News articles on the tyre retail business
Following Mike Penning Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport’s announcement that an amendment will be made to regulation 6 of The Motor Vehicles (Tests) Regulations 1981 to enable the MOT exemption for vintage vehicle, the RMI has voiced its displeasure.
Number one Turkish tyre brand, Lassa has opened its first Italian flagship store in Milan. The Lassa Shop’s staff will specialise in providing tyres and assistance for the Brisa-manufactured brand, with two customer initiatives launched at the same time: a courtesy bike programme, supplying bicycles to customers changing tyres, and the new Tyre SOS text service, which provides contact details for nearby Lassa dealers should problems occur.
Roads Minister Mike Penning has announced that classic vehicles will be exempted from the MoT test. According to details released by the Department for Transport on 21 May, vehicles manufactured before 1960 will be exempted from the MoT test from 18 November 2012.
Infinity Tyres has signed a distribution deal with Groupe Massa in France. The group operates through several subsidiary companies focusing on retail, logistics, retreading and wholesale, and the brand will be distributed through the Massa Pneus retail network and the business-to-business Imagine Car operation, which it says is the largest wholesaler on the French market.
Kwik Fit has announced that it will take on 320 apprentices in 2012, more than double the company’s intake of 120 in 2011. The firm will offer the two year schemes to 16-18 year olds in locations throughout the UK. The announcement coincided with the visit of David Way, chief executive of the National Apprenticeship Service, to the company’s Training Academy in Derby. Way said the company’s commitment to its apprenticeship programme, ranked as “outstanding” by Ofsted, was “very impressive”.
High performance cars require high performance tyres – obviously. What’s not quite as obvious is that today’s tough market conditions are sharpening the motorist’s eye for real value and service – especially in the more discerning and therefore challenging high performance tyre market, which increasingly demands ‘high performance service’ to match. The good news, says Stapleton’s, is that this is exactly where it can make a vital difference – by throwing the weight of its nationwide network of 19 warehouses, 18 distribution points and a stock of 1.2 million tyres behind tyre retailer’s business.
Over 70 Point S UK members, staff and suppliers gathered in Solihull yesterday to reflect on the independent retail network’s development in 2011 and plans for 2012. At the end of 2011 Point S UK had 45 members and 125 points of sale. And although the group opted to slow down additions to its membership in order to ensure high standards, this is still ahead of initial goals of 100 plus points of sale within two years of the network’s inception. That said the group is now revving up its membership once again, with ambitious targets and plans for national coverage. Looking around the mini-exhibition hall next door to the conference presentations you can see that that Point S UK is still growing and gaining influence in the market.
Nokian Tyres president and CEO Kim Gran says the Finnish tyre maker got off to a “flying start” in 2012 and made clear improvements in both production and sales. In a stock exchange release dated 9 May, Gran shared that “sales improved in all our markets with growth in Russia again outshining other areas. Productivity gains, a tight ship and an improved ASP guaranteed a good financial result.”
Retail franchise operation point S has confirmed an agreement with Unity Tyre Trading, a group of 11 independent tyre dealers in South Africa. The company announced that it was pursuing international development opportunities outside Europe at Las Vegas’ SEMA show in November, and its launch in the new African territory has confirmed point S’s ambitions in this direction. Point S also strengthened its Central European operations, by signing an agreement with the Slovenian firm, Span.
Following official confirmation of the resignation of Pirelli COO Francesco Gori, the company has detailed revisions to organisational model. According to the company, Pirelli has decided to reinforce its technological and commercial organization apparently completing a re-definition which began in October 2011. As a result Pirelli will replace its “executive office” with two new roles reporting directly to chairman and chief executive officer Marco Tronchetti Provera.
With just two months to go before Tyre Labelling starts appear in the market, TIF is offering its advice. The EU tyre labelling Regulation comes into effect for tyre manufacturers from 1 July. From that date retailers can expect to see certain deliveries of tyres arriving with the new “consumer advice” label affixed. The full impact for retail premises is 1 November, when retailers have to pass on this information to consumers. That leaves just 6 months to prepare for the biggest change in tyre retailing for years.
Michelin Tyre PLC has announced a successor to Martin Covington, who retired as head of Truck and Bus Marketing after a 37-year career at Michelin. Tyre industry newcomer Sharn Samra has been appointed to the role, with responsibility for the UK and Ireland. She joins Michelin from Wolverhampton-based lock and home security firm Yale, where she had worked since 2004, initially as the company’s head of Product Management and Marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa before taking over as head of Business Development in 2009. Prior to working at Yale, Samra spent three years as a product manager at Staffordshire-based Newell Rubbermaid.
It has been announced that John Ball is to step down in May as MOT chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation. He said "I have very much enjoyed my time as chairman of RMI MOT and having played a lead role in defeating the frequency challenge, the effort has been more than justified.
Bridgestone has detailed the new organisation of its retail network, bringing together its current UK and Ireland operations. As part of the company’s regionalisation strategy – essentially northern European operations being streamlined from the UK – the division is headed by Alex Watson, retail managing director UK and Ireland, who takes up responsibility for Kingsway Tyres Ltd, Fast Fit Tyres and also the First Stop network. He has been involved in Kingsway Tyres Ltd since 1996 and stayed with the company when it was bought by Bridgestone in 2004, becoming its managing director during the acquisition. There are 170 First Stop centres in the UK, and around 2,000 across Europe.
Europe-wide online tyre retailer Delticom AG says it will once again maintain a presence at the Reifen show in Essen, Germany. At this year’s exhibition, the company will present its full portfolio of services at its stand (hall 3, stand 303), including its core passenger car tyre business, its wholesale two-wheel tyre segment and the company’s fleet vehicle, truck, industrial and special tyre segments.
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