As well as rolling out a new website at the start of next year, Maxxis International is taking of smartphones to promote its brand. In the new year the company will launch a mobile phone app developed for Apple, Android, and Blackberry devices. This Maxxis app will enable people to research Maxxis products and get the latest news about the Maxxis Babes and Maxxis- sponsored sports events teams and drivers and its calendar of performance/tuning shows.
Following investments in “constant research to improve the quality standards of its products and services to all customers” wheel weight manufacturer BF Srl has published a new company slogan – “step up.” And according to the manufacturer, the latest news that the firm has produced a new balancing weight (the Z12) for French Alloy rims with the edge of Citroen, Peugeot and Renault reflects this motto.
Yokohama Rubber’s car, truck and bus tyre factory in Thailand has become the company’s fifth plant outside of Japan to achieve “complete zero emissions” – in other words, no waste generated in the factory is subject to direct landfill disposal. This achievement was reached in November, eleven months after the factory became the first Yokohama factory outside of Japan to reach “zero emission” – less than one per cent – landfill status.
It has become annual tradition at Marangoni to unveil a tuned demo car sporting its tyres. This year the tyre maker showed off the ‘Z-Hydro’, a modified Nissan 370Z, but for 2011 Marangoni has selected a vehicle from its homeland to ‘give the business’. Next year’s car is being introduced to the world at December’s Bologna Motor Show; visitors to Marangoni’s stand will meet the Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni, sitting resplendent on glow-in-the-dark green tyres.
More fatal traffic accidents occur in India than in any other country. According to the World Health Organisation, the country’s road toll has risen consistently since the start of the last decade and now an average of 13 people die in road accidents every hour. A study by the Technical University of Munich puts the total death toll from traffic accidents in 2008 at 120,000 – a massive figure considering India has only 15 registered vehicles for every 1,000 inhabitants. By comparison, the UK boasts 458 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants yet figures from the Department for Transport show indicate just over 2,200 traffic fatalities in 2009: one third the vehicles of India along with a death toll more than fifty times lower.
Having recently joined the Imported Tyre Manufacturers Association, Sailun Tyres was pleased to host the latest meeting at their European Headquarters in Birmingham. Welcoming ITMA president David Seward (managing director, Yokohama) and fellow Association members, Martin West (European managing director of Sailun Tyres) commented: “ITMA is recognised as one of the leading body of International tyre manufacturers and plays a pivotal role in representing our interests at all levels. Sailun Tyres recognise the benefits of joining such a group and are delighted to be able to host this meeting.”
The UK's automotive components industry is at a critical "tipping point" and could vanish by the middle of the decade without urgent action, members of the Welsh Automotive Forum were warned. It wouldn't run down gradually but, like a ship sinking, would suddenly vanish, said Prof. Garel Rhys, chairman of WAF. "In 2008 the automotive manufacturing sector employed more than 163,000 people but two years later it was down to 116,000 – that's a 28 per cent cut and an absolute blood letting," he said speaking at WAF's winter networking dinner.
Tyre Bay Direct aims to be a one stop shop for all tyre fitting and consumable needs. The company reports the stocking of a complete range of valves, including exclusive customised valves available printed with a company’s details, plus balancing weights, repair materials, workshop tools, tyre changers and wheel balancers as well as other garage equipment. Much of the range on offer is exclusive to Tyre Bay Direct, the company adds.
The Marangoni Group has announced that it will use the Marix brand – until now reserved for car, off-road and light commercial vehicle retreads – to represent all products made at the factory in Rovereto (Trento), the second biggest retreading production site in Europe. Retreads for trucks and earthmoving machinery will therefore now also be branded Marix by Marangoni.
After nine months of construction, on November 18 the final steel beam was hoisted into place on the Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC (BATO) state-of-the-art Technical Center in Akron, Ohio in a small topping off ceremony. This final beam to be manoeuvered into place bore the signatures of many employees at the current technical centre, many of whom watched its installation via web conference. The beam is situated at the highest point of the US$100 million dollar facility.
October net orders of heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles for North American markets were 18,914 units, up 24 per cent from September, according to ACT Research Co. Medium-duty Classes 5-7 net orders also gained sequentially, posting 19 per cent month-over-month growth.
During more than 50 years in print the UK based publication Motorcycle News (MCN) has sold nearly half a billion copies, and the information it shares is widely read and respected at home and internationally. It is thus no surprise that Dunlop takes pride in the selection of its Sportmax Sportsmart for this year’s MCN Product of the Year – Tyre award. The Dunlop rubber took top honours based both on the decision of the MCN judging panel and votes submitted by readers of the popular weekly paper.
Research from Kwik-Fit notes that, although the weather outside still seems relatively mild, millions of rush hour drivers are already facing winter conditions on their morning commute. This is because, the fast-fitter elaborates, when it comes to winter driving the key figure motorists should bear in mind is not freezing point; it is a much less chilly 7°C. It is at this temperature when the performance of summer tyres deteriorates and the shorter braking distance offered by winter tyres comes into its own. Comparative tests between summer and winter tyres (carried out by Continental) show that winter tyres has stop a car 4.8 metres before summer tyres on a wet road, and when ice becomes a factor this stopping distance extends to 11 metres.
Should NASA ever get round to popping back to the moon or decide to dispatch a wheeled vehicle to Mars, it can make arrangements secure in the knowledge it has an award winning tyre to draw upon. On November 11, US based publication R&D Magazine held its 48th Annual R&D 100 Awards and named Goodyear Tire & Rubber, together with the NASA Glenn Research Center, a winner in its ‘mechanical devices’ category. The award was given for both parties’ work on the ‘Spring Tire’, an airless tyre capable of transporting large, long-range vehicles across the surface of celestial bodies.
Production of the wide-body Airbus A350 XWB began in August 2010 and the European aircraft manufacturer reports having already received more than 570 firm orders for the new jet from 35 customers. The first delivery is scheduled for 2013, and when the airliners are handed over to their proud new owners each and every one of them will be fitted with Michelin rubber; the French tyre maker states it has been selected to develop and supply tyres for the A350 XWB’s landing gear.
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