Continental is the latest automotive sector company to report lower year-on-year income in the second quarter of the year. The tyre maker and automotive systems supplier describes its fiscal performance during the period as “an overall solid” result despite a “sharply declining market.” It is nevertheless considering ways of keeping its production costs in check, and will report its progress to this end in the weeks to come.
The NTDA has announced the finalists for its 2019 Tyre Industry Awards. The awards, sponsored by tyre manufacturer Sailun, will be presented at the association’s 90th Annual Dinner on Thursday 3 October at the International Convention Centre (ICC) Birmingham. The dinner is sponsored by tyre wholesaler Land Tyre Service, while the awards will be hosted by popular TV comedian Mark Watson. The 2019 finalists include former award winners, finalists, and some new nominees.
Another blow on the automotive industry’s chin as we inch closer towards a no-deal Brexit. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released its latest UK manufacturing figures, and they make a depressing read. British car manufacturing output fell by more than a fifth in the first half of 2019, while commercial vehicle production was down more than 16 per cent and engine production almost 11 per cent. KPMG considers these numbers “worrying.”
A first for Tyre Reviews with its ‘full video’ tyre test, and a first for Goodyear. The 2019 Tyre Reviews UHP Summer Tyre Test is a cracking good watch and makes a refreshing change from the standard, text-heavy test format. It features eight brands of performance rubber, including what the UK-based site calls the “holy trinity of UHP tyres” – the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, Continental SportContact 6 and Goodyear’s latest, the new Eagle F1 Supersport.
Toyo Tire Corporation has announced that it is investing 390.5 million euros in the construction of a new tyre manufacturing facility in Indijia City, Republic of Serbia. Construction of the Serbia plant will start in May 2020, with a view to initiating tyre manufacturing operations in January 2022.
Carlisle-based tyre sales operation Technology Sinon UK Limited, the name of D Mack Global Limited since 19 December 2018, has entered administration with debts totalling more than £14 million pounds, according to its administrator Leonard Curtis. The company, which operated within the DMACK group of companies, was a supplier of tyres to the World Rally Championship from 2011, running its own team in the championship in association with M-Sport, until 2017. Shares in Technology Sinon UK are split between director Dick Cormack (70 per cent), a former Pirelli manager who set up the business in 2011, MEMW Management Limited (25 per cent), and Glenn Paterson (5 per cent), who has left the company after holding a variety of roles within the firm. The administrator reports that, as of 14 May, Technology Sinon UK owed just over £13 million to its list of creditors. Dmack brand rally tyres continue to be manufactured by DMack Srl, formed by Dick Cormack in 2018 when a deal was struck with Marangoni for operations to begin at the Italian tyre manufacturer’s plant in Rovereto.
Giti Tire has launched its next generation, three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) certified, all-position urban-bus tyre, the Giti GAU867v1. Replacing the popular Giti GAU861 and Giti GT867 patterns, initial key sizes include 275/70R22.5, 295/80R22.5 and 11R22.5, all of which possess market standard load and speed indices. The manufacturer states that the tyre is designed for hard urban use, and utilises the manufacturer’s latest casing construction, enhancing mileage and handling and retreadability, a key market stipulator due to a short original lifespan.
The latest tyre test from Auto Bild Klassik sets out to determine whether “classic tyres with today’s technology can make the driving behaviour of yesterday’s sports cars even more dynamic and, most importantly, safer.” To do this, the German magazine’s test team fitted eight 185 R15 (today’s 185/80 R15) classic car tyre brands to a 1960s Austin Healy 3000.
Passenger car tyre production and capacity at Apollo Tyres’ Gyöngyöshalász plant in Hungary has steadily grown over the past two years. These respectively reached 2.1 million and almost 3 million units a year by the end of March 2019, and Apollo is still ramping up in Hungary. It’s a different story in Enschede, some 700 miles to the west, but Apollo Tyres says it isn’t preparing to end car tyre production in the Netherlands any time soon.
Quick Lane Tyre & Autocentre has opened a new location in Prestwich following significant investment in the franchise from TrustFord. Could this signal a move further towards tyre retail on the part of Ford?
With a global market share of over 34 per cent in 2018, Europe is expected to become the leading region in the automotive diagnostic scan tools market in the next few years. At the same time, the automotive diagnostic scan tools market and is estimated grow to a US$15 billion market size by 2025 – all of which adds up to a very positive diagnosis for those wishing to offer diagnostic servicing to consumers. With this in mind, Tyres Accessories analysed the latest market data in order to find the consensus of opinions relating to the future of the diagnostic tools market.
The debate over how much tread depth is sufficient and recommendable has been going on for years. While some tyre makers and motoring groups support changing the legal minimum tread depth to 3mm as a move towards greater peace of mind, Michelin has been a vocal advocate of not only keeping 1.6mm the legal minimum but of actually using tyres right down to this tread depth. It is also one of a growing number of parties calling for legislation that informs consumers how tyres perform when worn. Earlier this month, Michelin shared the latest developments in the quest for ‘Long Lasting Performance’.
Continental Tyre Group has acquired Scottish commercial fleet servicing company R&J Strang Tyre Services Ltd. The company stated that the latest acquisition represents a further step to strengthen its overall commercial fleet service offering across the UK and Ireland.
Falken Tyres celebrated 20 years at the Nürburgring with sponsorship of the ADAC TOTAL 24-Hour Race (N24), held on 22-23 June 2019. The Sumitomo Rubber Industries brand’s team, run by Sven Schnabl, now fields two cars at the event, and in the VLN Endurance Championship. The UK’s Peter Dumbreck and Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori drove the BMW M6 GT3 alongside BMW factory drivers Stef Dusseldorp and Jens Klingmann to claim an excellent sixth place finish, having started 31st on the grid, while the new Porsche 911 GT3R, driven by Austrian duo Martin Ragginger and Klaus Bachler supported by Porsche factory drivers Dirk Werner and Jörg Bergmeister, finished the race in 21st, having suffered an off that put paid to its chances of a top-ten finish. Falken also supplied racing tyres to Subaru Tecnica International’s WRX STI. Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity to catch up with Falken Tyre Europe’s new chief operating officer and president, Markus Bögner, on what is probably the rising company’s most important weekend of the year.
This month’s magazine includes our annual leading tyre manufacturers table (click here for more). Ranking the world’s biggest and big tyre firms in this way gives everyone a baseline reference for gauging different firms’ performance and – if previous years are anything to go by – it can be a real conversation starter as well.
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Photo: Continental AG
Giti Tire
