On 23 June, Bridgestone’s tyre factory in Burgos, Spain was granted ISO 50001 certification for energy management. The facility is the first Bridgestone manufacturing plant in Europe to achieve ISO 50001 certification, and the second in the world after the Wilson County facility in the USA. Bridgestone’s European Technical Center near Rome, Italy, is also ISO 50001 certified.
In the eight years since US-based green materials manufacturer Lehigh Technologies first brought its micronised rubber powder (MRP) to market, the substance has been used in the production of at least 300 million new tyres around the world. Today Lehigh sells its MRP in numerous markets, including several in Europe, and in order to better serve its customers in our region (as well as those in the Middle East and Africa) the company has now opened a wholly-owned subsidiary in Spain.
FC Barcelona ad Lassa Tyres have signed a sponsorship deal which makes the Turkish tyre brand a global partner for the next four years. Under the global partnership rights, the club’s basketball, handball, futsal and roller hockey teams, will officially be named as “FC Barcelona Lassa”. The deal took effect on 1 June 2015 and makes Lassa Tyres the “Official Tyre Partner” of FC Barcelona.
During its recent Partners Day in Bangkok, Thailand, Zenises announced the launch of its new Westlake retail initiative in Spain and Portugal. The Westlake affiliated garage network is being launch in 2015 and is aiming to support over 100 members over the next two years.
The Westlake brand is already well positioned in Spain and Portugal with national coverage via selected distributors and it is through deeper co-operation with these established regional wholesale channels that the new retail network will be initially developed.
Aeolus Tyre reports it will exhibit at next month’s motortech Automechanika show in Madrid, Spain. Its key focus will be the ACE2 range, however the tyre maker says it will also promote its full passenger car tyre range there as well as provide extensive information on its 2015 marketing programme.
NEX, the newly formed Spanish tyre wholesaler, has reported details of its exclusive brand portfolio. The company, which appointed Luis Miguel Muñoz as managing director in October 2014, was formed when Euromaster and Rodi Motor Services merged their distribution operations. According, to the company NEX started its independent distribution and delivery operations in Spain last December.
At around the same time that Michelin moved to acquire 100 per cent of German tyre wholesaler Ihle Baden-Baden, the company gained approval to enter the Spanish wholesale market. On 12 September 2014, the Spanish National Authority for Markets and Competition (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) gave its approval for Euromaster Automoción y Servicios, S.A.U. and Rodi Metro, S.L., which operates the 150+ Rodi Motor Services retail network in Spain, to form a new wholesaling operation to distribute car and light commercial vehicle tyres within the country. Rodi says the wholesale operation has been set up as a 50/50 partnership.
Spain-based retreader Insa Turbo has named Salvador Pérez Lucena its commercial director. In his new position, Pérez Lucena will be involved with the Insa Turbo brand and other Grupo Soledad companies, including retreader and rubber compound manufacturer MCE Mezclas Caucho and rubber automotive components manufacturer Cauchos Verdú. Insa Turbo says the appointment was made “in order to revitalise the company and achieve new goals of positioning and expansion in the sector, both nationally and internationally.”
Spanish-based Membat exhibited at Citexpo for the third time this year. The company, which has been in business 10 years now, established its Membat private brand five years back. Demonstrating its private brand pedigree, the company owns the brand name, the moulds and has registered its patterns, which the firm is proud to say are designed in Spain. Production of Membat tyres began in 2012 and so these tyres are therefore entering the third year of manufacturing now.
The Kumho tyre brand will be visible at La Liga BBVA football matches throughout the 2014/2015 season following the signing of an agreement between the Korean tyre manufacturer and the Spanish football league. The exposure will consist of a mix of free-standing logos positioned behind the goals and digital billboards around the periphery of the pitch. The initiative will support the work of both Kumho Tyre’s Spanish dealer network and those throughout Europe, by exposing the brand to the attendant crowds and an enormous television audience.
Hankook Tire reports it has formed a partnership with Applus+ IDIADA. As part of what it calls a strategic alliance, the tyre maker has built a new technical office in Spain and will carry out joint research for tyre testing and development. This 7,200 square metre test centre will be known as the “Spain Technical Office for European Technical Center”.
Aeolus Tyre has appointed Koem Grupo Comercial S.L. its consumer segment distributor in Spain, Andorra and the Spanish islands. The arrangement gives Koem exclusive distribution of Aeolus’ passenger car, van and SUV tyre ranges.
The NTDA has announced that former cabinet minister Michael Portillo will present the 2014 Tyre Industry Awards, which will take place on 8th October 2014 at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate. The Tyre Industry Awards is the new name for the Tyre and Fast Fit awards (affectionately known as the TAFF awards), which themselves carried on a long line of industry awards under a third moniker.
Tiresur International, a leading tyre distributor in Southern Europe, recently appointed Antonio Cortés as its new managing director for Spain. Tiresur is, amongst other things, GT Radial’s exclusive distributor in Spain and Portugal.
Bridgestone Europe says it wants to ‘reaffirm’ the Firestone brand in Europe and increase the profile of a name that has been present in the region since the construction of the first Firestone plant in Bilbao, Spain in 1931. In addition to the launch of a new Firestone website this summer, Bridgestone Europe is releasing a new tyre range that it says will play a key role in reasserting the Firestone core philosophy of allowing everyone the “freedom to drive and discover”.
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