News articles on the tyre retail business
As of 1 January Marc Preedy will take over from Nigel Sowerby as Goodyear Dunlop’s Commercial business unit director for the UK and Ireland. In announcing the customer strategy manager’s promotion, Goodyear Dunlop states the appointment “recognises Marc’s major contribution to the business since his recruitment just two years ago.”
New blood has been injected into Goodyear’s North American leadership. John F. “Jack” Winterton has been appointed president of the company’s North American Tire consumer business unit and Phillip Kane has taken over as vice-president of the Goodyear’s North American Tire commercial tyre business. Both appointments, Goodyear comments, are effective immediately and intended to “continue the positive momentum in the company’s North American Tire business.”
Goodyear Dunlop has launched a new courtesy car scheme across its HiQ retail network. HiQ centres meeting their targets will be able to provide customers with a Fiat 500 Lounge car as a strategic retail incentive. Each vehicle will sport individualised HiQ garage information on its side. Goodyear Dunlop’s consumer director, Juergen Titz said: “We see this as a fantastic opportunity to provide added value for customers and is an example of the commitment and support that underpins our retail partner programme with HiQ.”
Alan Baldwin, wholesale director at Micheldever Tyre Services, has praised Goodyear Dunlop UK’s recent part worn information initiative “in the strongest possible way.” Speaking to Tyres & Accessories, Baldwin highlighted what he called “their excellent initiative in exposing the dangers of part worn tyres to the consumer”.
He continued: “Amongst all the tyre manufacturers, Goodyear has clearly grasped the horrendous dangers of what the almost totally un-policed and dangerous part worn market means to the consumers safety and pockets…Goodyear’s excellent flyer (“The Ugly Truth about Part Worns) is the best information a consumer could be given and should be applauded by the entire industry.”
Pirelli has announced that it has shortlisted eight of its 83 Performance Centres (PPCs) across the UK for the PPC of the year accolade.
In order to earn the coveted PPC accreditation, each of the dealerships undergoes a thorough auditing process, repeated twice a year to maintain the high standards, and are graded according to their score, from silver through to platinum.
The Westlake tyre brand is named after one of China’s most popular domestic tourist destinations and a 2011 addition to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites – the freshwater West Lake in the centre of Hangzhou, the home town of its manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce, located around 180km south-west of Shanghao. Shen Jin-Rong, Hangzhou Zhongce president and chairman, reflects with pride on the link between what is seen as a premier Chinese location and the tyre brand named after it: “Westlake is our tyre brand and also the best place in our city.” The Al Dobowi Group distributes the brand in several European territories through its Eskay Tyres subsidiary; the newly exclusive distributor of the brand in the UK was announced as Axle Group Holdings at the end of September – owner of the Viking International wholesale arm and the National Tyres & Autocare retail chain (see T&A October’s Wholesale feature and the Related News link below). Tyres & Accessories travelled to the town from Shanghai with representatives from the Al Dobowi Group to see the development of Hangzhou Zhongce’s manufacturing facilities, and to witness the growth in interaction between the manufacturer and European dealers of its Westlake brand.
Richbrook designers have attempted to give one of the dullest of all motoring accessories a stylish look, while simultaneously solving what it terms “one of the great perennial motoring problems”. With the firm’s new ‘Never Lose’ valve caps, it aims to prevent the persistent annoyance of the conscientious motorist each time they check their tyre pressures.
As we look forward to 2012 there is no sign to economic pressures that blighted 2011 lifting any time soon. On the contrary, with the financial confusion surrounding the eurozone and with credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s threatening to downgrade any of the 17 countries associated with it, there are still many challenges ahead. That said it was apparently a good year for some.
Stamford Tyres has reported its unaudited quarter earnings for the period between 1 August and 31 October 2011, a quarter in which its after-tax profit dropped 80.5 per cent. The Singapore-based company’s after-tax profit amounted to S$330,000 (£149,500) in the second quarter of the 2012 financial year, as opposed to $1.69 million a year earlier.
Pirelli UK Ltd is to rename its current Driver retail scheme as Pirelli Key Point, in order to bring it in line with Pirelli Europe’s retail strategy. The news, announced at the company’s annual UK retail conference, means each of the already recognised dealerships will receive new signage and improved point of sale and benefit from a consumer awareness campaign. It also follows on from the announcement of the wider company’s five-year plans, which sees Pirelli position itself for further ‘premiumisation’ of both products and retail distribution, specifically the establishment of another layer of hard and soft franchised retail. The current UK Pirelli Driver network will be known as Pirelli Key Point from January 2012. All existing Driver dealerships will automatically be offered the opportunity to become Pirelli Key Point and will receive new branding in due course.
Michelin has its Tweel, Goodyear the lunar Spring Tire, and now Bridgestone has unveiled its own airless tyre at the Tokyo Motor Show. The Japanese manufacturer’s take on the airless concept employs a mesh of thermoplastic resin spokes that support the tyre’s tread. The spokes are positioned tangentially from the tyre’s centre and the outer tread layer is made from tyre rubber; all tread and inner components are produced using 100 per cent recyclable materials, Bridgestone states.
Independent tyre dealer AG Services of Long Eaton is using a branded Skoda Octavia VRS, advertising the range of Evergreen-branded tyres it stocks. AG Services, run by father and son duo Alan and Richard Gadsby, is a customer of Grouptyre member We Sell Tyres (Wholesale), and is currently the best performer on Evergreen tyres for We Sell Tyres Nottingham branch. The dealer is an “Evergreen Performance Tyre Centre”, one of the strategies the brand, manufactured by Shandong Jinyu in China, is using to grow its UK sales.
HiQ has presented the owner of four fast fit centres in Cornwall with the network’s internal “excellence in customer service” award, an annual accolade presented at the HiQ’s annual franchise conference. Justin Roberton Ltd, owner of HiQ centres in Helston, Truro, Bodmin and St Austell, with wife and business partner Kim, received the award for delivering the highest levels in customer satisfaction at HiQ’s conference at Mercedes Benz World.
The Retail Motor Industry Federation’s RMI Petrol department has welcomed chancellor George Osborne’s decision not to increase fuel duty in January. “RMI Petrol believe the chancellor has made the right decision to cancel the fuel duty increase planned for 1 January 2012” Brian Madderson, RMI Petrol chairman.
The association reports that the increase would have raised prices at the pump by 4.00 pence per litre (ppl) within days. Based on current average UK pricing this would have pushed diesel to a new record high at over 145ppl and this grade is steadily gaining market share at the expense of petrol.
Trading Standards Officers from Nottinghamshire County Council report that they have visited a number of tyre dealers as part of a countywide operation during national Road Safety Week and that all tested part worn tyres were illegal for one reason or another. According to the officers, the move was prompted by an increase in the number of serious accidents involving cars with faulty tyres and in the numbers of drivers buying part worn tyres.
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