Nankang UK notes the brand’s particular focus on the ultra high performance segment, served by the brand’s NS-2, more recent NS-20 and track day NS-2R models. Steve Smith of Nankang Tyre UK believes budgetary constraints have become as relevant to the enthusiastic owner-driver as they are to fleet managers, with both seeking consistent performance at affordable prices, and this is where Nankang is positioned.
Business secretary Vince Cable has appointed Joe Greenwell, the former chairman of Ford, as head of the Automotive Investment Organisation (AIO). Funded with up to £3 million over the next two years, the AIO will spearhead the campaign to attract inward investment to the UK. Continuing to attract investment from overseas into the UK is one of the main themes of the automotive industrial strategy to be published shortly. The automotive sector is one of 11 key areas that the government is working collaboratively with industry on a long-term plan to deliver economic growth and prosperity.
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations has announced the realignment of three business areas, Technology, Manufacturing and Procurement. It says this realignment will create a “more integrated team equipped to deliver on the company’s brand promise more fully.”
Hankook Tire Co. is scouting potential sites in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama for its planned US tyre plant, according to US news sources.
At the CV Show 2013, ATS Euromaster invited truck fleet operators to view its Inflation Report 2013, a free guide produced exclusively for the show. ATS-E said the guide was designed to show why fleets in 2013 should pay closer attention to their tyres than ever before.
At last Friday’s Michelin Annual Shareholders Meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, France, a dividend of €2.40 per share, with a reinvestment option, was approved. The dividend will be paid in cash or reinvested in shares on 24 June 2013.
Johnson Controls, whose product portfolio includes the Varta, Optima, LTH and Helia battery brands, has appointed Kim Metcalf-Kupres to the newly-created position of vice-president and chief marketing officer (CMO). In this role she will report to vice-chairman Alex Molinaroli.
Automotive industry charity BEN has announced the appointment of Nigel Rothband to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer.
The addition of this post to BEN's senior management structure is a cornerstone of the charity's plan for strategic development. Rothband will report directly to David Main, BEN's Chief Executive and will be instrumental in building on the charity's already firm foundation. His main objectives are to further raise awareness, extend the range and reach of BEN's services and increase the fund's capacity to help an even greater number of automotive industry employees, past and present.
Vittorio Malacalza resigned from Pirelli & C. SpA on 10 May, stepping down from the position of deputy chairman and member of the board and prompting a clarification from the company’s corporate headquarters in Milan.
Pirelli Tire North America executive Tom Gravalos has been named CEO of Pirelli Neumaticos S.A. de C.V. in Mexico (Pirelli Mexico), effective immediately, reports Tire Review. Gravalos was vice president of marketing and OE for Pirelli Tire North America.
The first quarter of 2013 appears to have been a "brutto trimestre" for Pirelli & C. SpA, with the Italian firm’s net profit dropping 41.7 per cent year-on-year between 1 January and 31 March. It was, in Pirelli’s words, a period “characterised by an economic scenario still strongly influenced by the crisis affecting Europe, where the demand for goods and services continues to shrink.”
Brake, the road safety charity, is applauding a report out today by the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, ‘Get Britain Cycling', calling for action to achieve 10% of journeys in Britain being by bike by 2025. Currently just 2% of journeys are by bike. The report urged government to work towards 20mph being the norm in urban areas, lower speeds on rural roads and more segregated cycle paths to encourage more people to take more journeys by bike. They recommended a cross-departmental Cycling Action Plan and leadership from the top of government to achieve ambitious targets to get more people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
In its interim report covering January – March 2013, Sweden’s Trelleborg “noted a strong first quarter despite weaker market conditions”, or in other words, its figures are down on a year earlier but show a respectable performance given the current market. The company anticipates its performance in the second quarter will be on a par with the first quarter.
Ken Gibson is the Motoring Editor for The Sun newspaper and he, like many of us, is fed up with the state of the UK's pothole-ridden roads. Unlike the rest of us, he has decided to do something about it and has launched a campaign to sort the problem out. He's even written to the Prime Minister.
India’s Economic Times reports that private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has agreed to buy a 90 per cent stake in Alliance Tire Group. The deal for a reported US$650 million includes an estimated $125 million in debt.
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