Continental’s Nikolai Setzer recently outlined the company’s intention to invest in non-automotive areas (more on this in Tyres & Accessories’ August magazine), but his comments by no means indicate a drawing away from the automotive business. The German firm’s continued interest in this area could be seen at the groundbreaking for the new extension to its research and development centre in Singapore.
The launch of Avon Tyres’ latest sports touring motorcycle tyre aimed at the hypersport market, the Storm 3D X-M, took place near the brand’s Melksham, Wiltshire manufacturing base at Castle Combe in May. The Cooper-owned brand says it has since been reaping the plaudits for the new tyre, tested out by two-wheel specialist journalists on the fast and bumpy circuit.
Continental garnered a number of winter tyre accolades in the first half of 2013, most recently receiving a coveted award from the UK’s Auto Express magazine. Continental’s ContiWinterContact TS850 ‘Best Winter Tyre’ for the second consecutive year in the 2013 Product Awards.
Supertracker has given wheel alignment support to West Midlands father and son driving team, Keith and Dylan Evans and their Subaru Legacy Estate in the annual Help4Heroes 4×4 European Rally 2013. The team was awarded Total Off-Road Magazine’s 'Best Non Land Rover performance', having been primed by Supertracker, which set up and adjusted the wheel alignment and sourced special Landsail tyres for the 14-day trip across a number of European countries, visiting numerous battle locations and memorial sites from WW1 and WW2.
German magazine Off Road’s readers have chosen Goodyear’s Wrangler DuraTrac as the best off-road product in the ‘Traction Tyres’ category. This was the first time the magazine has invited its readers to vote on tyres alongside their favourite vehicles, and the Goodyear tyre beat all the other products to the inaugural edition of this honour.
Nokian Tyres has published its first Corporate Sustainability Report to have been drawn up according to GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines; the report describes the goals, plans, actions, and results of the group’s sustainability programme during 2012. Added perspective has been introduced by describing Nokian Tyres’ activities from the past few years.
A report in French financial magazine Les Echos suggests that the Chinese Government is considering imposing an additional tariff on cars imported from the EU. The report was picked up by analysts Morgan Stanley, who suggest that the new tariff could be in response to the recently-announced 11 per cent tariff by the EU on Chinese-made solar panels. ACEA, the EU car association, says that the car tariff could be in place as early as September.
With Cooper Tire Europe renewing attention on its Cooper brand, while also upping marketing efforts in general including on its Avon brand (see separate article in our June magazine's Company News section for more on this), here is a summary of the company’s current range including details of both brands’ line ups.
Motorsport plays a key part in how Cooper markets its performance tyres. Continuing support of the Cooper Tires British F3 series highlights the company’s ability to produce tyres that perform at the toughest limits and for 2013, Cooper is appearing in the FIA European Rallycross Championship, showing how the company’s tyres can perform in a range of conditions.
Autogem displayed its new i-sensor TPMS system at the CV Show 2013. The programmable system allows workshops to configure and diagnose blank and programmed sensors through a contact-less scan with the i-sensor Tool. The i-sensor Blank is a universal sensor that can be programmed effectively to become any one of more than 90 per cent of current original equipment sensors by the tool. More details on the product are available on Tyrepress.com (see below) and in February's Tyres & Accessories magazine.
Almost precisely seven years after Edouard Michelin’s fatal accident, his father and legendary head of the Michelin-clan, François Michelin (87), has granted French weekly magazine Paris Match a rare interview and divulged a glimpse into his emotional life. François Michelin, whose daughter-in-law, Edouard’s wife, Cecilia died of cancer in 2011, today lives in retirement home in Auvergne, free from every luxury.
A new initiative to help garages and tyre retailers across the country has been launched by the Tyre Recovery Association today. The Responsible Retailer Certificate of Compliance will be awarded to retailers meeting best practice standards by a member of the Tyre Industry Federation Responsible Recycler Scheme. The TRA says that the new scheme is designed to help garages and retailers not only to manage their used tyre disposal in line with industry standards; the Responsible Retailer Scheme also aims to help compliant businesses communicate their environmentally responsible credentials to customers. Also launched was a new website, which will contain a searchable database of all certified garages for motorists and of local collectors for retailers.
As winter drags on, the subject of potholes has been much in the news and a recent report from UK online motoring magazine Motortrades Insight makes gloomy reading – it reports that potholes are potentially damaging the finances of Britain’s hard-working, cash-strapped drivers – motorists who are being forced into balancing their finances to pay for additional car maintenance and repairs. Worse still is the potential hazard of trying to avoid them with drivers literally dicing with death on a daily basis.
A recent survey revealed two thirds of motorists have found themselves in a dangerous situation – swerving to avoid a pothole. Drivers in the West Midlands have been worst hit with 76 per cent swerving or braking suddenly to avoid the thousands of crumbling roads with estimates of 2.2 million potholes.
Metzeler’s domination of the tyre category in German motorcycling magazine Motorrad’s Best Brand awards continues this year. The tyre maker has taken the category award on four of the eight occasions it has been contested; this year Metzeler gained the support of 64.8 per cent of the 30,245 Motorrad readers who participated in voting for the awards.
Goodyear is currently celebrating picking up two Which? Magazine Best Buy awards. The latest issue of Which? Includes tests on 225/45 R17 and 185/60 R15 products, with Goodyear’s Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 tested in the former category and its EfficientGrip Performance in the latter.
For the second consecutive year, Myers Industries Inc. was named one of America’s 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in an annual Forbes magazine survey. To determine the yearly rankings, according to Forbes, GMI Ratings provided the magazine with “in-depth quantitative and qualitative financial analysis, which looks beyond the raw data of companies’ income statements and balance sheets. Non-traditional risk measures are assessed to interpret the highest quality of corporate accounting transparency, solid corporate governance and management practices, lowest incidence of high-risk events, and appropriate board supervision.”
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