Under a new partnership agreement, T. Hansen Gruppen A/S will take on responsibility for distributing the Westlake passenger car tyre range in Denmark. The Danish tyre, automotive spare part, rim and camping equipment specialist is one of the country’s largest consumer market suppliers and sells its products through online portals, mail order and nearly ninety retail outlets. The company employs approximately 700 people.
India’s Ceat Ltd will start manufacturing tyres in Bangladesh as of next year through a joint venture operation with Bangladesh-based business conglomerate AK Khan & Co Ltd. The tyre maker will hold a 70 per cent share in the new company, Ceat AK Khan Bangladesh Ltd, with AK Khan & Co. possessing the remainder. Ceat AK Khan Bangladesh will produce cross-ply truck, light commercial vehicle and motorcycle tyres for the domestic market. The joint venture has been set up with an initial investment of US$67 million and will have a 110 tonne per day capacity when production commences. Around 1,000 people are expected to be employed in the new company.
Drummond Distribution, a logistic provider for Hankook, has rolled out new liveries featuring the manufacturer’s corporate identity. The family run business, Drummond Distribution has worked with Hankook for over 12 years providing a next day delivery service to customers across Scotland.
In a bid to lower the cost of motoring for UK drivers, Goodyear is offering cashback on car insurance when purchasing Goodyear tyres in conjunction with Swinton. From the start of 2013, every motorist that purchases Goodyear tyres will be entitled to £75 cash back when purchasing car insurance online through Swinton. Goodyear and Swinton are explained that they are working together to “enable motorists to continue buying premium products in a financially challenging environment.”
Tyre manufacturer Hankook has unveiled plans for the construction of the company’s new central R&D facility in Korea. The centre, covering the total area of around 100,000 m², will be located at Daedeok Innopolis, South Korea’s premier research complex located in Daejeon, about 150 km south of Seoul. The construction of the new facility is projected to be completed by the end of 2015.
Indonesian tyre maker PT Multistrada Arah Sarana Tbk has entered into a three and a half year partnership with globally renowned football club Manchester United. Neither Multistrada nor Manchester United have disclosed specific details of the deal beyond confirming that Multistrada is now the official tyre partner of Manchester United; no figures regarding the deal’s value have been released.
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations has supplied Firestone tyres to the IZOD IndyCar Series since the league began in 1996, and the tyre maker recently announced it will remain the series’ sole tyre supplier through the 2018 race season. “Firestone performance and safety have been synonymous with IndyCar racing for more than 100 years,” commented Al Speyer, executive director, Firestone Racing. “We are excited about the opportunity to continue the on going success of this series by extending the Firestone brand’s history in the sport through the 2018 season. We treasure the relationships we have fostered with the league, drivers, owners and various other partners involved with the sport through the years, and look forward to continuing our legacy of high performance for which Firestone tires are known.”
An agreement signed between Pirelli and Russian oil and gas company Rosneft will see the Italian tyre maker’s products sold at the 1,800 service stations Rosneft operates in its homeland. The trade and marketing cooperative agreement was signed by Pirelli & C. S.p.A chairman and CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera and Rosneft Management Board president and chairman Igor Sechin; in a statement covering the deal, Pirelli says the heads of both companies underlined that the cooperation and business partnership between Rosneft and Pirelli is “built on the basis of sharing experience and potential for mutual benefit.”
Use in tyres, particularly in harsh environments such as underground mines, is just one of a number of areas the product of a new partnership will be applied to. Specialty chemicals company Chemtura Corporation and machinery firm Caterpillar Inc. have announced their entry into a joint venture agreement to explore “novel applications” for Chemtura’s Duracast hot-cast urethane pre-polymer technology for construction and mining equipment.
A new distribution partnership between Lehigh Technologies and specialty chemicals and logistic solutions provider Andes Chemical Corporation will expand Lehigh’s geographic reach into Latin America and give the US-based company increased opportunities to meet growing demand for its micronised rubber powder (MRP).
Hankook is sponsoring the Tune It! Safe! initiative in Germany for the eighth consecutive year. For 2013 the tyre maker will again serve as main sponsor for the safe and legal car tuning campaign, an initiative that enjoys the support of the German Association of Automotive Tuners (VDAT) under the patronage of the German Federal Transport Minister. At the start of the Essen Motor Show on 30 November, Hankook showed off its 2013 campaign vehicle, a Brabus-tuned Mercedes A-Class sporting the initiative’s now-familiar police livery. When on patrol, the modified Mercedes will roll on Hankook’s Ventus S1 evo2 tyres in size 235/35 ZR 19 XL.
TyreSafe’s 2012 tyre safety month “reached new levels of…participation”, according to the industry body. A record amount of printed point-of-sale material, including 200,000 leaflets and posters, were distributed to those in the tyre industry, particularly to participating tyre retailers and workshops offering free tyre safety checks to car owners.
Tructyre Fleet Management has nearly doubled its size following the strategic acquisition of one of its competitors, the PK Commercial group of companies. Based just off the M3 near Winnall in Winchester, Trucktyre Fleet Management manages and maintains tyres on large commercial fleets of trucks and vehicles for customers such as large supermarkets, hauliers and other transport companies, principally covering the south coast up to the M4 and London and Weymouth to Portsmouth.
Brembo has made a significant change to its aftermarket marketing adopting a new packaging concept. The packaging includes the faces of employees, marking a departure from the all-red box, which for more than ten years has been the face of Brembo in the Aftermarket. The message the company says it is trying to promote is that “Brembo believes in its products, and is not shy about saying so.”
In the USA, rental car company Hertz has announced a new initiative, in partnership with Liberty Tyre Recycling, that will recycle up to 160,000 tyres annually. This is part of Hertz's promise to implement a zero-landfill policy for the tyres the company uses each year.
According to Hertz, most of the tyres the company and Liberty Tyre Recycling will reprocess go towards several different uses. Many will end up shredded and converted into rubber mulch, which is ideal for public spaces because it is non-allergenic, will not wash away during rain, has no effect on plants, pets or children, and finally, resists insect, mould or fungi infestation. It lasts longer than wood mulch, does a better job of sealing in ground moisture and also reduces the amount of trees needed to create mulch.
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