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Winter Tyre “Market Leader” Conti to Attempt UHP Summer Segment Expansion

Nailing Continental’s colours to the mast, the company’s head of passenger and light truck tyres has spoken of its commitment to technological investment and growing its high performance passenger car range. Nikolai Setzer said, “Technology leadership is a decisive factor for further growth”, concurrently claiming that despite the financial woes of the past 15 months, the high-performance tyres market will continue to grow. Setzer sees new technologies, investment in research and development, and underpinning the sales in the replacement business through success in original equipment as the way to go. In the high-performance tyres sector in particular, he can see attractive opportunities for growth in Europe.

8th December 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Watts ‘Integrates’ Trelleborg’s French Industrial Tyre Distribution

Trelleborg Industrial Tires Europe has appointed Watts Tyre Group as the sole distributor of its industrial tyres range in France. Under the terms of the new agreement, Trelleborg Industrial Tires Europe will transfer its France-based industrial tyre operations to Watts Tyre Group. As a result of the deal, Watts will formally divide its French operations into a wholesale distribution business and a specialist service operation. The service business, which is reputed to be the largest in France, will trade under the Interfit name. Observers suggest that, together with the Trelleborg distribution agreement, this will help differentiate Watts service and distribution operations and therefore help strengthen the service propostion.

According to Trelleborg, the new strategy will yield “overall advantages to the French customers.” For its part, Watts’ official statement on the matter said: “Watts will integrate Trelleborg’s industrial tyres activities with their own and will now distribute Trelleborg tyre products alongside the Watts product range.”

7th December 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Releases Winter Guide for Europe Bound Drivers

UK and Irish truck and coach operators driving on Continental roads this winter can benefit from a new guide Continental Tyres has released. The guide outlining the various tyre requirements they can expect to encounter in Europe has been updated for the 2009/2010 winter season and can be downloaded free from Conti’s UK website.

27th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Consultation on Conti Clairoix Closure Ends

The consultation phase regarding the planned closure of Continental’s Clairoix tyre factory that began on March 11 has come to an end. After more than eight months of talks between Continental France SNC and workers’ unions over the passenger car and light truck tyre factory’s future, or lack thereof, the bodies representing employees have, in Continental’s words, “rendered their recommendations” on both the economic rationale in support of the planned closure as well as the qualification scheme included in the social plan for the plant’s 1,120 employees.

25th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Federal Sends Mascot Around World for 2010 Calendar

Feddi, the cheerful corporate mascot of Taiwanese tyre manufacturer Federal, has been preparing for the new year by readying himself for a variety of excursions to top tourist destinations depicted in the new 2010 Federal Calendar. The full-colour calendar highlights the World’s most visited attractions on a monthly basis. Feddi clearly wishes to fit in, since his outfits for circumnavigating the globe include several national costumes, showing – in his inimitable style – Federal’s desire to continue to strengthen its brand name worldwide.

18th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Seeking to Boost UK Motorcycle Motorsport at Grass Root Level in 2010

Michelin will look to “re-establish” its two-wheel motorsport involvement in the UK in 2010, with the manufacturer introducing The Michelin Power Cup having already achieved notable success in France, Italy and Spain with similar race series. The series offers motorcycle racers a welcome Power Pack valued at £700, plus unprecedented amounts of track time and prizes including cash and products. Commenting on the new series, Olivier Gros, head of Michelin’s UK motorcycle department says: “This is a very exciting opportunity for us to re-establish Michelin at the grass-roots of motorcycle racing in the UK. We want the Power Cup to stand out as offering the best value for money for racers both in terms of track time and prizes, and based on the calibre of sponsors we are confident that this will be the case.

17th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

New President to Head Up Hankook Tire America

Hankook Tire has given word that, as of December 1, Soo Il Lee will take over from H. Y. (Greg) Pae as president of Hankook Tire America Corp. In addition to his new role, Lee will also serve as COO for the company’s business operations throughout the Americas, and in this capacity will be responsible for the overall growth and marketing strategies for the US, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America. Following several years in the US, Pae will return to the company’s global headquarters in Seoul.

12th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Releases Centennial Guide to Germany

Just to show it isn’t all sausages, sauerkraut and tankards of beer quaffed by men wearing lederhosen, Michelin has been producing its guide to Germany for a whole century. To celebrate a hundred years of pointing Teutonic gourmands in the right direction, next year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Germany will, in German speaking markets, come complete with an extract of the original 1910 “Deutschland and Schweiz” guide. On top of this, one new two-star and 23 new one-star restaurants joined the list of fine-dining establishments in the 2010 guide. In all, the 1,440-page tome includes 1,515 restaurants and 4,332 hotels across all comfort and price categories. The centenary guide goes on sale November 13, 2009.

12th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Busy Equip Auto For Arcom

Arcom, the Polish supplier of racking and storage systems took a stand at the recent Equip Auto trade fair, held in Paris. This was the first time that Arcom had attended the event and was a result of the newly-created co-operation between the Polish company and its French distributor AC Negoce. Exhibitions are a vital part of Arcom's marketing strategy and the company has previously exhibited at both Autopromotec in Bologna and the Reifen fair in Essen. Equip Auto was different, however, as 90 per cent of the visitors came from France and England, in contrast to the more wider geographical profile of visitors to the other two shows.

10th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pro-Align Offers Specialist Alignment Lift

The emergence this year of the FS40LT four post alignment lift, distributed exclusively by Pro-Align, has reportedly created “a wave of interest in the UK market.” Fresh from winning the NTDA innovation prize for its Hunter SmartWeight system at this year’s TAFF awards, Pro-Align are now offering what the company calls specialist alignment lifts.

“The FS40LT has been developed by Provac, Hunter’s distributor in France,” Pro-Align’s Paul Beaurain explains: “Utilising years of alignment experience, they have brought together the best features to make an extremely high specification ramp, providing…the ultimate alignment service, at a price that’s no more expensive than a standard four post alignment lift.”

30th October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Best Choice Plans to Broaden Sunew Range

Taking pride of place on Best Choice International Trading’s stand at CITExpo was the current product range within the company’s “Sunew” own brand. The Beijing headquartered business now offers its “Sunew YS618” in 22 16 to 18-inch high performance sizes, and European region sales and export manager Stephen Wu reports that before the end of the year a further six 15-inch sizes will be added to the range – a line-up that, until recently, was marketed under the manufacturer’s “Yellow Sea” brand name. The coming year will see further additions to the Sunew portfolio; the range’s rim diameter ceiling will be pushed upwards with the addition of 19 and 20-inch products. Yet despite these plans to think big, Stephen Wu explains that the company is by no means turning its back on the smaller Sunew sizes. “They are under-represented in our range,” the manager explains. In the future, Best Choice also hopes to establish itself more firmly in France, Italy and Eastern Europe. At present the company is most strongly represented in the UK, Germany, the Benelux countries and Spain.

26th October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Evonik Launches New Carbon Black

Evonik Industries launches has launched a new a new high performance carbon black for mechanical rubber goods. Purex HS 45-RP, as it is known, are said to satisfy special requirements concerning PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) content. Purex HS 45-RP is reportedly equivalent to Purex HS 45 with the abbreviation RP signifying “reduced PAH content.”

23rd October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Reitzle Takes on Conti Supervisory Board Chairmanship

Although confirmed as the man for the job in September, the tenure of Prof. Dr. Ing. Wolfgang Reitzle as chairman of Continental AG’s Supervisory Board became official as of October 19 after his election during the day’s meeting. The Supervisory Board also made two other appointments during the October 19 meeting: Wolfgang Schäfer was confirmed as a regular member of the Continental AG Executive Board. He will take up his appointment on January 1, 2010, and will be responsible for the areas of finance, controlling, IT and law. Also assuming his position on the board next January 1 is José A. Avila, who is taking over as head of the Powertrain division.

20th October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Passenger Car Registrations Up in September

European passenger car registrations in September received a boost from markets with government sponsored scrappage schemes in place, particular those countries where the schemes are winding up. The whole European market rose 6.6 per cent and the Western European by 9.6 per cent during the month compared with September 2008, the largest leap since 1999. In absolute figures, however, September 2009 registrations stayed below the levels reached since 2002.

16th October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Ends Talks With MAG Over Clairoix Plant

Talks between Continental AG and MAG, a Dubai-based potential buyer of the company’s tyre technology and passenger/light truck tyre manufacturing facility in Clairoix, France, have ended. According to Continental, the talks “mutually ceased” with no agreement reached. The parties held intensive discussions, but finally concluded that it was not possible to reach common ground on pursuing further negotiations.

“We would have liked to have become involved in the tyre manufacturing business as an extension to our value-chain activities which are strongly focused on the trade sector. Using the knowledge we have at present we shall continue to examine this approach. We specifically thank the French government for its commitment and support while we were deliberating on the matter, and we shall keep France in our minds as a key location for future business plans”, said Dr Fawaz Sabri vice chairman of MAG

Dr Bernhard Trilken, responsible for Continental`s global passenger and light truck tyre production, added: “It was not possible to enter into concrete negotiations on the basis of jointly defined framework conditions. The two parties reached the same conclusion and, at that point, agreed to terminate the sales talks.”

6th October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors