The Morgan Motor Company has achieved a new record for output in 2009, with the total cars built expected to total around 690 – a 73 per cent increase on the company’s usual figure of 400, according to reports in Autocar. The car-maker’s tyre supplier, Cooper Tire Europe, which supplied Avon ZZ3s for the Aero 8 and Aeromax models, declared itself “extremely proud” of its long association with Morgan.
Klarius has launched a new range of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) for the aftermarket. Marketed by Klarius through the largest of its European manufacturing plants in Stoke, the new range of DPFs is said to match OE quality and is fully recyclable part. Klarius DPFs are also Bio-Diesel compatible, providing the vehicle was originally manufactured to run on Bio-Diesel.
Volvo Trucks newest driver training vehicle has been fitted with a Monityre tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) from Safe Europe plc. The Safe Europe Monityre TPMS has been fitted to a Volvo FH-420 6×2 tractor unit, specified with the popular automated I-Shift gearbox, and is pulling a tri-axle Gray & Adams 13.6 metre trailer running at maximum weight 44 tonnes. This vehicle is part of Volvo Trucks’ driver training fleet of trucks that are being used for the company’s CPC Driver Development Programme with major fleet customers and operators.
Marketing agency Wunderman has reportedly been given the task of revising the Europe-wide customer relationship management and communications strategy for Conti Trade, the organisation in charge of Continental’s retail activities in much of Europe. In 2009 Conti Trade reported achieving a turnover of more than 700 million euros, with its Conti-Trade-Network covering more than a thousand service stations in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.
Bridgestone Europe has introduced two new truck steer-axle tyres, R249 EVO and R297 EVO, which it says will meet stricter European emission levels. The move anticipates an increased front-axle load for trucks due to the addition of new ‘clean’ technologies, notably SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) and EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation), in compliance with Euro V and VI emission regulations.
Paul S. Winson Coaches has chosen to meet the challenges of inner city school runs, private hire contracts and long-distance touring with Michelin products that it believes will help deliver increased tyre mileage. The Loughborough-based company says that with XZE 2+ tyres one of its luxury 53-seater VDL Bova Futuras is seeing increased tyre life while maintaining high levels of safety and ride quality performance.
The EU has agreed that all new tyres sold in Europe from November 1, 2012 onwards must be classified and labelled according to their fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise performance. Kwik-Fit Fleet comments that this regulation is intended to make fleet operators, company car and van drivers and private drivers aware of the individual performance characteristics of every single new tyre on sale – and the fast-fitter admonishes fleet managers not to skimp on safety or cost when the labelling initiative gets underway.
Marangoni Retreading Systems reports that, like all other producers, it has been impacted by the increases in raw material costs. The company notes that in recent months a reduction in global production and growing demand from Asian consumers has led to a steep rise in natural rubber prices, overcoming the peak reached in October 2008. Furthermore, adds Marangoni, the cost of other raw materials has increased due to the recovery of oil prices. A third said factor swelling costs is the introduction of a Europe wide law at the start of the year prohibiting the use of polyaromatic oils in the production of compounds.
The European Automotive Manufacturers’ Association has confirmed what we already knew – last year commercial vehicle registrations plummeted. According to ACEA figures, new registrations of commercial vehicles was down 32.4 per cent compared with 2008, and this downturn affected all segments and all countries represented by the organisation. In total, 1,706,996 vehicles were registered throughout the year.
As part of the restructuring of its Engineered Products and Solutions (EPS) business, a measure taken in order to accelerate growth, Alcoa has appointed Olivier M. Jarrault to the new position of chief operating officer, Engineered Products and Building Systems. In this role, Jarrault, who has served as president of Alcoa Fastening Systems since 2002, will lead the Alcoa Fastening Systems, Alcoa Wheels and Transportation Products, and Building and Construction Systems business units.
Tyre tripling, inserting two used tyres inside another one, has been increasingly adopted as a method of saving space and achieving transportation cost savings. To give a real life example, up to around 1,600 tyres can normally be fitted into a standard container. Up to 3,500 “tripled” tyres can be fit in the same space. According to Arne Blaes, the proprietor of a company which manufactures tripling machinery, the process was invented by Africans who in most cases carried out the strenuous tripling process by hand.
HiQ franchisee North Eastern Tyre & Exhausts opened a new £2 million fast fit centre in Leeds at the end of 2009. HiQ representatives called the one-acre development “the best of its kind in Europe.” Stocking 20,000 tyres, featuring 12 bays and boasting some of the most modern vehicle diagnostic equipment in the country, the HiQ centre in Gelderd Road aims to alter age-old perceptions of fast fit centres and remove the fear associated with visiting them. The new site will create eight jobs.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has announced it will increase prices by between 5 and 10 per cent in Europe and North America, effective 1 March 2010. Product lines affected include the company’s industrial, solid and construction tyre lines. According to the company, the price rise is the result of “escalating raw material and transportation costs combined with currency fluctuations.” On 13 January Trelleborg announced it would increase the prices of its agricultural and forestry tyres and wheels by 5 per cent.
Yuong Nam Byun is to be appointed the new president and managing director of Kumho Tire Europe GmbH. Byun, who studied business administration at Ohio State University in the US, has held various positions at Kumho. Most recently he was managing director, sales for Central and South America, and in this capacity also was responsible for the most important emerging markets worldwide.
The European Union has legislated that, as of January 1, 2010, highly aromatic oils with a high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content may no longer be utilised in tyres. In a note from its vice president of sales & marketing, H.S. Ahn, Hankook Tire Europe declares “all E-marked tyres sold by Hankook Tire Europe and its EU-based affiliates designated to be used on the territory of the European Union fully comply to this new EU-legislation.
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