Grouptyre has teamed up with Federal – the value brand for which the independent wholesaler has exclusive distribution rights in the UK – to launch a national promotion, which promises a Red Letter Day for six lucky retailers.
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Continental Tyres is promoting discount deals for family days out at over 300 attractions across the UK this summer.
Manufacturer warns of the dangers of bowing to economic forces at the expense of tyre safety checks
Pan Autos, part of the First Stop network of tyre dealerships, has raised over £1,900 for a local charity at its annual charity golf day.
The lights may still be out and the machinery standing idle at Dunlop India’s Sahaganj factory, but this isn’t stopping parent company the Ruia Group from eyeing up new acquisitions further afield. The Indian conglomerate is reportedly in “an advanced stage of talks” regarding the purchase of a European sealing systems company.
Cooper Tire & Rubber has announced that, in response to consumer demand, it has added new sizes to a number of its tyre line-ups. These new sizes, the company states, form part of its effort to ensure replacement tyre buyers have the ability to make the right tyre purchase for their vehicle. The expanded Cooper tyre ranges include the following additions:
US based tyre recycling solutions developer the Tirex Corporation announced on July 14 that Italian company Simpro S.p.A., who is licensed by Tirex to manufacture, install, commission and warrant turnkey its TCS tyre recycling facilities, recently signed a US$20.8 million Memorandum of Understanding with Enchantex Solutions of Malaysia for such a system.
“This is a major milestone for Tirex and our TCS technology as it begins the production of the first commercial tyre recycling system to freeze tyre rubber with cold air as opposed to using expensive liquid nitrogen,” stated Tirex CEO John L. Threshie Jr.
Double Coin Holdings Ltd. announced on July 17 the intention to sell its 28.5 per cent shares in Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Co. Ltd (SMWT); the company says it believes this transaction is in the best interest of SMWT’s shareholders. The share sale will follow the applicable process and rules that apply under Chinese laws and regulations. At the same time a second shareholder, Shanghai Minhang United Development Co., Ltd, will also sell its 1.5 per cent share.
Millions of Europeans are hitting the road for their summer holidays, and many will get underway without even undertaking the most cursory checks on the condition or pressure of their vehicle’s tyres. If they understood the drastic effect such negligence could have on their journey, they’d probably take the five minutes or so needed for a tyre check. Bridgestone has released a few statistics that should encourage motorists to do just this.
As part of its Think Before You Drive road safety campaign, conducted jointly with FIA Foundation, Bridgestone has carried out more than 100,000 tyre inspections in Europe since 2005. This programme has identified that 26 per cent of drivers run on under-inflated tyres. Almost all of these motorists are unaware of the adverse consequences this can bring to their safety, to their fuel budget and to the environment.
Some four months after Punch International nv, parent company of wheel manufacturer BBS, described automotive industry market conditions as “extremely difficult”, it has announced the sale of its BBS and Punch Metals BBS and Punch Metals businesses, which belong to the company’s Motive group. This significant part of Punch International’s automotive business will be acquired by Creacorp nv, Punch’s main shareholder. Punch will retain ownership of the BBS brand, however the transaction gives rise to a one off non-cash loss of around 48 million euros. In return, Creacorp nv is taking over a number of obligations, such as the rental guarantee for the property used by BBS and Punch Metals (approximately 10 million euros), securities for loan agreements and certain key suppliers (7.5 million euros) and the purchase obligation for the Hayes Lemmerz site in Gainesville, Georgia (5 million euros). A licence fee will also be paid for the use of the BBS brand.
Ashford, Kent-based PK Commercial Tyres recently entered the heavy industrial/earthmover tyre market with the purchase of a 26 ton (6×4) Renault truck complete with a sleeper cab, 38 ton crane, tyre handler and London emissions. The latest addition to commercial tyres’ fleet has over £10,000 worth of the heavy tools, and the latest tyre fitting equipment. For example, the new UHL tyre handler, alone cost in excess of £18,000. The vehicle is capable of handling 85 per cent of all the Earthmover tyres in the UK market.
Upon further investigation, the reasons behind Kuske’s decision to move into the EM tyre business are clear. After a series of bad experiences contacting out the work, necessity proved to be the mother of invention and Kuske appears to have decided that his company could do a better job.
Cuba is a country renowned for Castro, Caribbean Climate and Classic Cars. But the streets of Havana and Santiago de Cuba are not just made resplendent by the presence of four-wheeled relics from the island’s pre-communist era – motorcycles predating the 1960s are still to be found, and are lovingly maintained in working order by owners who wouldn’t be caught dead riding the rubbish the Soviet Union later sent over. Of course keeping a classic bike on the road is not so easy in a country embargoed by the US for close to half a century…So Metzeler has decided to lend Cuban riders a hand.
Following the official bankruptcy of Amtel-Vredestein NV in April, and the subsequent sale of Vredestein Banden and its subsidiaries to Apollo Tyres, the Russian holding company’s Kirov manufacturing operation entered voluntary bankruptcy on 22 June. OJSC Amtel-Vredestein entered bankruptcy on 3 June 2009 with subsidiary OJSC Tyre Complex AmtelChernozemje doing the same on 20 May 2009. According a report in the local Kommersant newspaper, the decision was reportedly made after accounts payable mounted up to 982 million rubles (£20 million) in the first quarter 2009 compared with a net asset value of about 840 million rubles (£16.337 million).
Kommersant estimates that the total debt load of Amtel-Vredestein’s Russian units adds up to more than US$450 million. Negotiations with creditors, the largest of which is said to be Sberbank, which is apparently owed US$100 million, are currently underway. However, the newspapers are also speculating about some more ‘creative’ kinds of debt restructuring. Arguably, the most interesting of these sees Kommersant name Pirelli as a foreign investor willing to expand its interests in Russia beyond the tyre production joint venture it signed with Russian Technologies in November 2008. Apparently certain government officials discussed the idea with the leadership of Amtel-Vredestein in late March. However, the newspaper also quotes Sibur Russian-Tyres director, Igor Karavaev as saying he considers it unrealistic that any investors will be able to purchase Amtel’s assets, especially foreign players.
Ellsin Environmental Ltd has ordered prototype reverse polymerisation technology from Environmental Waste International Inc’s 100 per cent owned subsidiary, EWI Rubber Inc. Under a signed Prototype Agreement EWIR will build a TR900 system for $4.175 million, about 80 per cent of the $5.25 million total project cost. Based on EWI’s patented reverse polymerisation process, the system is designed to break down at least 900 tyres a day and recover carbon black, oil and steel, while producing its own power from the off-gases. As part of the agreement, EWIR will grant Ellsin all available territorial rights for the TR technology in Canada and the United States, subject to future performance requirements.
Motorcycle Grand Prix fans take note – National Tyres and Autocare is giving visitors to its national.co.uk website the opportunity to win. Up for grabs are tickets to the paddock at Donnington on July 25 and 26 plus limited edition autographed prints of some of the biggest names in MotoGP.
National is running the free prize draw in conjunction with Bridgestone who donated the motorcycle prizes. For a chance to win tickets, visit the website before July 6, 2009. The autographed print draw will be separately held on August 28. No purchase is necessary in order to enter, assures National.
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