The latest component of Bridgestone’s ongoing Tyre Safety campaign – a website designed to boost awareness of the importance of tyre safety – has been unveiled. Featuring UK motorsport expert and TV commentator, Tony Jardine, the site contains a series of short video clips demonstrating what Bridgestone calls the “three main pillars” of tyre safety: tyre pressure, tread depth and damage/irregular wear. The web address is www.TyreSafety.eu.
According to research undertaken by market research company fast.MAP for mytyres.co.uk, price, choice and convenience are the main reasons why UK motorists are increasingly buying tyres online rather than from high street retailers. One thousand motorists were surveyed in September for the UK Delticom online operation, and price was identified as the most important reason for buying online. Delticom reports that over 80 per cent of respondents indicated that buying online was cheaper and more than 70 per cent said it was easier and quicker than more traditional methods: in excess of half of those surveyed cited the ability to order from the comfort of home as an important factor.
TRW Automotive Holdings reports the use of its new design LCCI (Low Cost Clamp-In) sensor for tyre pressure monitoring systems results in “significantly lowered costs for the system.” TPMS units featuring the LCCI are scheduled to be introduced in 2011 model year vehicles in the US.
There’s been a nip in the air of late, and Nokian Tyres has recognised this as the perfect time for a reminder that fitting eco winter tyres can help reduce vehicle fuel consumption. “Car drivers even can cut their fuel consumption even by half a litre on 100 kilometres with the environmentally friendly low rolling resistance tyre Nokian WR G2 if the air pressure is right,” commented Teppo Huovila, vice president of R&D at the Finnish manufacturer. “A rolling resistance lowered by 40 per cent saves six per cent fuel.”
At this year’s CITExpo, Best Choice International Trade didn’t just present a large portion of its existing range – visitors were also shown a new brand. By the end of the year this new line-up, produced under the “Mazzini Tyres” name, should be available in 13 sizes between 15 and 18-inches. As export manager Stephen Wu explained, the Mazzini brand will be separately positioned in the market to the company’s existing “Sunew” own brand. “We wanted a new brand for new customers,” elucidated Wu, stressing that the necessity to supply various distribution channels with a variety of brands. In light of this the company is looking around the world, particularly in Western Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, for new distributors.
It is already heavily involved in the UK and throughout Europe with football – the real football, the one where ball contact is made using the feet – and now Kumho Tires has extended its sports sponsorship activities to the American equivalent. In announcing the sponsorship of five gridiron teams in the US, the tyre maker says it has chosen a target for its sports marketing “renowned as American as apple pie” to make inroads into North American area.
Deruibotire (or Shandong Deribao Tire Co, Ltd), a tyre-maker in Guangrao County, a region of China’s Shandong Province has big new production plans in the offing in 2011. Visiting Brityrex 2010 in Manchester with a Chinese delegation, the company’s president Yuan Tingshu told Tyres & Accessories that, while the company is currently producing 3 million radial tyres per year, it is developing a production line to produce 24 million units in 2011.
Northern Ireland-based Fisher Engineering has reported that replacing the original equipment tyres on its Manitou rough terrain forklift truck with Michelin’s foam-filled XF and XZSL has increased tyre life. Operating out of its 21,000 sqm facility in Ballinamallard, near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, the rough terrain forklift is used to transport structural steel around the stockyard prior to shipment to major new building projects.
Italian tyre wholesaler operation CDP Group Spa has grown from a start-up to being a top 10 tyre wholesaler in the country in less than three years. Founded at the beginning of 2008 the company reports that it took just two and a half years to get into sixth place in the Italian tyre wholesale rankings and – with full year 2009 turnover totalling 28 million euros – there is every sign that the growth will continue.
Canada-based Camoplast Inc. has acquired Solideal Group, which serves the tyre, wheel and rubber track needs of the world’s material handling and construction industries. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is slated to take place in October, Camoplast said.
The integrated company will operate under the name of Camoplast Solideal Inc. with a significant participation of the current shareholders of Solideal in the ownership of the company. Solideal and Camoplast brands will continue to be managed independently.
Continental Tyres is showing its support for October’s Tyre Safety month in October with a call for UK motorists to be aware of the safety benefits winter tyres offer. Traditionally the British climate has been viewed as too temperate to warrant winter tyres, yet last year’s ‘big freeze’ saw many drivers unprepared and left stranded or involved in accidents that might have been avoided had winter tyres been fitted.
The 70 series is the second largest segment in the European agricultural radial tyre market and demand has grown steadily over the last decade. Firestone Europe has catered to this increasing demand with a new addition to its Performer line-up, the Performer 70 radial for medium to high-horsepower tractors in general farming applications. Compared to the R6000 and R8000 tyres it replaces, Firestone says the Performer 70 provides vehicles with more traction, longer tread life and a higher road-speed capability. The launch follows Firestone’s introduction of the standard series Performer 85 in 2009.
Fulda has announced the launch of the Kristall Control HP, its new cold weather tyre featuring “Snow Catcher Technology”, comprising the tyre’s carcass and tread design and full silica compound. The Kristall Control HP is designed to deliver improved performance on wet and snow covered roads.
A “New Bufalo” Landini tractor fitted with Mitas 65 series tyres won the classic Italian tractor-pulling contest held in San Pancrazio, near Parma on 12 September 2010. The 14 teams featuring such poetic names as Baby Tornado (second), Cobrabite (fifth) and Speedy (last) met for the 11th time since 1999 to match their power tractors in this “nerves of steel” battle for primacy.
“This extreme tractor sport is electrifying,” said Gaetano Mellia of CGS Pneumatici Italia. CGS Tyres produces Mitas-brand tractor tyres. “Unlike in other sports, the sportsmen compete with end-user machines driving on end-user tyres with the lugs cut off. The tractor’s horsepower preserved by the tyre is one secret ingredient of victory.”
Sibur, the largest petrochemical holding company in Russia and Eastern Europe and, has opened a Chinese trading company. Known as Citco (Shanghai) Trading Co., Ltd., the new China registered trading company is located in Shanghai and will engage in sales of petrochemical products, with payments in Chinese currency. Previously exports of Sibur’s products to China were coordinated through the corporate trading company CITCO (Austria), with payments in US dollars. Included in the petrochemical products Sibur exports is synthetic rubber, such as polybutadiene, for use in tyre production. In 2009 Sibur sold more than 47,000 tons of synthetic rubber in China.
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