GT Radial is the new main sprint circuit sponsor at this weekend’s Power Maxed MotoFest Coventry 2019. During the UK’s largest urban motorsports festival weekend, the MotoFest Coventry track, created from the city’s ring road, will be named the GT Radial sprint circuit. As part of the sponsorship agreement, GT Radial will run its VW Fun Cup cars on the sprint circuit on both days of the festival weekend.
Giti Tire has launched the GT Radial Maxmiler AllSeason, a four-season tyre for the European van and light truck markets. Carrying the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) symbol of its sidewall, the product is initially available in 13 SKUs with 15C-16C” rims, section widths from 195-235 and series sizes from 65-75. Load indices range from 104-115.
Year-on-year growth in the SUV tyre segment has become something of a given in recent years. The popularity of this market segment has been a beacon for car-makers in Europe, as the number of new models in the last decade shows. In terms of tyres, this has meant increases in larger, higher value products, both in the original equipment and replacement markets, the results of which are analysed elsewhere in this section. Volume and value growth in the UK replacement market, at 10 and 15 per cent respectively, has been healthy again in the last year.
Giti Tire is follow the season in which it achieved its first podium finish, taking third place at Holland’s Circuit Zandvoort, by continuing its close involvement in the VW Fun Cup. It will mark its fourth year as official tyre partner in 2019. There are eight endurance races scheduled for 2019, lasting from three to eight hours with two to four drivers. Giti will also run its fully livered GT Radial car.
Team BRIT, racing together with dedicated sponsor Giti Tire, won its class at the season-ending Birkett Relay. Team Brit and the fully liveried GT Radial VW Fun Cup bug finished first in Class C, posting 142 laps. The result meant 14th place overall, just two laps off the eventual winners.
To meet growing market demand, this year an all-season product joins the GT Radial portfolio. The GT Radial 4Seasons will go on sale in the UK this September, and Giti Tire says initial response to the newcomer has been very positive.
GT Radial’s VW Fun Cup UK team has secured its first ever podium finish, taking third place in the European event at Circuit Zandvoort, Holland. The team was led by Giti Tire’s seasoned race and senior test engineer, Ellis Hadley and ADAC GT Masters Series competitor and Hannover R&D Centre student, André Gies, battling a 26-car field, early safety car interruptions, a non-functioning lap timer and a broken radio in their dash for the dais.
The Giti brand is joining the commercial vehicle tyre portfolio that Giti Tire offers in North America. Giti Tire (USA) is introducing a Giti line-up for long haul, regional, urban/light duty and mixed service applications, and intends to be active in both the original equipment and aftermarket segments within the region.
Giti Tire launched its planned transition from the GT Radial brand to the eponymous Giti commercial vehicle tyre range at the CV Show in 2017. One year on, Tyres & Accessories travelled to the Birmingham NEC to meet Tony McHugh, TBR sales and marketing director UK at Giti Tire, to ask how the transition has progressed in the intervening year, catch up on the latest range developments, and find out the story behind the Team Oliver racing truck on its stand.
Giti Tire reports that its preparations for The Tire Cologne are in full swing. The tyre maker will be there with its two core European brands, Giti and GT Radial, displaying a range of original and aftermarket equipment for passenger car, 4×4, light and heavy truck.
Giti Tire has extended its Official Tyre Partnership with the VW Fun Cup into a third season. The tyre manufacturer’s fully livered GT Radial racing car will also make its European debut when the series travels to Circuit Zandvoort in Holland, marking the first time the company has both supplied tyres and raced a car from the series outside the UK. The calendar also features three and four-hour races at Oulton Park, Anglesey, Snetterton, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donnington Park, in a series totalling nine rounds.
Giti Tire has added 15 independent garages to its GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) network. The new dealers were welcomed to the network during the company’s new dealer training events at Horiba Mira, hosted in partnership with exclusive UK distributor Micheldever Tyre Services. The latest additions to the network were all signed in 2018.
Consumers are increasingly likely to research their tyres online pre-purchase, regardless of whether they complete an e-commerce transaction. Peer review website Tyre Reviews has therefore become an influential destination in the car tyre market: discussing Tyre Reviews’s audience, owner, Jonathan Benson, states that 94 per cent of Tyre Reviews visitors are engaged in the tyre buying process, with its users predominantly “high earning, well educated, male automotive enthusiasts looking for the best possible product for their vehicle.” In 2017, the site delivered 25 million pageviews to tyre buyers, and claims to have influenced around “one-sixth of UK tyre sales.”
GT Radial and Poulton-Le-Fylde tyre retailer Carleton Tyres and Exhaust Centre have teamed up to host a women only tyre safety event. The companies hosted 24 female customers at Carleton’s Bipsham Road premises, presenting a general tyre safety overview, including advice on checking tyres, measuring tread depths, legal limits and stopping distances.
Giti Tire has renamed its UK retread programme Giti Genesis as part of its European truck and bus rebranding project. Originally known as GT REE-Tread when it was launched at the CV Show 2012, the next generation products show strong continuity in most aspects – it will remain a hot cure bead-to-bead retread manufactured using Giti casings, though there have been some changes, the biggest of which is the identity of the retreader. The Giti Genesis is available in two patterns: the GDR690 regional drive axle tyre is available in 295/80R22.5, 315/70R22.5 and 315/80R22.5; the GTR990 regional trailer tyre is offered in size 385/65R22.5.
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