(Akron/Tire Review) The new year has brought new job assignments for some key Falken Tire Corp executives. Hideo Honda, who had been Falken’s president and COO, was promoted to CEO of the company. Richard Smallwood, previously vice president of sales and marketing, took over Honda’s position as president and COO.
In January 2006, Falken High Performance Tyres will again be present when the doors open at the Aftermarket Show. At the Falken stand in the main hall visitors will be able to examine the new FK452 premium tyre, and the T110. Falken Tyres UK website will also be on show allowing visitors access to the dealer locator system, enabling them to find their local Falken supplier.
Another highlight will be the attendance of the Falken Girls who will be signing copies of their very own Falken Calendars and Posters. The stand will also include a race car simulator, featuring the Gran Turismo 4 computer game. From here visitors will be able to drive the Falken Nissan Skyline GT-R around the famous 20.8 kilometre long Nurburgring track.
National wholesaler Southam Tyres, a trading division of Micheldever Tyres Services Plc, has an established position when it comes to private brands. And as the home of the UK’s first exclusive own-brand tyre, the company is in a good position to comment on the future of the private brand concept. Similarly Stapletons Tyres Services is another of the UK’s most influential tyre wholesale businesses and sells significant quantities of private brand products. When Tyres & Accessories spoke to the company’s two marketing managers (Stuart Amos representing Southam Tyres and Stephen Marsh, Stapletons), they explained that there is an art to selecting the right brand and sizes and that private brands are moving away from being synonymous with yesterday’s technology, towards the forefront of consumers’ high performance demands.
(Akron/Tire Review) Falken Tire Corp has announced its 2005 contingency programme for Formula Drift series. Falken has put together a Team Falken “works” team, but is offering payouts to works or private teams using its tyres in Formula Drift competition.
“Tyres are by far the most costly recurring expense in drifting,” said Nick Fousekis, Falken’s performance marketing manager. “We want to help drivers – and especially the privateer teams that earn their way to the winner’s circle on Falken tyres.” In the contingency programme, event winners on Falken tyres take home $2,000, while a series champion will win $5,000. Falken will pay through eighth place finishes per event, and first through third for the series.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., will increase production of Falken Tyres, Mordern Tire Dealer has reported. The company is “increasing capacity in all of our key areas,” said Richard Smallwood, Falken’s vice president of sales and marketing. Mr Smallwood continued by describing the scale of the increase in terms of units shipped, “this year we’ll be triple what we were in 1999. We have a number of large dealers who 100 per cent over last year.”
In the same interview Mr Smallwood also revealed that Sears Roebuck & Co., is again carrying Falken tyres. “Sears is a good representative of the brand,” said Mr Smallwood. “They do a good job selling our tyres and don’t create any conflict with our dealers.”
Falken tyres came top in a series of tests conducted by US magazine Consumer Reports. The Falken Ziek ZE 512 scored best among a number of US, European and Japanese brands, with the tests including wet and dry braking, handling, rolling resistance, aquaplaning, ride comfort and noise.
US consumer magazine Consumer Reports’ has issued its annual UHP and all-season tyre ranking and Goodyear and Falken head the listings. The Falken Ziex ZE 512 came first out of 18 H-speed rated, all-season performance tyres and the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 topped the ranks of 13 Z-rated, ultra-high performance summer tires. The Bridgestone Turanza LS-H came in second on the magazine’s all-season list, and the Toyo Proxes T1-S ranked second in the ultra-high performance list.
The merger between Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Ohtsu Tire & Rubber, which began in late 2001, is now complete, making SRI Japan’s second largest tyre manufacturer. The move will see the disappearance of the Ohtsu name as its activities are integrated into the new holding company Falken Tire Trading in an attempt to generate new synergies and reduce costs. Falken tyres will continue to be marketed independently and compete with other brands within the SRI group.
Ohtsu Tire & Rubber is to merge with its parent company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, from 1st July. Falken brand products will be marketed independently in competition with other SRI group brands. The company ex pects growth in Falken sales and improved product supply due to synergies in all areas from production planning through to logistics.
Kirkby Tyres is a major wholesaler in the agricultural sector and is increasingly turning towards that market to develop its business. Kirkby Tyres has been around for a long time, almost 50 years in fact. In that time the business has seen many changes but through all the changes it remains in the hands of the Rosenthal family, with Gordon Rosenthal, grandson of the founder “Joe Rose” at the helm. The company started as a casings collector and dealer, before developing into wholesaling. When the wholesaling of new tyres outgrew the casing side, the company made the decision to concentrate on new tyre distribution. Gordon Rosenthal took over from his father, Leslie Rosenthal, as Managing Director in 1980. Gordon is now Chairman, with Dave Dorrity joining the company in 1999 as Managing Director. Kirkby Tyres operates with three depots to cover the British Isles. The head office is at Liverpool and there is a depot in Perth, Scotland which offers a very similar stock profile to that in Liverpool, though the demand for high performance and premium car tyres is stronger north of the border. Ireland is covered from Dublin by Kirkby Tyres (Ireland) Ltd and in addition to the full range offered in the UK is the Irish agent for Ohtsu/Falken, and is the sole distributor of Wolfrace and Smiths alloy wheels in Ireland. The Group has a turnover in excess of 16 million pounds and employs 61 staff. It is worth noting that the breakdown of the business puts the agricultural sector at 45 per cent of the Group’s turnover, truck at 35 per cent, and car and earthmover at five per cent each.
Successor to the ZE-502, which proved a major market success in Europe, Japanese tyre manufacturer introduces its new product, “ZE-512”, to the European market. The tyre shall set new standards in friction resistance, aquaplaning and handling on wet surfaces. The development of the ZE-512 focused on comfort-oriented, well-balanced properties. The “two and one” profile block and the side profile’s 5-phase shifted random pitch variation minimise noise and maximise steering precision throughout the entire life of the tyre. The ZE 512 will appear in 41 dimensions.
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