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National Is TRA Retailer of the Year

National Tyres and Autocare has received the ‘Retailer of the Year’ award by the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) for “demonstrating consistent concern for the responsible recycling of end of life tyres.” Gary Pugh, group audit director for the Axle Group, which includes National Tyres and Autocare, National Fleet and Viking International, accepted the award from John Campbell, director, Vellco Limited, National’s waste management partner.

“National, working together with Vellco Limited, will achieve a zero carbon footprint during 2009, which supports our overall goal of minimising environmental impact in all the varying processes in which the company is involved,” Pugh commented.

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

TyreSafe: Cold Weather Tyres Offer Safer Alternative

With Winter upon us TyreSafe is advising motorists to consider fitting cold weather tyres in order to improve road safety. Slippery roads accounted for 55 per cent of road traffic accidents in which road environment was a contributory factor in 2007, according to Department for Transport (DfT) figures. In November 2007, the DfT recorded a spike in personal injury accidents as drivers were caught out by the drop in temperature and increased rainfall, with 16,559 accidents recorded, nearly 700 more accidents than at any other time in the year.

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Among Mazda Share Buyers

Bridgestone Corporation is now an owner of Mazda, albeit a small-scale one. The tyre major was one of more than 30 buyers acquiring chunks of the 13 per cent stake in Mazda that was sold by Ford in mid-November. According to a November report in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, Bridgestone has acquired 0.25 per cent of the outstanding Mazda shares, however the Nikkei did not indicate the source of this information.

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin North America Celebrates Headquarters Anniversary

Michelin North America yesterday celebrated the 20th anniversary of its North American headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina. “Michelin is proud to celebrate two successful decades of our North American headquarters in Greenville,” said Dick Wilkerson, MNA chairman and president. “Many of the employees who moved into this building 20 years ago are here today to celebrate this significant event.”

Michelin relocated its North American operations in 1985 from Lake Success, New York to Greenville. Two years later, MNA broke ground for its current 265,700-square-foot corporate headquarters building, with construction completed in November 1988. In 1995, Michelin built an additional 54,000-square-foot building adjacent to its headquarters. Today, MNA employs 1,750 employees at its headquarters complex. (Tire Review/Akron)

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Van Dyck Re-joins Deldo as Director, Sales & Organisation

Deldo reports that Tom Van Dyck is ‘back in business’ with the company, in the role of director, Sales & Organisation. The 29 year old initially joined Deldo in 2002 as sales manager for Germany, and later became sales manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2007 he left the company and started working for the KBC Group as an internal consultant, where he actively participated on several strategic projects.

In his latest role at Deldo, Van Dyck will be involved in the management of eight sales teams, realising Europe-wide sales in the replacement tyre market. His activities include organisational optimisation in order to achieve both strategic and operational business goals.

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Planning Job Cuts and Plant Idling, says Union

Job cuts are said to be a possibility at Pirelli & C. SpA. According to Italian labour union Filcem, whose comments have been published by Bloomberg, the company will eliminate approximately 200 administrative jobs in Milan and will probably continue to idle plants to counter a global drop in demand.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Survey: Canadians Steer Clear of Snow Tyres

A survey conducted by insurance firm RBC and researcher Ipsos Reid shows that a little over half of Canadian motorists put snow tyres on their cars, despite the country’s snowy winter months. Feedback showed that more than half of those who do not use the specialist tyres do not due to the additional costs involved.

Francois Boulanger, president and CEO of RBC General Insurance Company, stated on the release of the information, “Installing winter tires should be a critical safety measure for all Canadian drivers. Canadians need to think of it as an investment in their family’s safety.”

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Freedom from the ‘Black Gold’

By 2013 Sumitomo Rubber plans to be selling tyres containing absolutely no petrochemical materials. This news was printed in the company’s 2008 – 2011 environmental statement, which was published in Japanese only on November 17. It appears likely the oil free tyres will initially be sold on the Japanese market only.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Primacy HP to Benefit Vauxhall ecoFLEX

Michelin reports it has developed a tyre – the energy-efficient Primacy HP – specifically for Vauxhall’s new Insignia ecoFLEX. The tyre is said to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 0.2 litres per 100 kilometres, thereby lowering CO2 emissions by more than four grams per kilometre. In this way, the tyre contributes to the Insignia ecoFLEX’s notable performance in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, which for the 160-horsepower vehicle are fewer than 140 grams per kilometre.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Investors Buy US Wheel Maker Weld Racing

A Chicago, US based investor group has purchased aluminium manufacturer wheel Weld Racing LLC for an undisclosed sum. Included in the buyer group is Weld Racing management members Kyle Fickler, and Scott Rider, the latter engineering and motor sports group manager for American Racing/Weld Motorsports.

The 41-year old company, which 100 per cent manufactures and designs its wheels in Kansas City, Missouri, was bought out of bankruptcy by American Racing Equipment Ltd in October 2006 for US$24.4 million. According to Fickler, the investment group has carved out the assets of Weld Group from American Racing, allowing Weld to once more stand on its own.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tenneco to Add 300 SKUs to Walker Range in 2009

Emission control systems manufacturer Tenneco says it will continue its ‘aggressive investment’ in new emissions control application coverage in 2009. The company plans to add more than 300 SKUs to its Walker line of replacement exhaust parts in the coming year. This planned expansion continues a strategy begun more than five years ago, when Tenneco began to significantly increase the Walker brand’s coverage in support of aftermarket businesses. More than 600 new exhaust part numbers were introduced to the Walker line in 2008 alone, and more than 1,600 parts have been added since 2004.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear GPS Models: Picture

Goodyear has released images of the NCC-produced, Goodyear-branded GPS units displayed at the SEMA show (as reported in late October on Tyrepress.com; ‘NCC Directs Goodyear to SEMA Show’). Readers don’t need a satellite navigation system to see that the picture is reproduced directly to the right of this text…

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Talk of Redundancies at Mount Vernon Mere Rumours, Says CTNA

Circulating talk of imminent redundancies at Continental Tire North America’s Mount Vernon factory are just rumours, a company official reported on November 18. While the company has reduced its temporary workforce by approximately 50 employees, the facilities 2000+ permanent employees have not been affected.

“We have been adjusting our production levels and controlling inventories to bring them in line with where the current market demands are,” Hank Eisenga, vice president for manufacturing at the plant told Illinois newspaper The Southern. “Rumours of major layoffs have been circulating, and that’s not the case. We are reducing some of our temporary workforce but we do not anticipate anything in the nature of layoffs to our permanent workforce.”

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Temporary Layoff Agreed For Nokian Employees

The statutory negotiations concerning the lay-offs of the Nokian Tyres employees at the Nokia factory in Finland ended on the 19th November, 2008. The company decided after the negotiations to lay off its personnel for 10 days and the majority of the employees will be laid off between 21.12.2008 and 11.1.2009.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyota iQ Is Japan’s Car Of The Year

The revolutionary Toyota iQ, the world’s smallest four-seater passenger car, has won the 2008 Japan Car of the Year award by a landslide over rivals such as the Citroën C5, Audi A4 and Jaguar XF. The innovative iQ scored more than double the points of the second placed, receiving top marks from 39 of the 65 jurors who voted.

The judges praised the iQ for its space efficiency and design, particularly the iQ’s capacity for seating four people within a body less than three metres long, as well as its combination of high levels of safety and low CO2 emissions.

19th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors