The Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) has welcomed the announcement that the Chancellor George Osborne MP has pledged in his keynote speech at the Conservative party’s annual conference, to freeze fuel duty until the next election in May 2015, meaning that the planned duty rise of 2 pence per litre in September 2014 is unlikely to go ahead.
The ‘death sentence’ hanging over Bridgestone’s Bari passenger car tyre plant in Italy has been rescinded. A plan to keep the site operational has been announced; this calls for the factory to focus its production solely on tyres for general use, while increasing the plant’s competitiveness and reducing its overall conversion cost.
A £1.5 million government grant is winging its way to Dunlop Aircraft tyres. The grant was awarded by the Government’s Technology Strategy Board and the funds will aid the Birmingham-based company in its development and testing of tougher, lighter aircraft tyres.
Michelin’s new plant in Thiruvallur, India has been described as the world’s largest tyre factory. While we can’t confirm the veracity of this superlative, one thing that appears to be true is that the facility is preparing for an imminent production start.
The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) is organising the sixth edition of its Annual Rubber Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 8th October 2013. The Sri Lankan Government will be hosting the event, in association with the Ministry of Plantation Industries, Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the Galadari Hotel – Colombo.
Bridgestone Australia states it has relinquished its Australian Tyre Industry Council (ATIC) membership for “a variety of business reasons pertaining to the operation of the Council.” No further details explaining the tyre firm’s differences with the ATIC have been given.
Myanmar’s automotive market is likely to grow to 95,300 units by 2010, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 per cent (2013-2019). That’s the view of researchers at Frost & Sullivan who suggest that this will be driven by a growing economy, infrastructure development and increasing income as well as better integration with ASEAN nations. Their view is that real growth however is likely to start only after 2014.
Trust My Garage (TMG) has experienced a boom in membership since the announcement that the scheme has applied to become a Government backed TSI code.
Following the announcement at the Trading Standards conference in June the number of independent garages wishing to become a TMG member has increased by an unprecedented 20 per cent.
Various news sources are reporting that leading Chinese domestic tyre manufacturer Triangle Tire is taking its international operations to the next level with the investment of some 250 million euros in a new tyre factory in the Western Russian Republic of Bashkortostan. The unconfirmed reports suggest that the new plant will be built in one of two areas near Sterlitamak and that the government is offering Triangle a subsidy that will save the company as much as 10 years’ property tax.
Thousands of motorists are driving potentially dangerous cars as the number of vehicles on the road that have previously been written off increases. The National Association of Bodyshops (NAB) has previously called on the Competition Commission to review their position on write-offs during an investigation into the private motor insurance market.
However the Competition Commission say that they have no plans to review this further stating that despite the evidence they received during the investigation, they judged that write-offs were an issue relating to the supply of used cars and not related to the provision of Private Motor Insurance and related goods and services.
Incentives to draw in prospective customers are familiar practice for most tyre dealers, but free onions with every car or truck tyre sold? One tyre seller in India has introduced such an offer, but he has more in mind than just selling more tyres.
The cost to motorists of putting biofuels into petrol will be as much as £224 million more each year than the government estimated, says ActionAid. According to ActionAid-commissioned research by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the government has underestimated the additional costs of biofuels due to inadequate price projection models used by various departments to calculate costs. This extra cost is in addition to the £1-£1.8 billion extra cost to motorists as a result of the UK's biofuels policies that IISD already documented in 2012.
Surprising new data from Government confirms that Supermarkets now have a much higher share of the UK market for retail transport fuels than previously admitted. The latest combined total for petrol and diesel sees an increase to 46.5 per cent in 2012. This compares with the official total of just 39 per cent for 2011 quoted in the Deloitte study and also 39 per cent for 2012 stated in the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report, such figures were clearly far from being accurate.
Chippenham constituency MP Duncan Hames has welcomed the news of Cooper Tire & Rubber’s receipt of £1 million in funding from the Department of Business, Skills and Innovation’s Regional Growth Fund. The funding will be backed by private investment amounting to £4.3 million and will allow Cooper Tire to build a combined heat and power plant at the factory and install solar panels on the roof – measures aimed at improving energy efficiency and making the site more environmentally friendly.
The Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, formerly Burma, now stands amongst the ranks of the world’s tyre producing nations. The country’s first tyre factory, MEC Tire, officially entered operation on 1 May. The occasion was marked by ceremony attended by Myanmar commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of the Navy, commander of the air force and other military and government officials, along with representatives from Chinese rubber and tyre industry machinery supplier Mesnac, who set up the plant. The MEC Tire facility was Mesnac’s first overseas turnkey project.
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