Product News Archives - Page 62 of 260 - Tyrepress

Tyre industry professionals need to know what the latest product developments are. Look no further than the Tyrepress.com product news tag,

Posts

Tyrexpo Asia 2009: “We have no Hesitation”

“In these hard times we are very happy that…” – So begins the organiser’s summary of Tyrexpo Asia, which during its seventh running attracted 2,985 visitors (a decrease of 5 per cent on the last time) and 135 exhibitors (an increase of 8 per cent) within an exhibition space unchanged from 2007. While these figures highlight how the exhibition developed, they only show a single snapshot. The sense of increased hesitation to spend money on travelling to and exhibiting at a show was in line with what one would expect in the current market situation. But what bare numbers do not depict is ‘visitor quality’, something that both the organiser and exhibitors noted to be “superior to very good.” Furthermore, Tyrexpo Asia also provided an ideal platform for tyre wholesalers and their suppliers.

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bright Puts Bridgestone Tyres on Hybrid

The new “green” concept vehicle from Bright Automotive will come equipped with Bridgestone brand tyres. The Bright Idea, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that the producer claims will reach 100 mpg, will feature Bridgestone Turanza tyres. Once in production in 2013, Bright Automotive plans to produce 50,000 of the cars, which will roll on Bridgestone Ecopia radials. (Tire Review/Akron)

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

UK Fuel Duty to Rise Incrementally from September

UK chancellor, Alistair Darling announced in the Budget that UK fuel duty will increase by two pence per litre on 1 September 2009, and will be followed by an additional penny – in real terms – every year between 2010 and 2013. The measure is designed to “support the public finances, while also driving the move to a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy”. The Budget predicts that the move will “save 2 MtCO2 per year by 2013-14”, while also providing additional funds for “medium-term fiscal consolidation” (otherwise known as propping up the public coffers with your hard-earned).

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Providing Integrated Solutions

During the planning of a factory’s layout and manufacturing processes, the integration of process automation solutions and software at an early stage maximises cost and time savings for the customer. Rockwell Automation, a global leader in the supply of industrial automation power control and information solutions, is collaborating with German company TTC (Technical Tire Consulting) in order to do just that – deliver reduced integration costs, optimised capacity availability, safe product quality and ensured traceability. When Tyres & Accessories met with representatives from both companies during February’s Tire Technology Hamburg exhibition, they explained exactly how tyre industry customers stand to benefit.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Multi-Platform Promotions Coming from Toyo

Toyo Tire USA has launched its new brand awareness advertising and promotion push for 2009. The effort includes all-new TV and print ads, as well as POS kits dealers. Toyo’s new 30-second TV ad, entitled “People Who Know,” features a Toyo dealer explaining the value of Toyo tyres, including the brand being voted the number one overall tyre brand for seven of the last nine years in Tire Review’s annual Tyre Brands Study. The spots will run during NASCAR events on ABC and ESPN2, NHL playoffs and Stanley Cup finals on NBC, and the shows Pinks on Speed, Modern Marvels on the History Channel, and American Chopper on TLC.

The commercial is also online at http://toyotires.com/about-us/tv-commercials. The new print ads will run throughout the year in publications like Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road and Track, and Automobile, as well as niche publications like Truckin’, Dirt Sports, Car Craft, Hot Rod, Modified, and D Sport. The new dealer POS kit entitled “Natural Selection” is “loosely based on the Darwinian theme ‘only the fittest survive,’” said Toyo, and touts its light truck, high performance and luxury touring products. As in previous Toyo POS promotions, dealers can submit a photo of their store display to enter a contest to win prizes such as a mini HD video camera. (Tire Review/Akron)

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Freewheelers Volunteers to Ride on Avon Tyres

Cooper brand Avon Tyres has agreed to supply motorcycle tyres to the Freewheelers Emergency Volunteer Service, a registered Charity which provides emergency out-of-hours medical transport throughout the West Country.

Freewheelers’ fleet of marked-up Yamaha FJR1300s, often referred to as “Blood Bikes”, provide lifesaving transport for urgently-needed items such as blood (as the name suggests) test samples, patient notes, X-rays and medical supplies. Avon will supply Storm-ST tyres, while JHS Racing at Keynsham will service Freewheelers’ duty bikes as well as fit them with the brand new rubber.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Delivers a Le Mans 24 Hours One-Two Win

Following an eight-year absence, Michelin has marked its return to motorcyling’s Endurance World Championship with a one-two finish in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours on April 19. The French manufacturer came back to the series this year alongside Yamaha Austria Racing Team, winner of this weekend’s race in France, and with the factory Honda that finished on the second step of the podium.

The 32nd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, notes Michelin, was marked by particularly taxing weather, including non-stop rain throughout the night from Saturday to Sunday. Paradoxically, it adds, it was these extremely slippery conditions that enabled the top two teams to pull clear of their rivals – and Michelin attributes this ability to its tyres, developed especially to provide all-important grip on cold, wet tracks.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Covers Europe With the BBC

Hankook Tire is set to arrive in millions of homes across Europe courtesy of a new advertisement to be screened by BBC World News. The 20-second commercial, produced by the BBC Worldwide Client Solutions, focuses on Hankook’s enfren and Optimo 4S tyres, the first of which is due for its European launch next year.

The new campaign will run on BBC World News’ European feed from April to December 2009 in conjunction with Hankook’s global TV clip. “It’s great to welcome Hankook Tire as a first-time advertiser on BBC World News, and we hope that it will be the first of many campaigns they choose to broadcast on the channel,” commented John Williams, regional director Global Advertising Sales, BBC World News.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg Fined US$11M for Cartel Involvement

Sweden’s Trelleborg Group reports it has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice regarding investigations involving marine fenders and marine oil hoses. These investigations, Trelleborg adds, commenced in 2005 and 2007 respectively, and it has been awaiting a decision from the authorities “for a lengthy period.”

The agreements entail that the two Trelleborg Group subsidiaries in question shall pay a combined fine of US$11 million to the US authorities. The agreements are to be approved in court. The Group’s French subsidiary has previously paid close to $2 million in damages to aggrieved customers as settlement of a class action, which concerned Trelleborg and other companies, for alleged illegal price fixing concerning marine oil hoses.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Wins US Tyre Test Plaudits

Korean manufacturer Kumho’s US division has been awarded two “Best Buy” recommendations by US magazine Consumers Digest following the publication’s latest round of tyre tests. The Solus KR21, an all-season tyre made primarily for coupes and sedans and the Ecsta STX, a tyre for sports utility vehicle and light truck drivers, were given the gongs in the Touring Cars and Performance SUV categories based on independent test results in addition to technical expert opinion and road-based evaluations.

Rick Brennan, Kumho Tires vice president, sales and marketing stated, “all of us at Kumho are excited about the recognition these tyres have received. Earning Consumers Digest’s “Best Buy” award is a key indicator of Kumho’s pledge to value and performance.” The awards add to the company’s previous success in Europe, where British consumer magazine Which? told its readers that the company’s Solus KH17 represented “Exceptional Value”.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Prices May Plummet 35% as Tyre Sales Slow

International News

Global sales of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres may decline to 1.32 billion units in 2009 from 1.41 billion last year, said No Dock Moung, an analyst with the Singapore based International Rubber Study Group. The drop of almost 6.4 per cent would be the steepest since at least 1975, he said. And according to a Singapore based trading manager from Marubeni Corp., Japan’s largest rubber trading company, this could lead to natural rubber prices weakening by as much as 35 per cent.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Malhotra Growing in the Radial Business

Not many companies successfully negotiate the transition from retreading to the new tyre industry. India’s Malhotra Rubber Ltd., however, is one such firm. The company began producing cold cure retreading materials more than fifty years ago, but it was only in the late 1970s that it began the manufacture of new tyres. Much later, some five years ago, the Indian company entered the radial market with a commercial vehicle tyre intended for the domestic market. Despite this, the company’s offering in European markets continues to focus on the supply of cold cure retreading materials, which are sold under the ‘Malhotra’ brand name. The company stressed at Tyrexpo Asia that it also supplies materials for the as-yet not widespread Indian mould cure retreading industry – a line-up that includes bonding rubber and repair patches.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

China Provides Optimistic Rubber Counterpoint

China has increased its rubber imports from 180,000 tonnes in the first two months of 2009 to 190,000 in March, Bloomberg has today reported. A rise of 10 per cent in automobile sales year-on-year (according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) has led to the rise following government subsidies. Incentives to the industry Japan, Germany and France are also offering incentives.

Bloomberg suggests that any revival in rubber demand from recovering car sales may be mitigated as tyre-makers switch to cheaper oil-based alternatives. The mix of synthetic to natural rubber in tyres is roughly 60 to 40 per cent, said Lawrence Orlowski, an analyst at S&P Equity Services in New York. Usually about 5 to 10 per cent of a tyre’s material can be switched, he said. (Tire Review/Akron)

20th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Maxxis Extends Football Sponsorship to Liverpool

Following its sponsorship of Everton, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, Maxxis has signed a deal with Liverpool FC to display its branding at Anfield until the end of this season (2008-09). The new partnership offers Maxxis worldwide exposure using the LED perimeter advertising system at the stadium for against Arsenal (21 April), Newcastle (2 May) and Tottenham Hotspur (24 May), in addition to the victory over Blackburn Rovers 11 April.

The partnership package includes prominent Maxxis Tyres advertising on Liverpool FC’s official website the UK’s most popular football website with 1.6 million registered users and up to 2.9 million unique visitors per month.

“The Barclays Premier League title run-in will be very close so we are delighted to have the opportunity to raise awareness of our brand at Liverpool FC games that will not only be sell-outs, but which will also be the main focus of TV’s football coverage for the remainder of the season,” said Maxxis Tyres UK’s managing director Derek McMartin.

20th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Manbat: Lucas Battery Business Growing Daily

Manbat, the UK’s largest battery distributor is reporting that the aftermarket response to its control of the Lucas battery brand has been “fantastic.” Manbat was awarded the distribution contract following a tender invitation in the New Year and it became the only source of supply for the Lucas brand on 1 March. The agreement includes all Lucas automotive and commercial vehicle batteries for the UK and Eire.

20th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors