Since the beginning of November ATS Euromaster has seen sales of winter tyres increase seven-fold, and the company expresses confidence that the number of cold weather fitments will continue rising now the winter has properly begun. It expects total cold weather tyre sales to exceed £10 million in 2013.
Exclusive tyre supplier Bridgestone has congratulated Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez on becoming only the second ever rookie winner of the MotoGP World Championship, after his third place finish was enough to beat the other podium finishers Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa at Valencia Circuito Ricardo Tormo.
Goodyear has announced the shipment of its seven millionth UltraGrip 8 in Europe making the tyre one of its all-time leading winter products. The tyre, which launched in 2011, is the most recent in the UltraGrip branded range first launched in 1971.
Measuring 2.32 metres in diameter – that’s 7 feet and 7 inches for those of you reading this in imperial – the new 850/75R42 Firestone DT23 is the world’s largest agricultural tyre. The first delivery of this giant was recently made to a farm in Denmark.
MAM Software has announced that Bosch UK is recommending MAM CarSide to its network of Bosch Car Service Centres. The new vehicle health check (eVHC) mobile app will sync with BCS Online, the Bosch recommended garage management system powered by MAM Software. Hosted in the cloud, BCS Online is a feature-rich browser-based garage management system that manages and optimises every-day workshop tasks.
An analysis of 515,248 UK police force records obtained by consumer motoring champion, HonestJohn.co.uk, has revealed that cities in the North of England are the worst affected by car crime, with Manchester topping the league table. Between October 2011 and September 2012, 505 offences per 10,000 registered vehicles were reported in central Manchester. This figure is four times the national average for car crime, which HonestJohn.co.uk calculated as 121 offences per 10,000 vehicles. Even taking into account the higher levels of car crimes in urban areas, in part associated with the greater influx of vehicles entering city centres, the rate of reported offences was still 2.1 times the national 'urban' average of 242 offences per 10,000 vehicles.
In July Dominique Aegerter broke the Moto2 lap record for the Mireval circuit by nine-tenths of second. According to the company, Dunlop carried out extensive analysis on data from the tyre test and continued work on the Moto2 range including work on tyre stress and a new rear tyre specification for 2014, or possibly during the remaining races in 2013, with Aegerter from Moto2 riding in addition to the Dunlop test team with Stefan Nebel and two riders from the IDM championship. The tyre has previously been tested by Rabat and Terol in Argentina.
It hasn’t been a good month for global transport’s PR. A runaway train in Canada, followed by a train crash in Spain, a bus crash in Italy and the recent head-on railway collision in Switzerland tragically broke decades long fatality records in each area. Of course mass transport in the developed world has never been safer and incidents like this are thankfully rare. And despite the innate Gestaltist tendency to draw a correlation between the random international happenings, there isn’t one. But that doesn’t stop us being all the more aware of such incidents. Just like when you buy a new car and suddenly realize how many of that make, model and colour suddenly appear despite having been on the roads all along. With this in mind, one of the three incidents that has recently caught public attention stood out particularly clearly for this tyre journalist – the Italian bus crash. Before the investigation was even carried out, my mind was drawn back to another coach crash in the UK. While it is just speculation to suggest that aging was a factor in both cases and there is in fact no clear link between them, one couldn’t help but wonder if it was another case of apparent age-related tyre failure.
Continental is continuing its ongoing plans to more fully “connect” cars. As far as the automotive supplier is concerned, it is not just about smartphones or computers, but rather, but rather connectivity is becoming an increasingly influential part of any sales proposition. For Conti, the connected vehicle will be a key subject of future developments. “Today, more and more new vehicle functions are already based on connectivity. To create innovative functions, we are linking vehicle components and systems ever more closely with one another and, at the same time, increasingly connecting the vehicle to the outside world,” explains Ralf Lenninger, head of the Strategy and Development department of Continental’s Interior division.
It was announced last week that Volkswagen of America set a new Guinness World Records achievement for the “lowest fuel consumption- 48 US states for a non-hybrid car” by achieving a phenomenal 77.99 mpg (3.02 litres per 100km). In a Passat TDI Clean Diesel car, with two drivers, the record was achieved on a set of Continental’s PureContact tyres with EcoPlus technology. The record betters the previous mark of 67.9 mpg and also beats the hybrid vehicle record of 64.5 mpg.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has welcomed a fall in deaths on the road to the lowest number since records began, but raised concern at a rise in cyclist deaths. RoSPA is urging for greater provision in cyclist training, driver awareness and safer roads for cyclists following the publication of annual casualty statistics.
In June, Kumho Tire announced a global first – it will place radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on all tyre products it manufactures. Kumho’s RFID programme is being rolled out as part of the ‘u-IT New Technology Verification Project’ supported by Korea’s National IT Industry Promotion Agency and a key aim of fitting RFID tags is to increase workflow efficiency; furthermore, with the expansion of its RFID-embedded tyres to all product lines, Kumho Tires expects to cut KRW10.4 billion (£5.9 million) in annual logistics, production and quality control costs.
Competing in its 125th anniversary year, Dunlop tyres have had another successful week at the Isle of Man TT. 14 out of 15 podium places used its tyres and three lap records were set in the Superbike, Supersport and Superstock classes respectively.
Running alongside the Autopromotec automotive parts exhibition itself, the AutopromotecEDU arena focused on offering an international perspective on current aftermarket trends.
The International Automotive Aftermarket Meeting (IAAM13) on Thursday 23 May was something a highlight, presenting international operators and experts focusing on forthcoming trends and developments in both the European several strategic countries such as the BRIC area.
The 1980s may have enjoyed a fashion and pop revival but cars from that decade are some of the most endangered cars on British roads today. New research into the top British family cars by consumer motoring champion HonestJohn.co.uk reveals that many of UK's once-popular family cars are on the verge of disappearing completely.
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