Software house TecDoc has released the 2.0 version of its Web Catalog parts identification portal. According to the company the latest version provides VRM users with the full vehicle details with “all of the back-up and usability of the ‘classic’ version, but with some distinct benefits when interrogating the data, which makes searching for the correct part easier and quicker.”
Maxxis has announced that it will launch a newly designed UK website that will go live in January 2011. The original maxxis.co.uk corporate website was launched at the end of August 2008 and was upgraded in 2009. The latest revision of the site features a new content management system and enhanced navigation system designed to make it easier for Maxxis to add new material and keep the site up to date.
One important change is the way in which the site accepts information feeds. Thanks to innovative development work in this area, updates fed into the central database will instantly upload to the website as well as to other online applications that are currently in the pipeline. As a result, it will be easier for Maxxis to update information on the site, including tyre data, retailer contacts and details on teams and drivers in relation to its sponsorship activities, while visitors will be able to follow the schedule of events and keep track of where the Maxxis Babes will be heading next.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has shown its support for the US military through its ‘Support Our Troops’ initiative, which has raised more than US$100,000 for the non-profit organisation. The tyre maker ran the initiative in conjunction with its NASCAR tyre supply involvement and launched its fundraising effort on July 4 this year. Goodyear reports the funds raised will go towards the more than $8 million per year Support Our Troops spends sending care packs to soldiers serving in combat zones and providing assistance to their families back home.
On November 11 Continental Tyres launched its first in-app video advertising campaign, delivering content to iPhone users. The campaign, which promotes Continental’s winter tyre line-up, operates on the ‘Yoc Ad Plus’ rich media advertising platform and enables video to be viewed within the app without redirecting to third party sites.
Germany’s Delticom AG has once again shown online tyre retailing to be a lucrative business. The company behind numerous national portals, including mytyres.co.uk, reports that during the first nine months of 2010 its revenues increased 27.5 per cent to 257.0 million euros. In the third quarter Delticom generated revenues of 79.7 million euros, a year-on-year rise of 27.6 per cent. EBIT during the nine months to September 30 was 22.7 million euros, up 54.5 per cent, and in the third quarter amounted to 6.0 million euros. Delticom’s net income for the first nine months of the year was 15.2 million euros, 51.9 per cent higher than in the same period of 2009.
Some say he is HiQ’s answer to the Stig, and unlike his television counterpart he’s unlikely to publish a book revealing his secret identity. All we know is, he’s called HiQ Bertie, and he is getting involved with the fast-fitter’s Project Pink campaign for Breast Cancer Care. The HiQ mascot is known to hundreds through his presence on the company’s Facebook page, and HiQ says he has captured the imagination of so many people that he has decided to get involved in fundraising activities.
Michelin’s BFGoodrich brand is giving its Facebook fans a chance to win a “piece of automotive history,” reports Tire Review. New or existing fans of BFG’s page will be eligible to win an actual wheel and tyre assembly that was bolted onto Travis Pastrana’s Subaru for his recent record-breaking feat, signed by Pastrana himself.
US Myers Tire Supply is offering a new Tire Inflation Maintenance (TIM) customer retention programme designed for tyre dealers and their customers, reports Tire Review. TIM is a US initiative “dedicated to improving safety and the environment through the promotion of regular tire inflation maintenance,” the company said.
A nationwide campaign by tyre manufacturer Goodyear to promote its EfficientGrip tyres will be launched on Tuesday, 2 November in Gateshead. The manufacturer will reportedly partner with five petrol stations across England to give motorists £20 of free unleaded or diesel fuel, and will be available for four hours each day or until stocks run out with an estimated 600 motorists expected to benefit at each location. The campaign is designed to stress the fuel savings potential of fitting the company’s EfficientGrip tyre.
While interim TRIB managing director, Marvin Bozarth was writing to the retreading association’s membership introducing himself, his predecessor Harvey Brodsky has been busy forming another association. According to online news reports, Brodsky has formed his own retreading organization. Like TRIB this new association – the Retread Tire Association – is said to be a non-profit, 501(c)(6) entity that is “dedicated to promoting and expanding retreading and proper tyre repairing throughout the world, with no closed doors and no closed meetings.”
Mechanics, car dealers, driving instructors and taxi firms throughout the UK can now offer consumers the opportunity to review and rate their products and services online at Yell.com, following Yell’s acquisition and integration of the TrustedPlaces local review website. As part of the launch, Yell is developing a network of national and local community charities and will make a 25p donation for every review posted to the contributor’s charity of choice.
MAM Software has embarked on a new push to promote paperless invoices, credits and statements, reminding its customers that they can "go green" by signing up to receive paperless accounts correspondence. Customers have the option of cutting paperwork by receiving electronic versions of invoices, credit notes and statements directly into their e-mail inbox. The documents, which are sent in Acrobat PDF format as e-mail attachments, are formatted just like their printed counterparts and can be easily read on screen.
The International Automotive Technicians’ Network (iATN), has announced that it has recently surpassed three million records in its ‘Knowledge Base’, an online collection of automotive repair databases that contains technical information generated by iATN’s 72,000 active members in 154 countries. “The content in the Knowledge Base spans approximately 15 years and is based on the actual repair experiences and discussions of iATN members working on vehicles in the shop,” said Brent Black, iATN founder.
Tyrenet, the independent tyre network, has gone live with Cam Systems’ UniSerV application suite. The platform handles the call logging, customer policy and contract management, interactive mapping and breakdown form processing requirements that Tyrenet have, enabling it to streamline its operations significantly and introduce Straight Through Processing for the first time. Tyrenet is also UniSerV’s integration into Cam’s Cameo platform for systemised updating of transactions into the organisation, making commercial functions speedier, more robust, more visible and, ultimately, easier to manage.
Whether 1966-born Jean-Philippe Rouchon really is the illegitimate son of Patrice Michelin, who died in 2006, is a case for the court to officially decide. On October 12, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris set a November 9 hearing date for the issue. Lately, French newspapers have been filled with reports and the internet is abuzz with alleged or actual titbits of information on the matter, and Rouchon himself is clearly aware of how to use the media to his own advantage. In videos it can be seen and heard that it is not really all about the money (although it does play a role, for example with inheritance, as today the Michelin family belongs to the five or six richest families in France with wealth that goes far beyond the Michelin Group’s assets) but rather ensuring justice and making amends. He has surely suffered, having to lead a hidden life somewhere while the esteemed members of the large Michelin family lived happily like children sitting under the Christmas tree.
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