry

(Akron/Tire Review) Forex Global News has reported that the European Commission has set May 29 as the deadline to complete its investigation into the proposed sale of Bandag Inc. to Bridgestone Americas Holding. The $1.05 billion deal is expected to close by the end of the quarter.

Bandag has considerable business in Europe, prompting the EU Commission’s involvement. The deal has already been approved by U.S. authorities.

19th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Lights go Green for Marangoni Motorsport Assault

Following a successful motorsport campaign in 2006, Marangoni has announced a strong programme of activity for 2007, which will see both the tyremaker’s Zeta Linea Racing and Mythos tyres utilised in motorsport campaigns which include the FIA International Hill Climb Challenge, the Italian Hill Climb Championship, the Osella Junior Trophy and the new one-make Italian Nissan 350Z Challenge.

Marangoni views motorsport as integral to the R&D of production tyres, with competition recognised as a real-time mobile laboratory and a major R&D resource. Racing on Marangoni technology again in 2007 is Simone Faggioli, whose Zetra Linea Racing tyre shod machine took out the 2004 and 2005 Italian Hillclimb Championships and a European 2005 title.

16th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

UK Car Registrations Up During March

New passenger car registrations across Europe during the month of March were recorded as 1,822,180 units, approximately the same as March 2006. In the UK registrations were up 3.1 per cent, with some 449,287 new registrations during March, a strong new car registration month due to the half-yearly plate changeover.

New EU member states again showed the greatest increase in registrations, a 13.6 per cent rise overall. Poland’s March 2007 registrations were the highest recorded since it joined the EU, a 29.4 per cent jump to 27,969 registrations, and confirm the recovery of new car sales in this country. Estonia recorded an even more impressive 59.5 per cent increase, although it must be noted that total registrations for that country during March were only 2,881.

16th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Analysts: Continental/Matador Deal “Logical”

Describing the deal as “logical” Deutsche Bank analysts have estimated that the cost of the 51 per cent Matador stake Continental AG recently purchased should be “in the low triple digit million euros.” This is consistent with earlier reports (published in Tyres & Accessories at the third quarter of 2006), which predicted the deal would cost around 150 million euros.

Summing up the benefits of the deal for Continental the analysts said: “Via Matador Continental gets a further plant in Russia, access to a 24 per cent stake in its combined venture for truck tyres as well as a small addition to Contitech (Matador also produces conveyor belts),” adding: “Since the tyre industry is global, the group should logically in the future make acquisitions outside Europe if they want to become a more global player in the industry.”

13th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Appeal FIA Dismissal

A French court, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, has dismissed Michelin’s request to annul the International Automobile Federation (FIA) decision to appoint Pirelli the sole tyre supplier to the world rally championship (WRC).

On April 4 Michelin released a press statement indicating it intends to appeal February’s decision to award Pirelli sole supplier rights for the 2008 to 2010 seasons.

5th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Maxxis is New Title Sponsor for 2007 British Supersport Championship

Maxxis is the new title sponsor of the 2007 British Supersport Championship, one of the leading motorcycle racing series in the UK and Europe and second only to the British Superbike Championship (BSB) in popularity. A top class series in its own right, Supersport is very highly rated by motorcycle manufacturers and racers alike. The 2007 season, which will be contested over 13 weekends at 11 venues throughout the British Isles, commences with two races at Brands Hatch on Monday, April 9. The final championship round is at Brands Hatch on October 14.

5th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Lassa’s Impetus Sport Gains Stamp of Approval

Germany’s TÜV standards organisation has recently accredited Lassa’s Impetus Sport tyre as having fulfilled their strict criteria regarding levels of performance, durability and handling. This is credit that Martin West, Lassa’s European director of marketing and business development believes confirms what users of the tyre already know. “We’ve been getting great feedback from drivers ever since we launched the Impetus Sport”, he commented. “It’s extremely satisfying to all of us at Lassa now that the innovation and technology that went into it has been recognised by our industry”.

Lassa say that the W-speed rated Impetus Sport has already become popular with distributors and dealers across Europe thanks to its combination of good looks and responsive, accurate performance. Designed in collaboration with The Bridgestone Technical Centre, the Impetus Sport possesses a number of design features Lassa believe helped it to achieve TUV certification, including a unidirectional pattern with wide circumferential grooves – designed to provide a high resistance to aquaplaning, a compound that maximises the tyres wet-grip handling, and reinforced body-ply and belt edges that allow for greater stability at high speeds.

4th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Avon Tyres British GT Series – GT Heaven

Aston Martin DBRS9, Lamborghini Gallardo, Jaguar’s new XKR, Ferrari 430, Porsche GT3RS, Ascari KZ1R and the iconic Dodge Viper are among the mouth-watering line-up of GT machinery that will grace this year’s Avon Tyres British GT Championship. And, of course, these dream machines will be shod with Avon motorsport tyres.

Avon Tyres Motorsport, the racing division of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd, won the contract to supply control tyres to GT Championship series for the 2006 to 2008 race seasons. This year’s season rumbles into action at Oulton Park, Cheshire, on Easter weekend, April 7-9.

3rd April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sales and Marketing Appointments at Pirelli North America

Pirelli Tire North America has reorganized its sales and marketing organization. The announcement coincides with the news that Peter Tyson, VP Communications and Motor Sport, Pierluigi Dinelli, Director of Marketing, and Giovanni Ricci, Supply Chain and Pricing will return to management positions in Europe.

The Pirelli North American sales and marketing effort has been re-organized, largely by promotion from within its existing team. Dan O’Shaughnessy is promoted to the newly created position of Regional Sales Director, reporting to Riccardo Cichi, Vice President Sales. He will be responsible for all regional sales and all Pirelli’s Regional Sales Managers will report to him.

30th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Wheel Loss Safety Campaign to be Launched at CV Show

Disc-Lock Europe, maker and European distributor of the award-winning Disc-Lock Safety Wheel Nut will launch its new campaign, Think Safe, Think Disc-Lock! at the CV Show 2007. The firm says this highlights the fact that truckers think wheel loss is the leading vehicle safety issue while truck makers continue to ignore their concerns. Demonstrations on the Disc-Lock stand will show how a standard two-piece Daf, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Scania or Volvo wheel nut can be shaken loose in less than one minute on a Junker vibration test machine, while the Disc-Lock Safety Wheel Nut remains secure. According to reports, the firm hopes this will draw attention to truck makers apparent lack of concern.

29th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors