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Survey shows popularity of mobile fitting

AA Tyre Fit carried out a survey of 50 randomly chosen drivers who had used the company’s mobile tyre fitting service within the previous 60 days. 21 of the respondents were fleet customers, the remainder retail.86 per cent said they would use mobile fitting in preference to visiting a fast-fit centre, while four per cent preferred the latter. The reasons given for preferring mobile fitting were “more convenient” and “it allows me to make more efficient use of my time”. Location of mobile fitting was split almost equally between home, office and roadside.The findings came as no surprise to AA Tyre Fit General Manager David Goodyear, who said: “Customers have a perception of fast-fit centres as dirty and unpleasant places where they can spend an hour or more hanging around while their new tyres, which are nearly always a distress purchase, are fitted.

11th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit: breaking cover at last

Interviews with Kwik-Fit personnel have been thin on the ground for the past couple of years or so, and even fewer since the CVC purchase. One exception was T&A’s interview with Mike Wise focussing on the car fleet tyre sector in our April issue. Calls to Tim Parker and Trevor Chinn’s offices were well parried by apparently impervious PA’s.

16th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire Buys Mickey Thompson

Cooper Tire & Rubber has purchased Max Trac Tire Co, which is better known as Mickey Thompson. Max Trac leased locations in Stow (Ohio) and Temecula (California) where it distribues tyres for specialist racing applications and off road use. Cooper acquires two tyre brands with the purchase – Mickey Thompson and Dick Cepek.Cooper Tire has supplied Mickey Thompson for a number of years, providing tyres under the Mickey Thompson and Dick Cepek names. In addition, Mickey Thompson has distributed and provided trackside assistance for Cooper’s Avon racing tyres, which are produced in Melksham, England. There are no anticipated changes in Mickey Thompson’s current relationship with suppliers of tyres, wheels or other accessories.

12th March 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

European Commission Gives Go-Ahead To Viborg Purchase

The European Commission has given approval to the acquisition of the Viborg tyre distribution group by Euromaster, the Michelin subsidiary. This gives the green light to the completion of the acquisition, which was first announced last December.

10th March 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

AA Tyre Fit Is New Name For Tyreserve

UK fleet tyre management company Tyreserve has changed its name to AA Tyre Fit. The change, effective from February 24, reflects the purchase of Tyreserve by the AA in June 2002. The company’s general manager, David Goodyear, said the change would bring the business – and its network of 3,221 independent fast-fit centres and franchise dealers – all the benefits of belonging to the most trusted brand in motoring services. AA Tyre Fit has also appointed Continental as an approved tyre supplier. The German tyre manufacturer joins Cooper-Avon as the only two suppliers whose products are offered to the company’s fleet and retail customers.

26th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone To Take Stake In Finnish Rival

Bridgestone has agreed to purchase two million Nokian Tyres shares from Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia for 78.34 million Euro (US$84.89 million). Representing a 18.9 per cent stake in the Scandinavian company, Bridgestone says the deal is purely a financial investment. “At this point it is a business investment. We see a lot of potential synergies and we want to build on those,” Bridgestone Europe Vice President Des Collins said, adding that Bridgestone had been in contact with Nokian management before agreeing to take the stake. His company was interested in Nokian because of its strong position in the Nordic countries and its know-how in the winter tyre market. Bridgestone agreed to purchase Nokian shares for 39.17 Euro per share. Nokian, the Nordic region’s largest tyre maker, said in a statement the transaction was conditional upon approval by the German antitrust authorities.

24th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Brodsky Group Withdraws from Alliance

After lengthy negotiations The Harvey Brodsky Group has decided to withdraw its offer to purchase 51% of the stock of Alliance Tire, Israel.

4th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

U.K. Firm Buys Canadian Microwave Plant

Environmental Waste International Inc. has made its first sale of its reverse polymerisation tyre processing plant. It has sold its first plant to an un-named firm in the United Kingdom for an operation to be located there. The company has received a deposit of more than 1 million dollars against the purchase price of 10 million dollars. The plant should be commissioned within 18 months.Environmental Waste International’s system uses microwave energy to separate scrap tyres into carbon black, oil, steel and hydrocarbon gases. The plant can process 3,000 tyres per day. It reduces each 9kg tyre to about 3.5kg of carbon black and 1kg of steel. The plant can use the oil and hydrocarbon gases released to produce enough electricity to run the system. Excess electricity can be sold to the power grid.

16th January 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

McConechy takes Over Hi-Q

Scottish fast fit McConechy’s Tyre service has taken a giant leap in corporate development by buying 33 outlets from Goodyear and Dunlop.

10th January 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Further Turmoil At Fiat

In 2000, GM acquired 20 per cent of Fiat Auto. As part of the deal, Fiat could sell the remaining 80 per cent to GM in 2004. Now there are indications that the Italian company is offering to free GM from its obligation in return for GM’s approval of restructuring moves. Nothing has yet been decided, but the restructuring could involve bringing in VW as an investor in Fiat’s Maserati brand, or a possible sale of part or all of Alfa Romeo. Any such move would require the consent of GM, and the price for this could well be the removal of the obligation to purchase. In the meantime, Fiat’s joint chief executive Gabriele Galateri has resigned after less than six months in the job.

11th December 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Refunding At SmarTire

SmarTire Systems Inc. has strengthened its financial position with the completion of three private placements totalling $6.4 million. Since September 2002, $1.184 million has been released to the Company. A total of $5.2 million is subject to registration. The financings include a $1.0 million placement of common shares and warrants with European investors, $400,000 in convertible debentures and a $5.0 million facility for the placement of common shares. Proceeds from these private placements will fund ongoing operations, purchase inventory to satisfy current and projected product demand and retire debt.”With implementation of the TREAD Act less than a year away, we have been extremely busy formalizing corporate relationships, completing supply agreements and quoting for new business,” says Robert Rudman, President and Chief Executive Officer of SmarTire. “With our improved financial position we are better able to address the anticipated demand for tire pressure monitoring already evident in North America and Europe and beginning to emerge in the Asian markets.”

22nd November 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Martha Mills Assets Sold

WesTek Inc., also known as Martha Mills, is a privately held Georgia company engaged in the manufacture and distribution of tyre cord and chafer fabric. WesTek Inc. also produces yarns for use as reinforcement fibre for tyres. Cornerstone Investment Group, a private equity investment firm specialising in turnarounds of undercapitalized or distressed small to medium size companies, announced that it has entered into definitive written agreements to purchase the assets of WesTek Inc. Both companies expect the financial arrangements to be completed on or before November 15, 2002.

5th November 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Agrees to Purchase Up to 1,000 Design Licenses

Michelin has agreed to purchase up to 1,000 licenses of SolidWorks three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software to design new tyre manufacturing machines. Michelin expects SolidWorks to reduce its tyre manufacturing machine design time significantly throughout its global operations. It will also use SolidWorks to convert existing 2D designs to 3D and effectively communicate designs with customers, suppliers, and different departments in the company.

5th November 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Car Manufacturers In Joint Procurement Plan

Hyundai, DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi are said to have held talks exploring ways to jointly develop and purchase parts. The procurement talks were held in Hyundai’s Seoul HQ and covered parts purchased in the US, Japan and Europe in addition to South Korea.

14th October 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

European Commission Gives CVC Green Light On Kwik-Fit Purchase

The European Commission has approved the sale of Kwik-Fit to equity group CVC Capital Partners for 330 million Pounds. The EC said that there were no overlaps between Kwik-Fit and CVC’s other interests in the motor vehicle sector, saying that the transaction “is compatible with the Common Market.”

4th October 2002/by Tyrepress Editors