New Marketing VP for Bridgestone Bandag
Bridgestone Americas has promoted Scott Damon to vice president of marketing for its Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions unit. Damon was director of strategic channels and products for Bridgestone Bandag.
The bigger the tyre brand, the more important marketing becomes in order to communicate its values and its worth. With this in mind, the “marketing” tag collates all the latest marketing-related news and analysis into a single place. This reverse-chronological list of thousands of articles is your go-to source of tyre industry, marketing-related news and information.
Bridgestone Americas has promoted Scott Damon to vice president of marketing for its Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions unit. Damon was director of strategic channels and products for Bridgestone Bandag.
When it comes to alloy wheels, there is no doubt that forged products are top of the tree in terms of strength, technological benefits but also price. However, while they will never be the cheapest products on offer, there are signs that their fitment is becoming increasingly prevalent in the marketplace, with some of the best known volume models now sporting forged aluminium wheels as an option. Tyres & Accessories interviewed David Yates, marketing manager for Alcoa Forged Specialty Wheels, Europe to find out more.
You might think that the recession would have put the kibosh on sales of what is to all extents and purposes the premium of wheel upgrade options. However, while the environment has been tough for everyone, things have not been as bad as could have been expected for Alcoa forged wheel. In fact, according to David Yates, when you consider the US-based company’s relatively short history of selling forged wheels in the European market, there is a lot to be pleased about: “The credit crunch has had an affect on us. Car wheel volumes have been reduced significantly overall, however these are growing “rapidly” in Europe. Although we [Alcoa] invented forged wheels 60 years ago, we have only been pushing passenger car forged wheels in Europe for less than 3.5 years, following the US model [of introduction].”
North American agricultural machinery operators can now take advantage of a new Goodyear Farm Tires range specifically designed for high clearance, self-propelled sprayers. Known as the ‘Ultra Sprayer’, the tyre features tread bars engineered to carry heavy sprayer loads and a wider lug to promote longer wear characteristics as compared to conventional tractor tyres. These design features, says Goodyear Farm Tires parent company Titan Tire, also provide more stability and a better ride when travelling from field-to-field at road speeds up to 30 mph. A significant increase in lug surface area helps improve lug wear, Titan adds, while increases in lug bracing and surface area combine to deliver improved durability, even under heavier loads. This design is also said to offer superior traction in the field.
Continental Tire the Americas has unveiled a new steer and all-position tyre for long distance motor coaches. The HSL1 Coach, which the manufacturer reports has been submitted for verification under the US Environmental Protection Authority’s ‘SmartWay’ programme, is designed to offer a quiet ride along with low rolling resistance and fuel economy – these last two features are said to be aided by the compound and tread design used in the HSL1 Coach.
GITI Tire (UK) Ltd. has appointed Jenny Leeson as marketing manager – passenger car. Prior to working in the tyre industry, Leeson headed up the marketing department at one of the UK's most successful Mercedes-Benz dealerships. Prior to this she held a marketing position at a housing firm after starting her career at a media and communications company. During this time she gained a CIM Profession Diploma in Marketing, having graduated from university with a BA (Hons) in English Language Studies.
Michelin Americas Truck Tyre – also known by the acronym ‘MATT’ – is celebrating the tenth year of the X One wide single truck tyre in its market area, and the company is gearing up for a second decade through the introduction of its most fuel-efficient tyre to date, the X One XDA Energy tyre. Michelin makes this claim following independent testing that showed the tyre to facilitate more than seven per cent better fuel efficiency that its competitors’ most fuel-efficient tyres.
In addition to the branding opportunities implicit in motorsport involvement, the HiQ brand’s continued presence in British Touring Cars allows it to continue using the championship to further its charity activities. The fast-fitter praised the thousands of British Touring Car Championship fans this week, after it was announced they had helped to raise a staggering £50,000 for Breast Cancer Care. Not only that, company representatives told Tyres & Accessories that the upcoming season would see HiQ raising funds for the Teen Cancer Trust in 2010 – funds which will go towards a new wing at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
The HiQ fast fit network has secured its first partnership with a large UK main car dealership, and the company believes this could pave the way for similar arrangements in the future and form part of the company’s attempts to revolutionise the way that fast fit is delivered to motorists. The partnership will see HiQ operate its services from Ford dealer David Harrison Ltd in Peebles.
Trelleborg tyres will exclusively equip two New Holland special edition Blue Power tractors, the T7070 AutoCommand and the T7060 PowerCommand. The Blue Power was launched by New Holland to celebrate the prestigious 2010 Tractor of the Year award along with the Golden Tractor for Design, repeating the same awards obtained in 2008. New Holland reportedly picked Trelleborg as its partner on Blue Power tractors for its “specialist knowledge of the agriculture sector, its capacity to ensure highly professional technical assistance in the field, and its creative communication.”
The Environment Agency (EA), Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) have chosen October’s Brityrex exhibition as the platform for a new campaign to raise awareness of legislation covering the chemical make-up of tyres and retread rubber. The campaign follows the introduction of European REACH legislation which states that extender oils shall not be placed on the market, or used for the production of tyres or parts of tyres if they contain more than the threshold limits of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon). The restrictions also apply to the marketing of tyres and treads for retreading.
Both European manufacturers and importers need to comply with the new ruling; distributors found to be selling tyres containing excessive levels of PAH could be faced with enforcement proceedings. One of the problems for retailers and wholesalers will be that there is no visual test to determine the presence of PAH, which means they will need to be absolutely confident that their tyre suppliers are aware of and meeting the tighter standard.
Exhaust system and towbar manufacturer Bosal has announced a senior appointment within the Automotive Division of its Preston-based UK operations. Peter Hayden, 46, has been appointed sales and marketing director. He joins Bosal UK on 6 April 2010, moving from his current position of commercial director at Valeo Service UK. In his new role, Hayden will be responsible for Bosal UK’s commercial functions including, sales, marketing and supply.
Bridgestone Americas has issued a statement regarding its decision to file a trademark infringement suit against Commerce Max Inc over its use of the ‘Amberstone’ tyre brand name, reports Tire Review. "We filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Nashville on 12 March, against San Benito, Texas-based Commerce Max Inc for trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition.
A motorcycle tyre that combines race-quality grip in the dry, total confidence in the wet and wear rates that never compromise sporting satisfaction is said to have been an elusive wish for street and occasional track day riders. That is, according to Dunlop, until now. The company claims to have realised these qualities in its new SportSmart, a tyre it describes as creating a “new benchmark of handling and confidence, irrespective of road conditions – dry racetrack or wet country lane.” Dunlop adds the SportSmart is designed to deliver its highest levels of performance while putting in the hard touring miles and riders can thus expect to achieve noticeably more mileage from SportsSmart than they would with other hypersport tyres; indeed, during testing performed by Dekra in January 2010, using a 2009 model Suzuki GSX-R 1000 fitted with 120/70ZR17 and 190/50ZR17 tyres, the SportSmart reportedly delivered 20 per cent better mileage compared to Michelin’s Power Pure, 30 per cent better mileage than the Pirelli Diablo Rosso and 40 per cent better mileage than Bridgestone’s Battlax BT-016.
Research conducted by Encircle Marketing between April 2009 and February 2010 has revealed dealers recommend Bridgestone 4×4 tyres almost twice as often as the next most recommended brand. The survey showed that Bridgestone’s 4×4 tyres are recommended 18 per cent of the time, far ahead of the nearest competitor at 10.4 per cent. Dealer recommendation – widely accepted to be a key factor influencing customer purchase choice – was also found to be stronger for premium brands, with a 60 per cent recommendation rate versus budget brands.
Federal and Grouptyre, the Taiwanese brand’s exclusive UK distributor, have announced the winner of the second ‘Red Letter Day’ campaign prize draw. Keith Manders, manager of Hammond Group’s tyre department, won the top £500 Red Letter Day prize.
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