The NTDA has announced that Tim Parker, former Kwik-Fit and current AA CEO, will open the business sessions at the association’s annual conference. John Tarbox, chairman of the organising committee is enthusiastic about the success of the conference.
The National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) has confirmed its support of the 2005 Aftermarket show.
Director Richard Edy commented: “We are constantly searching for high profile opportunities to meet with members, as well as those businesses and organisations that play a major part in our industry. Our first experience of the Aftermarket Show proved it was an event that was capable of meeting our needs. With the show planning an even greater focus on the issues and opportunities that matter to the tyre industry, we’ll return next January confident of building on that success.”
Next year’s show will concentrate on core business issues, such as mobile fitting and service, tyres and the environment, developments in tyre technology and the delivery stream of wholesale supply to the UK market.
The Aftermarket show will be held at the NEC from 13-16 January, 2005, and will once again be staged alongside the Autosport International show.
The Green Tyre Dealer Scheme launched recently by the Retread Manufacturers’ Association to promote the safety, performance and environmental benefits of retreaded tyres has been endorsed by the Chairman of the National Tyre Distributors Association. Martin Rowlands, Director of the Kinross-based retailer Tyrefair Ltd, was one of the first dealers to join the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme. He is also the current Chairman of the National Tyre Distributors Association, the national body representing independent tyre dealers within the UK. Rowlands said: “I wholeheartedly support the active promotion of retreaded tyres and applaud the RMA for their initiative in developing the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme. Retreads are environmentally friendly, their appearance is good, they have the same speed rating as new tyres and they are excellent value for money”.
The new Chairman of the NTDA Tyre Wholealers’ Group, Peter Gaster took to the floor at the NTDA TWG luncheon to offer one or two points for the trade to consider. Gaster opened by highlighting the fact that whilst he was looking at things from a wholesale point of view, it was worth remembering that many at the event had a foot in both retail and wholesale camps.
He outlined the importance of the role of the wholesaler, comparing the ability of the multi-brand wholesaler to that of the tyre manufacturer and how the result was benefiting the tyre trade as a whole. “The true wholesaler performs a vital and necessary function in the UK distribution market in providing a variety of products and deliveries to all retail sectors in the industry and it is here that the wholesaler performs the most vital function which is service. We are all aware of the cost of distribution and I’ve always felt that manufacturers have at the best misunderstood and at the worst miscalculated the cost of distribution and the reality of the logistics and practicality of delivering one tyre to one customer on a daily basis.
The Council of the NTDA has announced plans for the 2004 NTDA Conference to take place at Marbella on 23rd – 24th September. The conference will take the open format of the previous year’s event and will incorporate all elements of the aftermarket trade, being billed as the Entyre Aftermarket Conference.
The NTDA is to work with its European partners and FARCO in Holland to press for a review of the Tread Depth laws. It is seeking a new legal minimum for car tyres of 2 mm for S,T and H, and 3mm for higher speed rated tyres.There will also be campaigning for an increase in the minimum legal limit on commercial vehicle tyres.
There was a new look to the conference of the National Tyre Distributors’ Association, held at the Valparaiso Palace Hotel in Palma, Mallorca, in September. Entitled “InTyreActive”, the conference was designed so that the delegates set the agenda and discussed matters that they felt were important to the industry, rather than listen to a string of speakers. Having said that, the keynote speech was retained and association Chairman, Martin Rowlands, opened the event by introducing the speaker, Sir Tom Farmer. New format gets people talking as delegates debate a series of issues The NTDA conference promised something different, with the delegates deciding what was important and what they wanted to talk about. InTyreActive, as it was known, was a new concept to many attendees and it was run by a facilitator, who explained what was going to happen over the two sessions. Anyone could suggest a topic, the title of which was written on a piece of paper and stuck to the wall. Delegates added their names to the topics in which they were interested. In fact, the wall played a crucial part in proceedings, as notes taken at the meeting were pinned up for general reading, plus it was used for charts, comments and suggestions. By setting the agenda, the idea was, as the NTDA publicity said, “to explore the key issues facing your industry now and in the future.”
The National Tyre Distributors Association has formally endorsed the new Tyre World event, scheduled for October 2003 in Earl’s Court, London. Buzz Carter, of organisers IDEX Media, said that London had been chosen after extensive research showed that it was the preference of domestic and international visitors. Tyre World will include a programme of seminars and associated events, including the NTDA’s annual conference Intyreactive and the national “Tyre Technician of the Year” competition. Further details are expected soon.
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The National Tyre Distributors Association has announced that, following the success of last year’s inaugural TyreCheck Safety campaign, the association has joined forces with road safety lobby group BRAKE for this year’s event. TyreCheck 2001 will run alongside the BRAKE Road Safety Week (31st March to 6th April) and is open to all UK tyre retailers. The 2000 TyreCheck found that 10 per cent of tyres examined were below the 1.6mm legal minimum tread depth.
At the recent conference of the UK National Tyre Dealers Association (NTDA), Chairman of Council Ashley Croft announced that the Rapid-Fit chain of retailers had applied for membership. Rapid-Fit consists of 300+ fast-fit depots, owned by individual Ford car dealers. This will bring the number of centres in NTDA membership to more than 2,000.
The National Tyre Distributors Association held its millennium conference in Portugal. Before the conference got under way, delegates were given the news that RapidFit had applied to join the association. The 300-strong chain of Ford dealers is the first of the vehicle dealerships to enter into membership. The keynote speaker at the conference was Sir Tom Farmer, one of whose points was that the association should consider becoming more commercial and explore the possibility of setting up a buying group for members. Other speakers explored the themes of the impact of e-commerce and the internet on tyre retailing and what tyre dealers can do to take advantage of the opportunities which are liable to arise in the future. The impact of legislation – existing and forthcoming – was another topic, including the implications of the proposed End of Life Vehicle Directive. There was a different format for the second day, when delegates broke into groups to discuss the three subjects of scrap tyre disposal, e-commerce and the changing face of tyre retailing, reflecting the previous day’s subjects. The group chairmen then reported back to the meeting and the conclusions were presented to the NTDA in order to guide the association as to its future strategic direction in these areas. Debate was lively and everyone agreed that the new format had been a resounding success.
The National Tyre Distributors Association held a press conference to reveal the results of its TyreCheck 2000 campaign. This was part of a wider European initiative to increase tyre awareness and collect data in support of a campaign to increase the legal minimum tread depth. The UK campaign lasted a week and over 37,500 tyres were checked. A depressing 10% were below the 1.6mm legal minimum and a further 17% had tread depths below 2mm, which is the level being proposed as the new legal minimum. 26% were damaged in some way and 46% incorrectly inflated. Spare tyres were also checked and 33% of these had a tread depth below 2mm. 66% were wrongly inflated. In a telephone survey of people who had recently bought tyres, 75% did not know the legal tread depth and 43% said they check their pressures regularly; a figure not borne out by the above statistics. It is planned to repeat the exercise next year, hopefully on a larger scale, and the results will be used to lobby individual governments and European authorities through Bipaver for a change in the tyre laws in Europe.
Goodyear’s Chief Engineer of Product Design has warned of the economic cost of tyre under-inflation as gasoline prices reach a new high in the USA. Petrol consumption and tread life are adversely affected. A Goodyear survey showed up to 28p.c. of vehicles had “seriously under-inflated” tyres.
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