Representatives of Spanish trade unions Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) have organised a march today in protest of planned redundancies at Bridgestone factories in Spain. This action is just one of a number of measures planned; a two hour strike is scheduled at its Puente San Miguel plant tomorrow, and Bridgestone workers intend to protest the job cuts on 25 November.
The body representing Europe-based tyre producers, the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association, has launched its own Twitter account. The association will post news and updates to https://twitter.com/etrma.
Toyo Tyre (UK) Limited has confirmed that Nick Manning has stepped down as managing director of the company with immediate effect. According to company representatives he will officially leave the company at the end of December 2012 in order to “pursue other interests.” There has been no indication of whether or not these other interest will be inside or outside the tyre industry.
Almost half of motorists believe that traffic stopped at an incident should keep a lane space free for emergency service vehicles, according to the latest poll by the Institute of Advanced Motorists.
They also agree that those who fail to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle should be fined. This approach is being trialled in Europe.
As part of its corporate social responsibility program (CSR) in Hungary, Hankook has donated over 1300 winter tyres to three organisations – National Ambulance Service, National Disaster Relief and Hungarian Red Cross – to support their invaluable services to the community. This is the largest tyre donation ever in Hungary.
In 2012, Hankook launched an overarching CSR strategy in Hungary, where the company's European production facilities are located. The "Hankook Value Creation Program" is based on three pillars: Environment, Health & Education and Social Campaigning.
An article in the Daily Telegraph by David Williams takes an in-depth look at car thefts in the UK. Despite a falling level of theft numbers (1991: 347,000, 2011: 95,681) the proportion of vehicles never returned to their owners is rising. Figures from RetainaGroup show that 41 per cent were returned last year, compared with 51 per cent in 2008 and 70 per cent in 2002. The insurer Swiftcover says that, last year, 65,000 UK-registered vehicles were stolen and never recovered, with a value of £300 million.
Toyota has recalled 2.8 million cars in order to fix faulty steering columns and water pumps on nine models worldwide. In the UK, the recall is estimated to affect 75,000 cars, including Avensis, Corolla and Prius models. Around 496,000 vehicles are estimated to be affected across Europe.
DriveRight has appointed Jeremy Wood as its new UK and European sales manager. Wood joined the DriveRight team in October, bringing with him a wealth of experience within IT, including extensive web coding and UI design knowledge. He has a background as a vehicle technician using tailored software systems within Formula 1.
Tyres & Accessories/Tyrepress.com reported from CITExpo 2012 that Danish tyre and wheel supplier Nordisk Dæk Import A/S (NDI) had made its decision to establish a location in China to distribute its products from this market to the world rather than re-exporting from Europe. While this eminently sensible move is still going ahead, NDI China general manager Gregers Lindvig informed T&A at Reifen China that the location of the operation is undergoing a change of plan.
Dunlop is looking forward to the newly refreshed European Le Mans series, describing it as a “major step forward in securing the future of endurance racing in Europe.” But this also means that the company will not supply the 2013 American Le Mans Series.
Continental, in collaboration with Safe Kids China, has launched the Youth Safe-Driving Program 2012/2013 at Tongji University in Shanghai.
Under the motto, "Be a Responsible Young Driver", the two-year program aims to enhance road safety awareness and promote safe driving behaviour among young drivers as well as reduce road injuries. Representatives from the Shanghai Municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the Automotive Studies School at Tongji University joined student ambassadors at the opening ceremony.
The Road Haulage Association has welcomed the news that the Scottish National Party are to vote against the 3ppl fuel duty increase planned for January 2013.
With 12 million sector-related jobs the automotive industry is vital for Europe's prosperity and job creation. The automotive industry as a whole (automotive producers, supply chain and aftermarket, including thousands of SMEs) is of strategic importance to the European economy, representing 12 million direct and indirect jobs, 4 per cent of GDP and a €90 billion trade surplus (in 2011). This industry is the biggest private investor in research and innovation, spending around €30 billion annually.
Richard Rose has been appointed VP of sales and marketing at Titan International, the company’s board of directors announced. The appointment is effective 1 November 2012.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Automotive partner Phil Harrold has forecast a continuing “renaissance” for the British automotive industry. The analyst suggests the next five years will see the sector improve its workforce’s skills base following recent investments by major brands such as Toyota, and rises in new car registrations. Harrold commented after the firm’s auto analyst arm, Autofacts, predicted global production figures would top 83.19 million in 2013 up from 79.1 million this year.
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