In what has, for obvious reasons, been dubbed a Covid-19 budget, new UK Chancellor the Exchequer (the Right Honorable Rishi Sunak MP) promised the highest levels of inward investment for 30 years including a number of initiatives that will help small and medium-sized business such as tyre retailers and garages.
The latest eco-friendly offering from Kumho is the Ecowing ES31. This successor to the KH27 is now available in a total of 46 sizes for 14- to 17-inch rim diameters, and around 70 percent of these carry an EU label grade of ‘B’ for rolling resistance. The sizes include all key fitments for bestselling small and medium-sized hatchbacks and saloons such as the VW Polo and Golf, Fiat 500, Audi A1, A2, A3 and A4, BMW 1 and 2 Series, Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio.
Volkswagen’s first fully electric race car, the ID.R has broken the electric-powered vehicle lap record on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, using Bridgestone Potenza tyres. The car completed the challenging 20.83km track in 6:05.336 minutes, beating the previous record by 40.56 seconds. Bridgestone custom-developed the Potenza tyres to help the ID.R navigate the demanding track in record-breaking time.
Audi has selected Bridgestone as its tyre supplier for the release of its first all-electric SUV, the Audi e-tron. The companies agreed a list of characteristics required to highlight the specifications of the new model. The e-tron boasts fast acceleration, high comfort, very low noise, and high levels of safety without dropping performance. Bridgestone will supply six different tyres sized between 19 and 21 inches, four summer and two winter tyres, as original equipment. The manufacturer has emphasised the original equipment channel recently, achieving “more than 120 OE fitments” in EMEA during 2018, a result it labelled its best ever.
Bridgestone is pushing its high performance tyre design into new areas with its supply of the sporty new BMW i3s electric car.
Chinese bus fleet operator Guangzhou Jumbo Bus Co Ltd. intends to convert its entire fleet of LNG-powered buses to electric propulsion over the coming three years, and as it does so will exclusively shod its fleet with Hankook tyres. Jumbo Bus, which operates six city bus companies and a total of 4,500 buses, signed a memorandum of understanding with Hankook Tire this month covering the supply of tyres specifically developed for electric buses.
With recent legislation aiming to banish non-electric vehicles from both showrooms and city centres (starting with Oxford, which wants them gone by 2020) car manufacturers are preparing for electric power to become the mainstream. Electric propulsion has emerged by consensus as the future of driving, rather than other alternative technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells.
Under a cooperative deal signed with Hyundai Motor, Michelin will work together to develop a new all-season tyre for electric vehicles, and will also collaborate in the development of a bespoke tyre for a successor model to the Genesis G80 saloon. Representatives from Hyundai Motor recently visited Michelin’s research and development centre in Clermont-Ferrand, France, to sign a technical partnership agreement.
When vehicle manufacturers talk about the future, the talk centres more and more on electric vehicles, and the timetable for their introduction is increasingly specific. During the IAA show in Germany a couple of months back, several major car makers announced or reiterated plans to bring all-electric models to market by 2020. This means that OEMs, including tyre makers, are already busy with preparations.
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Chris McAndrew