The three testing stations run by DEKRA in Portugal have now been joined by a further 11 following the acquisition of Portuguese testing organisation MasterTest. DEKRA has been in the market for vehicle inspections in Portugal since 2016 and plans to open three further stations there by the end of the year.
Juno Racing Cars has selected Landsail as its original equipment tyre. Reporting the arrangement, Landsail manufacturer Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd states that it produces eight different types of 13-inch formula racing tyre, and these will be fitted as the original tyre on all Juno vehicle models, including the F1000, CN2016 and SSE.
Continental is to realise a substantial increase in production capacity at its tyre plant in Lousado, Portugal. The company’s Tire division intends to invest a total of some €150 million by the end of 2018. The aim is not only to further expand annual passenger car tyre production capacity from its current level of approximately 18 million units, but also to set up a production facility for agricultural tyres in Lousado. At present, production at the site mainly focuses on standard car van and light commercial vehicle tyres.
The GT Radial SportActive became available around a year ago as a new flagship tyre for the brand, distributed in the UK by Micheldever. Towards the end of 2016, Giti Tire held an event for its wholesale partner and a large group of its most successful dealers in Vilamoura, Portugal, with track-based demonstrations of the tyre’s capabilities at Portimao’s Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. GT Radial has leveraged a racing partnership before to market the tyre in the UK; it partnered consumer high performance driving magazine Evo for its popular 2016 series of track day events at the Bedford Autodrome, making its tyres available for amateur racing enthusiasts to try out on vehicles such as the Audi S3, Golf GTI, BMW 340i and Toyota GT86.
Following its product experience event at the Portimao circuit in September, Davanti has announced a new partnership with the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve Racing School in Portugal. For the next two years all vehicles at the AIA Racing School will be fitted with Davanti Tyres. Models include a Porsche Cayman S, Audi RS3, Audi TTS, Honda Civic Type-R and two Ginettas, All professional racing tuition, track experiences, and driving demonstrations will be performed on Davanti’s DX640 tyres, with the exception of the Ginettas, which will race on the DX390 pattern.
Michelin has opened a new distribution centre for the Iberian peninsula following investment of some 32.5 million euros. The goal of the logistics centre located in Illescas, near Toledo in Spain is to optimise logistics performance in Spain, Andorra and Portugal, not to mention the Balearics, the Canaries, the Azores and Madeira.
Lassa Tyres recently launched its first store in Portugal with the aim of expanding the brand’s presence all over the country. Lassa Tyres’ first flagship store in Portugal is Quim Dos Pneus in Aramar and was inaugurated on 2 July 2016. Spread over an area of 22 m2, Quim Dos Pneus is with well-equipped one-stop solution for car owners encompassing all tyre related services.
In the aftermath of June’s Brexit referendum, more than a few voices called for the UK government to reconsider its decision to leave the European Union. And while the new Prime Minister is adamant that “Brexit means Brexit,” we retain the option of later rejoining the club should we wish to. The same applies within the tyre industry, as we recently witnessed with Germany’s Continental AG. More than a decade after its ‘Agrexit’, the company will soon once again produce agricultural tyres under its main Continental brand name.
Two weeks after it was previewed during the Geneva Motor Show, on 13 April Pirelli launched its latest P Zero tyre in Portugal, furthering the “made to measure” meets “extreme performance” pro-homologation message Pirelli has attached to its latest product.
Dmack new range of UK-made gravel tyres will be available at next week’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal, round five of the World Rally Championship. The British firm has developed products specifically for both world rally cars and R5 specification machines for the first time. The FIA regulations allow tyre manufacturers to change the specification of homologated tyres once during the season. Dmack has taken the opportunity to introduce new soft and hard options of its DMG+2 tyre for both WRC and WRC 2 competitors.
Vipal has strengthened its connections with the Portuguese retreading market, building on a relationship in Spain and now including retreader São Mamede, from the city of Guimarães
Vipal reports that is embarked on a series of relationship and communications actions focused particularly on European clients during the course of 2015.
Mitsubishi has chosen Falken high-performance all-terrain tyres for its entry in the Baja Portoalegre 500 off-road rally. The modified racing model of the Mitsubishi PHEV, powered by plug-in hybrid technology, will tackle the 500-kilometre route with off-road tyres from Falken’s WildPeak range.
Following its recent presence at Autopromotec 2015, Zenises Group has confirmed its debut at the expoMECÂNICA show, which gets underway in Porto on 5 June and runs until 7 June. Zenises says it is exhibiting at the Portuguese vehicle aftermarket exhibition to highlight three tyre ranges: its own brand Z and T tyres as well as the Westlake line of tyres, which Zenises distributes in the Iberian Peninsula.
The FIA World Rallycross Championship entered its second year in Montalegre, Portugal on 24 April, with the series again supplied by Cooper Tire. The manufacturer has also agreed to supply exclusively the supporting RX Lites grid in 2015. The World RX season opener began with a total of 52 cars, including 21 supercars with 600 brake horsepower, going head-to-head in Portugal.
During its recent Partners Day in Bangkok, Thailand, Zenises announced the launch of its new Westlake retail initiative in Spain and Portugal. The Westlake affiliated garage network is being launch in 2015 and is aiming to support over 100 members over the next two years.
The Westlake brand is already well positioned in Spain and Portugal with national coverage via selected distributors and it is through deeper co-operation with these established regional wholesale channels that the new retail network will be initially developed.
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