The Bandag brand is to be the only premium retread brand name used by Bridgestone in Europe. The company has decided to phase out the Bridgestone brand on its retreading products within our region as it considers Bandag to be the “world’s leading retread brand.” Therefore, current Bridgestone-branded pre-cured tread products will gradually be phased out in favour of Bandag-branded products.
Bridgestone is supporting the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup as it launches this weekend with the women’s and men’s Giant Slalom in Sölden, Austria. The tyre manufacturer is now a major event sponsor at 39 World Cup Alpine Ski events, including this weekend’s opening races. This is Bridgestone’s third consecutive season of close association with the pinnacle of alpine sport, and the company will continue as a major sponsor of skiing until at least 2016, having signed a three year extension to its current deal.
Dunlop has announced a softer set of compounds than in 2012 for the Japanese Moto2 and Moto3 races. The announcement comes one week after the Australian grand prix at Phillip Island, where the new aggressive track surface led to shortened races in both the Moto2 and Bridgestone-supplied MotoGP.
Bridgestone has received the Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) supplier award 2013 for delivery performance. The award was presented to Bridgestone at the HUM Annual Supplier Convention held at its Swindon manufacturing plant in the UK on 1 October. The tyre manufacturer supplies tyres to HUM for the Civic and Jazz models.
Following a Europe-wide tender process, Continental has been awarded a contract to deliver Deutsche Bahn some 17,000 bus tyres in several countries. Upon announcing the tyre supply deal for Deutsche Bahn’s DB Region and DB Arriva subsidiaries, the railway operator said Continental won the contract as its overall economic and service-oriented package created a favourable impression.
It invested 20 million euros there in 2012, and Michelin will continue investing in its Bad Kreuznach plant in Germany to improve its responsiveness to market demands. Plant manager Cyrille Beau told local newspaper the Rhein-Zeitung that the continued investment would cover several projects, including the conversion of a production line to 18-inch tyres. As of next year it will solely produce tyres in this rim diameter.
Goodyear has announced the shipment of its seven millionth UltraGrip 8 in Europe making the tyre one of its all-time leading winter products. The tyre, which launched in 2011, is the most recent in the UltraGrip branded range first launched in 1971.
GT Radial has entered the growing multi-usage sector with the launch of the GSR225 Combi Road steer axle tyre. The tyre is initially available in size 295/80R22.5.
Figures released by Michelin this week add further weight to the ETRMA’s suggestion of recovery being evident in recent European market developments. The French tyre maker reports growth in both the passenger car/light commercial vehicle and heavy truck markets in Europe (including Russia and Turkey) during September.
After a weak start to the year, replacement market tyre sales in Europe displayed signs of recovery in the third quarter; unit sales for the first nine months of 2013 are almost at the same level as the same period last year.
A news release from Bulgaria’s Ministry of Economy and Energy suggests that Nexen Tire intends to become the second Korean tyre maker with a manufacturing presence in the European Union. The Ministry reported that a meeting with a leading tyre maker took place during a visit to South Korea by Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy Krasin Dimitrov.
Although Bridgestone’s new passenger car radial factory in Vietnam has yet to enter operation, the tyre maker has announced the plant’s first capacity increase. An additional 17.9 billion yen (£113.9 million) will be invested to further raise capacity to 49,000 tyres a day by the second half of 2017. This further growth will see the plant’s workforce expand from approximately 1,900 employees in the first half of 2016 to around 3,800 some 18 months later.
According to a statement released by German tyre maker Continental on 14 October, the joint venture project it operates with and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) is “on the verge of a breakthrough.” Recently, work began on the construction of a pilot facility at IME’s Münster site in Germany, and when finished this will be able to produce larger volumes of dandelion-derived natural rubber.
Garage equipment specialist Trade Garage Equipment Limited has been appointed exclusive distributor for Europe’s leading extraction and de-polluting system manufacturers SACATEC.
Based in France, SACATEC has designed and manufactured a comprehensive range of systems for more than 50 years; Thomas Galtie of SACATEC explains how the association with ‘Trade’ developed.
Donington Park hosts the finale of eth Avon Tyres British GT Championship on 5-6 October, and both the GT3 and GT4 titles are still to be decided. Only 21 points separate the top seven drivers in the GT3 standings. Tyre supplier and title sponsor Avon Tyres declared itself “very proud to have been involved and to continue to be involved with such a strong race championship.”
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.