The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) suggest the 2013 tyre replacement market stabilised in 2013 after a shaky start to the year. According to figures published 16 January, the car segment contracted 1 per cent to 192.699 million units in 2013. Total truck tyre sales were put at 8.849 million.
Figures released by the ACEA show that, with a 13.3 per cent increase in new car registrations in December 2013, the EU recorded the largest monthly year-on-year growth since December 2009 (+16.6 per cent). However, in absolute figures, the results were the third lowest to date for a month of December with a total of 906,294 units.
Starting 1 January, Farnese Pneumatici S.p.A. has taken over as Italian-market distributor for Sailun Tyres (Europe). The Vetralla-based wholesaler will distribute Sailun’s passenger car, 4×4, winter and light commercial vehicle ranges. Announcing the deal, the wholesaler’s sales and marketing director, Rinaldo Farnese, commented: “Our nationwide network of depots, dealers and sales agents makes us an excellent national fit with Sailun.”
Avon Tyres will display its latest motorcycle tyres at the 2014 Motorcycle Trade EXPO show, which gets underway on Sunday 19 January at the Birmingham NEC and runs until 21 January. During the exhibition, Avon will debut new sizes in its Storm 3D X-M hypersport range as well as the new whitewall Cobra radial, which is the original equipment fitment for the 2014 Triumph Thunderbird LT.
Giti Tire has appointed Daria Sala Della Cuna as country manager for the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese markets. She will replace Corrado Moglia who has accepted a new international role within Giti Tire to be announced soon, in the position. Moglia joined Giti Tire in 2006 as sales director for Southern Europe, before becoming marketing […]
To mark his upcoming 66th birthday on 18 January, Marco Tronchetti Provera granted German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung a long interview. During this he shared his intention to step down as Pirelli’s chief executive in the coming two years and subsequently sell the family’s 25.1 per cent share in the company. His three children are following their own paths and anyway it is difficult to inherit the role of business entrepreneur. Until last year, Tronchetti was also engaged in a showdown with the Genoa-based Malacalza industrial family. Tronchetti originally invited the Malacalza family to become investors, but later Tronchetti gained the impression they were trying to oust him. In the course of this struggle Francesco Gori, in charge of Pirelli’s tyre business, lost his job. He now serves as an advisor to Malacalza Investitmenti, which is currently the second-largest Pirelli shareholder but openly interested in expanding its involvement.
The Federation Internationale de I’Automobile (FIA) Land Speed Records Commission has homologated Continental Tire the Americas’ world speed records for both ten kilometres and ten miles from a standing start. The tyre maker, in conjunction with Michael Shank Racing, Ford, Roush Yates Engines and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) set out to break the records at Daytona International Speedway on 9 October 2013; the attempt was made by Colin Braun, who drove a Ford EcoBoost-powered Daytona Prototype (DP) fitted with Continental’s ExtremeContact DR (Dry, Race) tyres.
Tyre comparison site Rezulteo.com is claiming record traffic in 2013, with 1 million visits and 875,000 unique users in November – up 68 per cent. This means the firm has attracted a total of 6.4 million unique visitors in 2013 across the 20 countries it operates in – up 56 per cent. According to the company, this equates to 10 per cent of Internet searches performed by tyre buyers in Europe. In addition the website has also announced that it is partnering “Corriere dello Sport” in Italy.
For Italy’s Marangoni Group, the decision about the future of its new tyre production plant in Anagni (near Rome) and its 400 employees was not an easy one to reach. Yet after many years of losses running into the millions and no prospect of this improving in the future, in September the company penned the final chapter on its almost quarter-century long engagement in new tyre production – and despite the difficult nature of this decision it comes as a weight off the shoulders for Marangoni’s management, and they are sanguine about devoting all their attention to the core retreading business in future and making strategic investments there. Speaking with Tyres & Accessories, Marangoni CEO Massimo De Alessandri explains what factors went into making the decision, which mistakes were made in the past, why the foray into new tyre production was understandable but – in hindsight –perhaps inadvisable, and what the Marangoni Group now plans going forward.
Following the 2011 and 2012 Formula One seasons, Pirelli published all the key figures pertinent to its tyre supply. Now at the conclusion of its initial supply agreement, the Italian tyre maker has presented figures from its entire tenure to date. “This year, we wanted to talk about all the numbers from the three-year period […]
At Continental and Schaeffler’s joint ‘Premium Supplier Day’ in November the two companies named 12 new companies as premium suppliers, and renewed the status of their 19 existing premium suppliers. At the ceremony, Günter Fella, Continental Automotive’s senior vice-president of purchasing, described the cooperation with its premium suppliers as the “basis for a successful industrialisation” of new technologies.
When outlaying a six-figure sum to buy a car, buyers look for more than an off-the-peg product. For this reason, in January 2012 Ferrari launched its ‘Tailor Made’ personalisation programme that enables purchasers to create a truly bespoke car. Under this programme, the Ferrari Styling Centre researches the utility of numerous materials, including those not typically seen in automotive applications. It then offers exterior livery and interior trim combinations that cater for virtually every taste. So regardless of whether a buyer wants leather, teak, carbon fibre, pinstriping or even denim with their new Ferrari, the Italian car maker can accommodate their wishes.
In October, the EU car market recorded a 4.7 per cent increase, totalling 1,004,935 units. It was the first time since September 2011 that demand for new cars had risen in two consecutive months.
From January to October, new car registrations amounted to 10,006,807 units, or 3.1 per cent less than in the same period last year.
The news about Pirelli’s 2014 Calendar is that it isn’t. It isn’t a 2014 calendar, that is. The Italian company reported today that to celebrate the “milestone anniversary” of the Cal’s half-century, it decided not to produce a 2014 Calendar. Instead, it is releasing the previously unpublished 1986 Pirelli Calendar created by Helmut Newton, which until now has been kept under wraps in the company’s archives.
In Italy, the Guardia di Finanza (Fiscal Police) have arrested two brothers who are active within the tyre industry for tax evasion of more than €30 million; the two men allegedly falsified invoices in order to fraudulently represent the amount of tax, VAT and customs duties they were required to pay. According to PneusNews.it, our sister publication in Italy, one of the brothers, Vincenzo Tufano is in prison while Giovanni Tufano is under house arrest.
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