Yokohama has appointed Gregorio Borgo as president and CEO of Yokohama´s European headquarters, Yokohama Europe GmbH. He succeeds the current president, Hiroyuki Shioiri, who becomes chairman of Yokohama Europe GmbH effective 10 October 2021.
Yokohama HPT, the manufacturer’s UK operation, has made changes in two key senior roles. Nick Greenfield has been named the new managing director, taking over from David Seward, who has moved into a new role as commercial adviser. Brian Philpott has taken over as financial director, with Trevor Melsom taking on the position of financial adviser. Both appointees bring with them a wealth of experience gained within the company and the wider industry.
European Tyre Enterprise Ltd (ETEL), which owns both Kwik Fit and Stapleton’s, will rebrand 60 of its Tyre City retail centres as either Kwik Fit or STS Tyre Pros as the company focuses on those two retail channels. According to the company, the decision follows a strategic review over the last few months, which found that ETEL should “simplify its retail operations and operate under two brands, Kwik Fit and STS Tyre Pros”. The transition of the centres to their new brands has begun and will continue over the coming weeks.
In 2017 Daryl Magowan Snr. hatched the plan for a next-generation tyre warehouse and paperless warehouse management system. By 2019 plans were well underway, with the Magowan’s Tyres team cooperating closely with Mike Allen and the software professionals at Cam. Two years later, both the building and its cutting-edge software system are up and running at the bespoke site just outside Belfast. Tyres & Accessories recently toured the site in order to find out more about the warehouse, its software and the significant efficiencies they offer not only Magowan’s but the wider tyre wholesale business.
Kermit the Frog may have been amongst the first to ponder the difficulties of being green, but it’s a dilemma now shared by a transportation industry operating in an environment that places sustainability high on the agenda. Tyres have a role to play when it comes to achieving Europe’s lofty targets, and Goodyear points out that the fuel and CO2 efficiency gain achievable with low emission tyres and accurate tyre pressure management is equal to the gain by using more efficient engine technology. The tyre maker has a new truck range that it promises will deliver fuel efficiency on all manner of roads; it launched the Goodyear Fuelmax Endurance via an online presentation this morning.
Dunlop is a winner twice over in the latest winter tyres tests conducted by German motoring association ADAC, taking first place in both the 195/65 R15 T and 225/50 R17 V categories. The Dunlop tyres were two of five products that ADAC rated as ‘good’, as were two tyres from sister brand Goodyear.
No big surprises in the 20 tyres that made it into the final of this year’s Auto Bild winter test. The shortlist reads like a who’s who of the tyre industry, starting with the Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 as the tyre delivering the shortest combined stopping distance (from 80 km/h in wet conditions and 50 km/h on snow) during the first round of testing. Following closely on the Bridgestone tyre’s heels were the Dunlop Winter Sport 5, Hankook Winter I*Cept RS² and Continental WinterContact TS 870.
Electric Vehicle (EV) tyres currently represent 11 per cent of Bridgestone EMIA’s total passenger car OE tyre line-up – almost three-times what it was in 2019. Now the company says that figure will reach 20 per cent by 2024. According to the company, Bridgestone is developing a growing number of original tyre fitments specifically engineered for EVs. EV tyres may currently represent 11 per cent of Bridgestone EMIA’s total original equipment (OE) line-up for passenger cars (up from just 4 per cent in 2019), but the company says this figure will be over 20 per cent in 2024.
Goodyear has announced the appointment of Jaap van Wessum as Goodyear sales general manager Consumer UK & Ireland and Cooper Europe. Van Wessum will lead Consumer Sales within the UK & Ireland alongside leading the Cooper Europe business. He will also have responsibility for Goodyear’s legal entity within the UK and Ireland.
One of the world’s largest tyre companies, Goodyear employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centres in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. Recently, Goodyear completed the acquisition of Cooper Tire & Rubber, which is a great place to start this month’s Torque from the Top Q&As – an ongoing series of interviews with leading executives. Our interviewee this month is Pravesh Amtha, recent sales general manager Consumer UK & Ireland at Goodyear, who has now moved onto “an expanded leadership role managing a portfolio of strategic business projects across Goodyear’s EMEA business”.
Hankook is supplying its new Ventus S1 evo Z ultra-ultra-high performance tyres for the new Porsche Panamera in 19 and 20-inch variants. The tyre-maker extensively tested the tyre at maximum speed on the Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack, a popular proving ground for sporty handling and longevity. “The Porsche Panamera is a high performing four-passenger sports car with outstanding comfort,” says Sanghoon Lee, president of Hankook Tire Europe. “As such, we are very pleased to be the first to equip this model, as it shows that our products are extremely competitive even in the high-end segment. Additional tyres for future Porsche models are already in development at Hankook.” The tyre made its debut on the Mini John Cooper Works GP in late 2020.
Bridgestone has announced a new long-term partnership with electric vehicle charging solutions supplier EVBox. The partnership aims to expand Europe’s charging infrastructure with the installation of up to 3,500 new charging ports across Bridgestone’s European retail and service network – including Bridgestone’s retail brands like Speedy and First Stop – in a five-year project. Bridgestone calls the partnership the latest part of its commitment to help shape a sustainable future of mobility, supporting the adoption of EVs. The project will begin in France and Italy and expand into the UK, Germany, Poland, Spain, and other European countries.
Continental has launched the SportContact 7, the latest in its ultra-high performance tyre line. The manufacturer will offer an initial run of 42 sizes for rim diameters between 19 and 23 inches with expansions due over the next year. The tyre is oriented towards handling and high mileage, with safety at its core. Compared to the previous sixth-generation model, itself a multi-test winning product for this segment in the six years since its launch, Conti says it has improved track performance by 10 per cent, wet braking distances have been reduced by 8 per cent, dry braking is 6 per cent shorter, and mileage has increased by 17 per cent (according to tests on the size 245/30 R20). Handling and grip in the wet and dry are also significantly improved, Conti says. The tyre’s C-grade rolling resistance label score also places it among the top-rated premium brand U-UHP tyres in this metric.
The latest in our ‘Torque from the Top’ series of interviews with leading tyre industry executives features David Seward, MD of Yokohama’s UK distributor, Yokohama HPT. As you will read later, the company was established in 1988 and Seward has been with the company from the beginning, which must make him one of (if not the) longest-serving MD of any UK-based international tyre company. But first, a brief look at the history of the parent company.
On 25 August 2021, we received the tragic news that Klaus Haddenbrock had passed away, aged 77. The team at Tyres & Accessories, along with those from our sister firms in Germany and Italy, join the Haddenbrock family in mourning a man who was a role model to those who knew him well, a source of ideas and, above all, someone with whom we could share our cares and troubles as well as our interests. We will sorely miss our publisher and managing director, and our grief is only mitigated by the fact that his death – while years too soon – was sudden. This is how he’d wished it.
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Yokohama
Prideview; ETEL
Chris Anthony, Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Bridgestone
Goodyear
Goodyear
Daimler