The World Cup is drawing to a close, but those who can’t get enough football action can take solace is the knowledge that even after Germany/Argentina (delete where applicable if reading this on Monday) has taken home the sport’s most-coveted title, a whole host of football world championship action still awaits us this month. And like the FIFA version in Brazil, it is sponsored by a tyre maker.
Finnish tyre wholesaler Ham-Re Oy has been appointed exclusive national distributor for Magna Tyres. While Magna Tyres has been present in the Finnish market for several years, it sees its new agreement with Ham-Re Oy as an important step for further OTR tyre segment market penetration in Finland. It says it “has found the ideal partner in Ham-Re Oy” to further expand its OTR tyre activities in Finland. “Both companies contribute a valuable and long-term experience of international tyre sales and distribution to their cooperation,” shared Magna Tyres in a statement.
At Nokian Tyres’ Annual General Meeting on 8 April 2014, the company’s financial statements for 2013 were accepted and the Board of Directors and the President and CEO discharged from liability. The meeting decided that a dividend of €1.45 per share shall be paid for the period ending 31 December 2013. The dividend shall be paid to shareholders included in the shareholder list maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd on the record date of 11 April 2014. The dividend payment date is 25 April 2014.
Eight decades after Nokian Tyres introduced its first winter tyre, the Finnish company has announced the addition of five new products to its winter range. Three new tyres have entered the Hakkapeliitta line-up; all three, the studded Hakkapeliitta 8 SUV and the Nokian Hakkapeliitta C3 and Hakkapeliitta CR3 van tyres, are designed for use in […]
A famous saying posits that nothing is certain except for death and taxes, but Nokian Tyres may argue that taxes and then further taxes are more certain. Following on from the reassessment and €26.9 million bill received in December for the 2007 financial year, Nokian Tyres announced on 21 January that Finland’s Tax Administration has also reassessed Nokian’s tax for the years 2008 to 2010. According to this reassessment, the tyre maker must pay an extra €73.3 million tax and interest (€51.0 million of which is tax) for these three years. Payment must be made in February 2014.
This year point S returns as official event sponsor of the World Cup Nordic Opening, which will take place in Finland from 29 November to 1 December. Billed as the “world’s biggest world cup event in winter sports”, the World Cup Nordic Opening is a series of ten ski jumping, cross country and Nordic combined competitions; point S will serve as event sponsor for the cross country 15 kilometre men’s pursuit, which will take place on 1 December.
Swedish tyre distributor and retreader the Colmec Group now operates in Poland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Finland, where it established a new service and sales organisation in May 2013. The company reports it has now taken the next step towards building up a full sales and service organisation there by appointing a sales manager for the Finnish operation.
Dmack is hoping to help four Ford Fiesta R5 drivers challenge for WRC2 honours at the revived Wales Rally GB round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Jari Ketomaa used the DMG+2 gravel tyre at Rally Finland in August to drive to victory, and he will challenge again when the championship kicks off on Thursday in North Wales. Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen will join him, driving a pair of Autotek-run Fiesta R5s in Dmack livery. Two local British drivers will also use Dmack in attempting to make home advantage count in the north and mid-Wales forests.
Artic tyre and vehicle test centre Testworld has published a winter and studded tyre test database called safewintertyre.eu. The centre based in Ivalo, Finland has published the results of 128 tyres categories as studded, un-studded Nordic and un-studded mid-Europe. And while the first two categories are fairly specialised, the last contains one performance metric for 49 mainstream winter tyres. So far the tests are limited to what the firm calls “ice braking” metrics, which set the tyres against an as-yet unnamed standard reference tyre.
Pirelli has crowned British Rally Championship 2 winner Daniel McKenna its UK Star Driver honour ahead of five other finalists. During the two-day shootout at the Sweet Lamb motorsport complex in Wales, McKenna impressed a panel of five judges the most, winning a full, seven-round British Rally Championship campaign courtesy of the series’ tyre supplier. McKenna, from County Monaghan, will compete in a Citroen DS3 R3 supplied by DGM Motorsport.
World Rally Championship tyre supplier Dmack pronounced itself pleased by the performance of its new S3 version of the DMT-RC asphalt race tyre, introduced on the challenging Rallye Deutschland. The German round of the FIA championship has three distinct asphalt surfaces, which allowed Dmack to supply the DMT-RC for the first time since the mixed winter conditions at Rallye Monte Carlo in January. Dick Cormack, Dmack motorsport director, said: “It’s important that we constantly progress.”
Previewing the coming German round of the FIA World Rally Championship, tyre supplier Dmack has revealed the ways in which it views the all-asphalt event as another tough challenge. The first full asphalt event of the season attracts fans from across Europe, Dmack is looking forward to testing its tyres on Germany’s demanding special stages as it aims to follow WRC2 victory at Rally Finland. Dick Cormack, Dmack motorsport director, said: “We are hoping to follow the success in Finland on gravel with another solid result on asphalt.
Established as a leading Chinese tyre brand, GT Radial continues to develop higher performance products through an increasing emphasis on R&D investment, and, in the UK specifically, with its brand experience days for dealers hosted by the company’s European Testing Centre at Mira. Tyres & Accessories’ visit, where the performance of TBR and off-road 4×4 products were demonstrated by the company’s test drivers alongside the highest performing PCR models that are the focus of this article. When T&A spoke with ETC head Eddie Young, who is involved with GT Radial manufacturer Giti Tire’s R&D operations around the world, he played up the growing strength of the brand in this area, which now has close to 300 full-time R&D personnel. The strategy of hiring ex-pats from premium brands has led to an experienced, multinational knowledge base, which is allowing GT Radial to pursue cross-segment original equipment goals in Europe, where it “is already competing for PCR” deals, according to Young.
Swedish tyre distributor and retreader, Colmec AB has announced that it is to establish a full service and sales organization in Finland. Operating under the name Colmec Oy, the company said that it views the new operation as an important, strategic and long term investment.
Pirelli has launched the third generation of its Sottozero winter tyre. The Winter Sottozero 3 is designed for cars with medium to large capacity engines and places an emphasis on grip in all conditions and tyre longevity.
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