Coinciding with the start of the 2015/16 European football season, various tyre manufacturers have continued the step up in sponsorship involvement with some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Continuing the trend Tyres & Accessories observed last year, bigger, broader deals are expanding tyres’ role in football, and increasing the prominence of brands outside the traditional premium names.
It’s only a month until the world’s largest motor show begins, and several tyre makers have shared news of the innovations and products they will bring to this year’s IAA Cars.
As of yesterday, Nexen Tire is Manchester City FC’s official tyre partner. Nexen Tire president Ho-Chan Kang and Manchester City FC CEO Ferran Soriano signed the partnership documents during a ceremony held at the City Football Academy in Manchester. Amongst the attendees witnessing the start of the new agreement were Omar Berrada, the club’s football marketing director, plus a number of Nexen Tire and Manchester City executives. Several players were also present.
The European Commission has approved regional investment of almost €117million for the passenger car tyre factory Nexen Tire intends to build in the Czech Republic. The Commission found the aid that government trade agency CzechInvest offered Nexen for the facility in Žatec is compatible with EU state aid rules, and deemed it will promote regional development without unduly distorting competition in the internal market.
Nexen Tire’s N’blue Premium has been selected as original equipment for the Renault ‘Twingo’ and the Smart ‘Forfour’ compact cars. According to Nexen, its tyres will be standard equipment for the two cars, which were co-developed by Renault and Daimler AG.
High performance cars call for high performance tyres – and understandably motorists who have invested in an expensive vehicle are among the most discerning of customers. Reluctant to compromise performance or safety, they have tended to favour major global brands such as Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear, Pirelli and Michelin – but over the years Stapleton’s have been developing and introducing a range of alternatives from their own stable of exclusive brands.
In 2018, Nexen Tire’s new 1.2 trillion Korean won (£705 million) tyre factory in the Czech Republic will enter operation. The tyre maker confirmed the project in June 2014 and says the facility it is building in Zatec will be “one of the most cutting-edge and eco-friendly plants in the world.”
The Tire Cologne – the Koelnmesse organised rival exhibition to Messe Essen’s Reifen series, commencing in 2018 – has fired the starting pistol in its registration phase. The exhibition, which will take place in Cologne at the same time as Reifen 2018 in Essen (29 May to 1 June 2018), will feature important tyre and wheel business players from across the industry.
The past couple of years have witnessed a build-up of Nexen Tire’s original equipment supply portfolio with European vehicle manufacturers. At the end of 2013 the Korean tyre maker announced its N’blue HD would be fitted to European market Volkswagen Polo models, and shortly afterwards it said the tyre would also be original equipment on the Skoda Octavia and Rapid. News of a third N’blue HD deal, this time for the Dacia Lodgy and Dokker, was issued in June 2014. Now Nexen has announced it is working with two further car makers in Europe: Nexen Tire says its N’blue Premium has been approved for original equipment fitment on the Smart Fortwo and Forfour and the Renault Twingo.
Times are changing for Nexen Tire in Europe. This year the Korean tyre maker intends to start work on its first production facility on European soil and on the construction of a new and larger European technical centre. Changes are also being made to the way Nexen tyres reach European customers. Nexen Tire Europe president Seung-Do Jin recently spoke to Tyres & Accessories about these plans, and on what the company hopes to achieve in Europe.
Another innings of Nexen Tire baseball sponsorship is about to begin: The tyre maker has renewed its partnership agreements with four Major League Baseball (MLB) teams in the US. It will thus continue its relationship with the LA Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers and the LA Angels for the 2015 baseball season.
On 27 February Nexen Tire announcedits sponsorship of the ‘Geelong Cats’ Australian Football team and the ‘Chiefs’ New Zealand Rugby team. The two moves are described as being part of Nexen’s new sports marketing plans, which are intended to build brand awareness in the Oceania market. The plan is to leverage the profile of the two well-regarded teams. […]
Some nine months after his government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nexen Tyre on the construction of a new factory, Czech Republic Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka visited Nexen Tyre’s Changnyeong plant during an official state visit to South Korea. “We are pleased to welcome Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka to Nexen Tyre,” stated Nexen Tyre chairman Kang Byung-Joong during today’s plant inspection. “We look forward to further cementing our partnership with the Czech government and to set up the best tyre manufacturing facility with advanced technology in Europe.”
During the course of the last decade, the 4×4 vehicle sector has rapidly evolved out of its utilitarian roots and – thanks to the advent of the Sports Utility Vehicle or SUV – become a distinct category of often luxury road-going cars. The speed of this evolution has increased thanks to the arrival of the Crossover Utility Vehicle or CUV. In-turn these changes necessarily impact the make-up and even the definition of the 4×4 tyre market. All this has been further impacted by the European legislation putting pressure on reducing noise levels produced by out-and-out off-road tyres in particular. The result is a market that is now much more SUV than off-road or even mixed-use driven.
Few would disagree that the rapid growth of the 4×4/SUV tyre space represents a good retail opportunity. On the other hand, retailers are obliged to maintain an unprecedented breadth of stock to cope with the particular demands of this specialist sector, which can be quite a challenge. And it’s on this point that Stapleton’s believes […]
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