NTDA celebrates old tyre ban victory
The National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) welcomed the news that 10-year-old truck and bus tyres will be banned. Speaking personally and on behalf of the association, chief executive Stefan Hay said:
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Government bans fitment of 10 years and older truck and bus tyres
Tyres aged 10 years and older will be banned from lorries, buses and coaches on roads in England, Scotland and Wales in a boost to road safety, Roads Minister Baroness Vere announced today (Wednesday 15 July). The news follows extensive campaigning from the Tyred group as well as industry associations, which resulted in a government consultation last year.
Pirelli World Rally Championship tyre testing begins in Sardinia
PirelliPirelli has begun its 2021 World Rally Championship campaign with two days of private tyre testing in Sardinia. The first day is devoted to gravel and the second day on asphalt. At the wheel of Pirelli’s uniquely-liveried Citroen C3 WRC test car will be Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen, co-driven by his compatriot Anders Jaeger. The former Volkswagen, Citroen and Hyundai factory driver will be spearheading the development of the latest-generation Pirelli Scorpion tyres for gravel and P Zero tyres for asphalt, which will be supplied exclusively to the World Rally Championship from 2021 to 2024. The new tyres will eventually join the studded Sottozero Ice already displayed at the 2020 GP Ice Race in January in the manufacturer’s WRC tyre line-up.
ETRMA data confirms steep drop in replacement tyre sales
ETRMAThe second quarter of 2020 provided the worst quarterly sales results in recorded memory, the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) states. Publishing its members’ replacement tyre sales for the Covid-19 pandemic stricken quarter, ETRMA secretary general Fazilet Cinaralp said: “The tyre sector’s full recovery is still far away. For the moment, we can only hope for the market to stabilise in the second half of the year. Our outlook for 2020 remains bleak with a double-digit drop in sales expected across all segments.”
Norwegian startup chooses UK for first tyre recycling plant
WastefrontNorwegian tyre recycling startup, Wastefront AS has confirmed that its first plant will be located in the UK. It plans to invest between £20-30 million on the recycling facility, with its construction resulting in employment for around 100. When fully up and running, Wastefront adds the plant will employ between 20 and 30 people full time. The company, founded in 2019 in Oslo, is now deciding where to locate its first site. The company tells Tyres & Accessories that its plant will be the first to combine conventional technology with Wastefront’s own proprietary technology, which will minimise the environmental impact typically associated with traditional tyre pyrolysis. It adds that this will “make the UK plant the ‘greenest’ of its kind.”
MOTs worth £177 million a year in UK tyre sales
AutotechTogether, the increased utilisation of independent contractors on the supply side and record online search figures on the demand side show that MOT testing is booming. Considering that MOTs were put on hold for roughly four-and-a-half months between March and August (let’s not even mention the Northern Ireland MOT crisis), this is good news. Word of a coming MOT spike will be warmly welcomed by the tyre and aftermarket associations that lobbied government for the end of the MOT extension on both road safety and economic grounds. But what exactly does the apparent boom look like? And why does it matter to the tyre trade?
Bridgestone Enliten technology gets premiere on Volkswagen ID.3
BridgestoneVolkswagen has called the launch of its ID.3 electric car the most significant since the Golf. But the launch is also a milestone for one of its tyre partners. Following the news that Bridgestone would supply its Enliten-enhanced Turanza Eco tyres to the ID.3, the world’s largest tyre manufacturer has outlined the benefits of its low rolling resistance, reduced materials technology, available on the road for the first time on the ID.3. Bridgestone says Enliten Technology “sets a new lowered standard in material use and rolling resistance to deliver significant environmental benefits,” making it ideally suited to a car launch characterised as a milestone in sustainability.
Hankook supplies e-tyres for Porsche Taycan electric sports cars
HankookThe new Porsche Taycan, the manufacturer’s first all-electric sports car, will roll of production lines on specially developed Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 ev electric vehicle tyres. Supplied in size 225/55R19 XL 103Y on the front axle and 275/45R19 XL 108Y on the rear axle the tyre will be marked “NF0” on the sidewall. Hankook says the Ventus S1 evo 3 ev includes technical refinements designed to optimise the performance of electric sports cars. The new deal extends Hankook’s relationship with Porsche, and the tyre manufacturer’s increasing interest in electric vehicles. The Korean tyre manufacturer most recently announced it is supplying the Porsche Cayenne with the SUV version of the Ventus S1 evo 3. It is also tyre partner to Kyburz’s eRod roadster. Hankook was also recently unveiled as the new tyre supplier for premier electric motorsport series Formula E.
Autopromotec postponed until 2022
PromotecAutopromotec has postponed its 29th edition, originally planned for 26 – 29 May 2021 for a year. The event will now run Bologna from 25 – 28 May 2022. According to the show’s organisers Promotec SpA, the protection of exhibition was the primary reason for the decision. However, The Tire Cologne’s decision to postpone its 2020 show to dates that clash with the previously planned 2021 running of Autopromotec is likely to have featured in the decision.
Pirelli, Hankook continue close rivalry in list of Leading Tyre Manufacturers
Tyrepress has published its 2020 ranking of the world’s top tyre manufacturers. Our ranking lists the top 20 tyre makers ordered by turnover from tyres in the previous calendar year. For example, Continental turned over nearly 45 billion euros in 2019, but 26.4 per cent of this was from its tyre divisions, making it the fourth largest tyre manufacturer in the world with 11.7 billion euros. The ranking presents a baseline for discussing the relative positions of the largest global players in tyre production. In 2019, we noted that Bridgestone had opened up a gap at the top of our ranking, around 2.65 billion euros ahead of second-placed Michelin in tyre turnover. This year, the French giant has reduced this gap to just over half a billion euros, reflecting its most recent acquisitions.
Michelin world’s most valuable tyre brand, but Bridgestone well-placed to regain pole
Brand FinanceIn addition to being the strongest brand globally, according to Brand Finance, Michelin has been named the world’s most valuable tyre brand for the third year in a row. However, the gap between first position and second-placed Bridgestone narrowed, meaning the Japanese tyre manufacturer is well-placed to regain pole.
Michelin remains world’s strongest tyre brand
Michelin remains the world’s most valuable and strongest tyre brand, according to the latest Brand Finance Automotive Industry report. However, while Michelin has retained its top position for the second year in a row since it gained the crown from Bridgestone in 2018, Chinese tyremaker Linglong Tires cemented its position as an up-and-coming tyre brand by entering the top 10 after a couple of years of being tipped as a fast riser.
UK new car market down a third as tentative restart reveals subdued demand
SMMTUK new car registrations fell -34.9 per cent in June, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) as the market began a tentative restart after more than two months of lockdown. The drop was an improvement on May’s -89.0 per cent wipe-out but, with 145,377 new car registrations, this still represented a significant decline of 78,044 compared with June 2019, as dealerships in Wales and Scotland remained closed for much of the month.
Continental reorganises replacement tyre businesses in EMEA
ContinentalContinental has merged its passenger and truck tyres replacement businesses in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Philipp von Hirschheydt, former head of the passenger tyres replacement business in the EMEA region, leads the new business unit. This transformation started on 1 January, 2020, becoming effective on 1 July, 2020. Conti states that it has merged the businesses to “increase customer centricity while increasing the overall efficiency of the organisations.” In making this organisational change, Conti has shifted its structure to align with customer groups rather than product categories.
Continental forms new ‘Specialty Tires’ business unit
ContinentalContinental has announced the reorganisation of various global specialist tyre activities into a single ‘Specialty Tyres’ business unit. Formed on 1 July, the company has combined its ‘Commercial Specialty Tires’, ‘Two Wheel Tires’ and ‘Hoosier Racing Tire’ business areas under the new umbrella unit. The result of the reorganisation means the entire Continental speciality tyre business will be developed, manufactured and distributed worldwide under the new unit. It brings together tyres for material handling, the agricultural, port, and construction sectors, bicycle and motorcycle tyres, and tyres for racing. The move continues the evolution of various specialist tyre segments within the company, begun at the start of 2013, when Conti renamed its industrial tyres business ‘Commercial Specialty Tires’.
