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Guayule consortium holds progress update meeting

Cooper Tire & Rubber and its guayule rubber research consortium partners have reviewed initial progress on their US$6.9 million Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) grant from the USDA and the US Department of Energy. The meeting highlighted significant progress being made in several areas, including guayule plant genome sequencing needed for future breeding tools, irrigation studies to maximise rubber content in the plant, and completing laboratory testing to develop a guayule tyre-grade polymer specification for future commercialisation.

13th March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Dana opens Wuxi R&D centre

Dana Holding Corporation has officially opened a 12,000 square-meter (129,000 square-foot) technical centre in Wuxi, Jiangsu Provence, China. The Dana China Technical Center will provide advanced product and applications engineering for original-equipment manufacturers in the light-vehicle, commercial-vehicle, and off-highway markets in China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

12th March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Europe launches new consumer tyres website

Along with new series and concept tyres, at the Geneva motor show Bridgestone Europe has launched its new website for car, SUV, 4×4 and van drivers. The company says the site aims to give drivers a “fresh, attractive, user-friendly and engaging experience” and offers a number of different ways of finding the right Bridgestone tyres for a vehicle, regardless of whether a driver already knows exactly which tyre they’re looking for or would like additional guidance from Bridgestone to find a suitable product. The site is currently only available in English, however French, German, Italian and Spanish versions will follow in April, with others to arrive in the coming months.

11th March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Groundbreaking held for Gajah Tunggal proving ground

On 5 March PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new proving ground in Karawang, on the Indonesian island of West Java. Construction of the 65 hectare proving ground will take place in four stages, with the first stages ready in mid-2014 and the final stages the following year. The proving ground will accommodate the development of commercial vehicle, passenger car and motorcycle tyres for the domestic and international markets.

11th March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Unlucky 13 for new car sales?

Fears that UK motorists will steer clear of this month's '13' registration plate for new cars are unfounded, say CAP – the car information experts. Nor does the company believe superstitious motorists will cause increased depreciation via reduced demand for 13 plate cars by avoiding them in the future used car market.

5th March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Three SIMA debutants from ATG

At last week’s SIMA show in Paris, Alliance Tire Group launched three new patterns; the tyre maker says all three utilise state of the art IF and VF technologies, designed at the group’s research and development testing. ATG says its IF and VF products have undergone “comprehensive lab and field testing” and the range will be completed in the coming future.

4th March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire and Industrias Negromex patent silica masterbatch process

Cooper Tire and Industrias Negromex S.A. de C.V. (INSA), a subsidiary of Grupo KUO, report that the US patent office has granted a patent to the two organizations for their silica masterbatch process. According to the two companies, the process to produce silane, hydrophobated silica, silica masterbatch and rubber products results in a broader processing window offering “manufacturing efficiencies” for the end user.

1st March 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Half of tyres changed at illegal tread depths

Micheldever Tyres Service’s latest quarterly tread depth analysis shows that between March 2012 and March 2013 between 50 and 60 per cent of tyres taken off in depots were already below the 1.6 millimetre legal limit. A further 40 per cent were on or just above it and only around three per cent were above 2 millimetres. Flicking back to when the research began in June 2008 it is clear to see that that the situation has deteriorated markedly over the last four or five years. Back then only around 15 per cent of tyres brought into depots were already illegal. Now it is more than triple that.

28th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti partnering with BMW to automate motorway driving

Automotive supplier Continental has already conducted trials with a ‘driverless car’ in the US, and now the firm will further its work in this field through a research partnership with the BMW Group. Under this arrangement, the two German companies will pool their development capacities to define the long-term prerequisites for introducing highly automated driving on European motorways.

27th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin shows agri ‘flagship’ prototype at SIMA

According to Emmanuel Ladent, president of Michelin’s Agricultural Tyres global business unit, exhibitions like the Paris-based SIMA show give the tyre maker an opportunity to demonstrate its capacity for innovation. Speaking at SIMA, Ladent commented that “trade shows of this size serve as showcases that enable us to demonstrate the tangible solutions we develop for our customers, whether they are users, dealers or equipment manufacturers.”

26th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

CV show launch for Hankook retread range

At last September’s IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Germany, Hankook UK sales director Barrie Horrocks told Tyres & Accessories of plans to introduce a bead-to-bead retread range in 2013. He also shared that the UK would serve as a pilot market for the new truck tyre retread line, which will be marketed under the ‘Alphatread’ brand name. Hankook now reports it will unveil its first Alphatread products at the Birmingham-based Commercial Vehicle Show in April, ahead of their UK launch in the second quarter of 2013.

21st February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

A ‘transformational leap’ in tyre technology – NTRC test centre enters operation

MTS Systems Corporation describes the tyre testing system it has installed at the US-based National Tire Research Center (NTRC) as the “world’s most advanced tyre testing system”, and reports the facility is now fully operational.

20th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper to establish US technology centre

Cooper Tire & Rubber intends to open a new technology centre at its US headquarters site by the end of this year. According to Tire Review, the tyre maker plans to hire approximately 40 new employees, including engineers, scientists, researchers and technicians, to perform research at the Findlay centre. The trade journal adds that local reports indicate a US$2.8 million grant from the state of Ohio will go towards establishing the centre; Cooper said it aims to invest $40 million in the project over the next five years.

20th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Sustainable materials to remain a green tyre niche – for now

Speaking at the Tire Technology Expo in February, Adam Page, UK-based business manager of reports and consultancy at Smithers Rapra, shared on the global market for green tyres – the subject at the heart of the company’s latest tyre industry market report, the Future of Green Tires to 2017. One significant projection Page shared from the Smithers Rapra report is that although the value of green tyre market is expected to grow by more than 56 per cent between 2012 and 2017, green tyres based on sustainable and bio-materials will likely play a comparatively minor role in this growth.

18th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Despite lukewarm Q4, Nexen achieves record sales, operating income in 2012

For the final quarter of 2012, Nexen Tire has reported sales of KRW 411 billion (£240.1 million), a year-on-year increase of 2.4 per cent, KRW 24 billion (£14.0 million) in operating income, a 90.1 per cent increase on Q4 2011, a 5.7 per cent operating margin and net profit of KRW 21 billion (£12.3 million), up 12.1 per cent year-on-year.

13th February 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors