Two local businessmen have opened the latest HiQ franchise to be added to the network, which now numbers over 150 UK branches. Former car dealership bosses Keith Hancock and Matthew Stone opened the new centre on Stag Road as part of a new business venture to increase HiQ’s prominence in Kent, eastern Sussex and Surrey. The Tunbridge Wells centre offers full servicing in addition to the normal fast fit activities.
A Nissan and Ford approved dealer, J S Holmes Ltd, located on High Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire has added a comprehensive car service facility to its business. The new on-site fast fit operation will be part of the HiQ network and has been taken on by new franchisee Martin Holmes – one of three generations still involved in the business today. Holmes said: “It is great for us to be linked to a national brand, giving us the opportunity to be competitive in the market.
Ben Butlin has joined research firm JATO Dynamics as global research director. Prior to JATO, Butlin’s career included 17 years at Ford where he began as a professional mechanical engineer. His role developed into overseeing quality, product planning and project management with international assignments in Belgium, USA and Japan. His most recent role at Ford was global CV product planning manager where he was responsible for the alignment of LCV product planning across all regions.
The April UK new car market fell by 7.4 per cent to 137,746 units, according to the latest figures issued by the SMMT. However, the market was 1.5 per cent ahead of forecast and said to be “on par with the 2010 market” if take the scrappage volumes out of consideration. Year-to-date, registrations over the first four months of 2011 were down 8.5 per cent to 696,082 units, leaving the SMMT’s full-year forecast unchanged at 1.93 million units.
Despite the tough market conditions, fleet demand reportedly remains robust, up 6.5 per cent in April, while diesel volumes also recorded strong growth. Diesel cars represented 52.7 per cent of the total market in April and have shown year-on-year growth in every month of 2011. The VW Golf was the best selling diesel in April. Alternatively fuelled car registrations rose by 48.1 per cent in April.
MSA Scottish Rally Championship contenders driving on Pirelli tyres secured the top three positions at the Granite City Rally in Aberdeen on Saturday, 16 April. Dave Weston, the 2006 champion, claimed victory in his Ford Focus WRC by a slender margin of one second over current title-holder David Bogie, who continues to lead the championship standings, following wins on the opening two rounds of the season in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Rising star David Wilson, in another Mitsubishi, completed the podium to underline the control and durability of its Scorpion tyres on the punishing gravel stages of Aberdeenshire.
Hankook Tire has signed a contract with Ford to supply its premium Optimo H426 tyres for the 2011 Ford Explorer, which has been named the North American truck of the year. “Hankook Tire will come closer to customers in North America with its contract for the most popular SUV in North America, the Ford Explorer,” the company stated in a press release. (Tire Review)
The UK distributor for Yokohama tyres, Yokohama HPT, has announced the introduction of a new specification race tyre to the UK. The A005, developed for the Sports2000 race series, replaces the now discontinued bias tyre used by the series. Sports2000 has exclusively used Yokohama tyres, supplied by George Polley Motorsport, for 25 years, up to and including 2010. The series is based on sports prototype-style single seaters, using either the Ford Pinto or Duratec engine and its value and fun-conscious approach means huge grids every season.
Goodyear has let it be known that both the ‘Car of the Year’ and ‘Truck of the Year’ at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit are fitted with its tyres as original equipment. The two distinctions were awarded to the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and 2011 Ford Explorer respectively; Goodyear is exclusive tyre supplier for the Volt and its Assurance Fuel Max is fitted in size P215/55R17. Goodyear’s Fortera HL tyre is standard fitment on the Explorer in size P245/65R17.
Joining the list of vehicle manufacturers endorsing cold weather tyres in the UK is Ford, who is teaming up with Pirelli to help drivers nationwide “avoid any slip-ups” this winter. And the two companies seem certain that British motorists can benefit from winter tyres – Ford and Pirelli reckon more than 30 days with average temperatures sitting below seven degrees Celsius await us between January 1 and February 28, yet should their forecasting talents be found wanting the companies will refund half the tyres’ cost. Any customer buying four Pirelli cold weather tyres through a participating Ford dealer before December 31, 2010 is eligible to register his or her details and receive a 50 per cent refund on the tyres’ purchase price if the weather proves to be warmer.
The British Racing and Sports Car Club has chosen Avon Tyres to supply tyres to both of its Formula Ford 1600 Championships for the next three years, and will also support the club to help it promote its showpiece event – the Formula Ford Festival. “Naturally, we’re delighted to have secured the agreement to supply FF1600 for another three years,” said Paul Coates, general manager, Avon Tyres Motorsport. “We’re very keen to work with the BRSCC on further initiatives to secure the long-term future of FF1600.”
One of off-road racing's toughest tests, Yokohama Tire-sponsored racers took on the SCORE Baja 1000 between 17 and 20 November using the manufacturer’s Geolander M/T+ tyres. Heidi Steele achieved a third-place finish in Class 6 for unlimited, production mini trucks. Driving her customary Ford Ranger, Steele, the two-time defending Class 6 champ, and her co-drivers and Desert Assassins teammates Rene Brugger and Pat Dailey, finished the gruelling 1061.69-mile course in 27:43:10.
While the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders suggests the 2010 new passenger car market will be 1.5 per cent up on 2009 figures at the end of the year, October saw a “significant fall in… new car registrations,” says Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. Registrations fell 22.2 per cent to 131,495 in year-on-year comparisons, though this figure is in line with October 2009 if one discounts the Scrappage Incentive Scheme volumes. The impact of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme would therefore seem to have had no effect but to prop up the 2009 market temporarily, while the sluggish recovery of demand in 2010 could partially be the effect of consumers bringing new car purchases forward to take advantage of the scheme. Everitt also said “some deterioration in consumer confidence” was responsible.
Kumho reports that it enjoyed 4mins and 35secs of exposure during the BBC’s recent Korean Grand Prix coverage. Not in relation to F1, but through footage of the recent rally success of the show’s ebullient anchorman, Jake Humphrey, and long-standing Kumho-sponsored rally driver and Sky TV pundit, Tony Jardine.
The event, the Cambrian Rally, was Humphrey’s first ever rally and he took to the sport sufficiently quickly to guide the Ford-Fiesta-mounted pair to an impressive second in class. Running on Kumho rally tyres, their Fiesta was suitably adorned with Kumho stickers, while Kumho logos were clearly visible on the crew’s overalls. The team’s exploit’s also received a good airing in The Sun newspaper, which was another of their sponsors.
Hankook says it is ready to round off its Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign in style with driver Andreas Mikkelsen when Cyprus hosts the final round this weekend. The Norwegian finished second overall in the recent Rally of Scotland and is hoping to be back on the podium on the FXPro Cyprus Rally which gets underway on Thursday. Mikkelsen and co-driver Ole Fløene will once again be in the Hankook Ford Fiesta S2000 – the M-Sport prepared car the team has used during its 2010 programme of events.
Paolo Andreucci has claimed his fifth Italian Rally Championship, and the fourth title that he has taken with Pirelli, on the Costa Smeralda Rally in Sardinia last weekend. The Italian is one of the Italian manufacturer’s development drivers, and was fulsome in his praise of Pirelli’s role in his victory: “Pirelli has played a huge role in this latest success, because for the past two years we have been extremely competitive everywhere.
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