As of today, the Spanish subsidiary of Mitas will be known by a new corporate name – Mitas Tyres, S.L.U. Commenting on the renaming, subsidiary managing director Gabriel Markovič said the renaming would “allow us to focus sales and marketing resources on promoting our core brand, Mitas.”
Continental Tyres has appointed Tracey Hyem as commercial marketing manager. Hyem is no stranger to Continental having been with the manufacturer eight years. Initially joining as marketing communications manager, she then moved into a role as brand manager for passenger car tyres – a position she held for five years – before taking up her current role as marketing manager for Continental’s commercial vehicle and industrial product lines.
Graham Matcham, global motorcycle sales manager at Avon Tyres, has left the company after 23 years’ service to pursue other opportunities in the motorcycle industry. Announcing Matcham’s departure from the tyre maker, European sales and marketing director Nigel Hampson said “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Graham for his role in building a successful Avon motorcycle sales division and I wish him all the best for the future. Gary Bretherton, UK motorcycle manager, will continue to manage the UK market and all trade enquiries should be directed to him. We will inform the trade shortly of the revised structure to our Motorcycle Sales Department.”
Yorkshire-based Ayce Systems, a leading manufacturer and supplier of SMART Repair Systems, has taken to the road with a new demonstration vehicle which is now available to showcase the company’s products anywhere in the country.
The VW Crafter long wheel base, high top van is fully kitted out with the very latest Ayce Alloy Wheel Refurbishment equipment including their quick cure UV Oven, the WheelRite all-in-one alloy wheel refurbishment machine which incorporates everything needed to repair and polish kerbed, scratched and corroded alloy wheels in one single unit and the WheelRite Paint Booth with four stage filtration. The van also carries their high quality smart repair systems for paint, bumpers, interiors and glass repair.
Tech Europe has announced the appointment of Martin Blakey as vice president of sales and marketing for Europe. According to the company, this appointment has been made to ensure that customers receive “the highest levels of service during a period of sustained growth for the Tech and Pang brands of Tyre repair products in the European markets.”
In June Kraiburg Austria revealed details of its new revised Pattern Programme for 2011/2012. The current programme shows the availability of the individual product lines, K_base, K_plus or K_tech, at a glance.
A colour coding system also allows direct and rapid identification of the patterns – even if they are available in two different lines. As always, blue has been used for the all-round line K_base. Green indicates the technology line K_tech. And yellow is the colour of choice for the high-performance premium line K_plus.
Veteran aftermarket executives, Kevin Judge and Cory Cheever have been hired by friction manufacturer Fras-le to help boost the company's North American light vehicle aftermarket business. Judge will serve as the company's East Coast sales manager for the light vehicle aftermarket, while Cheever will be responsible its West Coast aftermarket sales. Judge and Cheever will report directly to Randy Mordue, who consolidated the light and commercial vehicle sales aftermarket divisions as director of sales and marketing.
Fras-le North America has announced that Randy Mordue is to expand his duties as director of sales and marketing, incorporating the commercial vehicle aftermarket segment. He was previously responsible for the light vehicle segment alone. His added commercial responsibilities extend to both medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. He will continue to report to Fras-le's director of operations, Zomar Oliveira.
Bosal has created a UK commercial team, to be led by new sales and marketing director, Robin Evans. Evans, 42, officially joins Bosal UK on 1 August after a successful four years with K & N Filters as their UK sales and marketing manager. He has considerable experience of the aftermarket and distribution sectors, starting his career in 1993 with Valvoline and rising to become their EMEA business manager.
Titan International has named a successor to former vice-president of sales and marketing Jeff Vasichek, who left the company on May 31. Jim Allen has joined the Titan in the role of vice-president of sales and in this capacity will head up the company’s entire tyre and wheel sales group. Commenting on Allen’s appointment, Titan International CEO and chairman Maurice Taylor said “Jim has a background in the automotive industry. We believe his experience and quick learning skills will fit into our culture at Titan.”
Grant Willman, who joined Continental in July 2008 as dealer support manager for the truck division’s South East region, has been promoted to the newly-created position of Retread and Brand manager within the company’s UK commercial vehicle tyres marketing team. In this role, Willman will be responsible for both developing Conti’s retread sector strategy over the coming five years. He will also take responsibility for managing the casing process to ensure, as the tyre maker says, “Continental is at the forefront of the retread market as well as developing and implementing the brand strategy for all Continental’s commercial vehicle products.”
As part of what it calls “an overall corporate strategy aimed at enhancing customer engagement opportunities,” Yokohama Tire Corporation has appointed United Future its digital marketing agency of record. In this new role, the California-based agency will work together with Yokohama to develop strategies, implementation tactics and business analytics.
Titan International has announced the resignation of its vice-president of Sales and Marketing, Jeff Vasichek, effective May 31. Vasichek joined Titan in 2005 when the company purchased Goodyear’s North American agricultural tyre business. Commenting on Vasichek’s departure, Titan International chairman and CEO Maurice Taylor said “Jeff has been with Titan as we have grown in business, and everyone at Titan wishes Jeff all the best in his next venture. He will be a great asset for his next employer.”
Amongst the new products on display at the Autopromotec 2011 show in Bologna, which begins today, is the ‘sens.it’ universal replacement sensor for TPMS systems. This sensor, developed by German firm Alligator Ventilfabrik, is being brought to the market in partnership with Ireland’s TyreCheck and is said to cover 90 per cent of all original equipment TPMS. It is being shown at Autopromotec along with TyreCheck’s ‘Incontact’ tyre retailer sales and marketing solution.
Three new radial implement tyre ranges for the North American market have been introduced by Titan Goodyear Farm Tires. Known as the FS34, the Muck Master Radial and the Super Flot Radial, all three offer the usual benefits of radial construction plus a large contact area for better flotation and less soil compaction.
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