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Final F1 test still too cold for conclusions

Formula One’s teams have completed the third and final testing session in Barcelona prior to the season opening Australian grand prix. While times set by Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso showed improvements on 2013’s second test at the same location, the weather in Spain was once again colder than anticipated, meaning that Formula One will enter the opening stages of the season with a degree of uncertainty about how they will perform on the new Pirelli P Zero slicks especially. However, lengthy practice in wet conditions during the first two days of the four-day meeting allowed teams more time on the Cinturato Blue and Green – wet and intermediate respectively – tyres, which could provide valuable data for the season ahead. While it is always a mug’s game to make too many predictions following practice, especially given the unpredictability of the first half of the 2012 season, the pace of Mercedes could shake up the established top three manufacturers.

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

Commercial vehicle sales fall across Europe

Demand for new heavy trucks (over 16 tonnes, excluding buses and coaches) declined the most sharply across segments in January (-18.4 per cent), totalling 15,510 vehicles. All major markets contracted, from -9.3 per cent in Italy to -11.1 per cent in Spain, -15.4 per cent in France and -22.0 per cent in Germany and the UK.

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

European CV registrations down 10.6 per cent in January

Figures released by ACEA show that new commercial vehicle registrations further declined in January (-10.6 per cent), pursuing a downward trend which prevailed throughout 2012.

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

UK commercial registrations defy European decline

The UK was the only major European market to buck January’s downward trend in new commercial vehicle registrations. According to the ACEA, total commercial vehicle registrations in the UK rose 5.4 per cent to 19,198; total European Union registrations declined 10.6 per cent to 126,110 during the month. The decline in France almost hit double figures, with new registrations decreasing by 9.8 per cent year-on-year to 33,584 units. Other major markets suffered an even stronger downturn; new commercial vehicle registrations in Germany and Spain sank 15.5 per cent year on year to 19,913 and 5,912 respectively, while Italian registrations, at 9,452, were 23.6 per cent lower than in January 2012.

28th 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

Bigger and faster: Superbike also gets the Pirelli treatment

It isn’t just Formula One whose tyres have, in Pirelli’s words, undergone a “revolution”. In this, the tenth consecutive season of single tyre supply to the Superbike series – the longest single tyre supply agreement in the history of motorsport – the Italian firm is ready for the switch from 16.5-inch to 17-inch tyres.

23rd January 2013/by Tyrepress Editors

Infinity, Westlake to exhibit at Motortec Automechanika Ibérica

Infinity Tyres and Westlake Tyres will exhibit at Madrid’s aftermarket automotive parts, equipment and services trade show Motortec Automechanika Ibérica. Infinity’s range will be displayed in conjunction with its authorised distributors in the region, Euro Tyre, while Eskay Tyres – Westlake distributor in the UK and certain other European markets – will take a stand to show the Hangzhou Zhongce brand’s passenger and truck and bus ranges.

21st January 2013/by Tyrepress Editors

ACEA shows 2012 car registrations 8.2% down

ACEA – the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association – has revealed 2012 new car registrations declined by 8.2 per cent in the EU (excluding Malta), continuing the downward trend commenced fifteen months ago. Worse still was the 16.3 per cent reduction in December registrations versus December 2011 – the steepest decline recorded in December since 2008, though this decline can partially be blamed on having on average two fewer working days in the region than in the same month in 2011. The UK was the only major market to post growth in the month, which was also reflected across the whole year.

16th January 2013/by Tyrepress Editors

Nexen Europe appoints Joo Ho Song as president

Nexen Tyre Europe GmbH has appointed Joo Ho Song as its new president. Song has reportedly already started carrying out “a comprehensive package of measures, focusing on Nexen’s ambitious goals in Europe and implementing relevant strategies quickly.” The measures include increasing personnel at the European headquarters in Eschborn.

14th December 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone to raise consumer tyre capacity in Hungary

A sharp decline in demand for tyres within the European Union is Bridgestone’s stated reason for cutbacks in Spain and France; travel to Hungary, however, and the picture looks entirely different. The tyre maker states it will treble production capacity of passenger car tyres at its Tatabánya plant in the coming years. One hundred per cent Bridgestone Europe-owned local subsidiary, Bridgestone Tatabánya Termelö Kft, will invest approximately 267 million euros to increase daily capacity from 6,000 tyres (as of June 2012) to 18,000 tyres. The expansion project is expected to be completed during the first half of 2017.

23rd November 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Spain bearing the brunt of Bridgestone cutbacks

Representatives of Spanish trade unions Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) have organised a march today in protest of planned redundancies at Bridgestone factories in Spain. This action is just one of a number of measures planned; a two hour strike is scheduled at its Puente San Miguel plant tomorrow, and Bridgestone workers intend to protest the job cuts on 25 November.

22nd November 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Organised car theft gangs target luxury models

An article in the Daily Telegraph by David Williams takes an in-depth look at car thefts in the UK. Despite a falling level of theft numbers (1991: 347,000, 2011: 95,681) the proportion of vehicles never returned to their owners is rising. Figures from RetainaGroup show that 41 per cent were returned last year, compared with 51 per cent in 2008 and 70 per cent in 2002. The insurer Swiftcover says that, last year, 65,000 UK-registered vehicles were stolen and never recovered, with a value of £300 million.

15th November 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Micheldever: more than half of cars on illegal tyres

Micheldever Tyre Services reports that tyre industry records were being broken in September, but in the worst possible manner for the safety of the British motoring public. Instead of reporting that more and better quality tyres are being sold as you might expect, the tyre wholesaler reports that retail depots are changing tyres in a worse state than ever.

31st October 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Mixed fortunes for EU markets in bus and coach sales

September results in the segment of buses and coaches over 3.5 tonnes were diverse across countries, leading to an overall 5.5 per cent contraction of the EU market. While the UK (+43.3 per cent) and Spain (+5.3 per cent) performed better than in the same month last year, France (-22.7 per cent), Germany (-26.3 per cent) and Italy (-26.6 per cent) experienced a double-digit downturn.

30th October 2012/by Tyrepress Editors