Opening the 2024 Tyre Industry Conference, National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) chief executive, Stefan Hay, and NTDA national chairman, Martin O’Brien, drew attention both to the NTDA’s achievement and the benefits of ongoing collaboration but also to the increasingly technological challenges and opportunities facing the tyre business.
Hankook Tyre UK was awarded the NTDA’s Industry Marketing Campaign of the Year award for its ‘Hankook Big Winter Giveaway’ consumer promotion, featuring a £20,000 Virgin holiday voucher. Hankook’s primary objective of the promotion was to increase brand awareness, focusing on delivering a variety of paid and organic marketing methods across its social channels and radio advertising to reach as many UK drivers as often as possible. The four-week promotional campaign consisted of twenty-five daily prizes of a £50 Virgin Gift Card and a final main prize of a £20,000 Virgin holiday voucher. Anyone was eligible to enter the prize draw, subject to the usual T&Cs; all they had to do was visit the Hankook.win website and enter their contact details.
Continental Tyres beat Bridgestone, Hankook, Marangoni, and Michelin to win the Tyre Industry Environmental and Sustainable Solution of the Year at the NTDA’s Tyre Industry Awards 2024. The award, presented at the Association’s 94th Annual Dinner, was decided by a panel of industry experts and recognises outstanding corporate social responsibility within the tyre industry. Conti said its achievement reflects the tyre manufactures ongoing commitment to driving sustainability across all of its operations – from enhancing the efficiency of its manufacturing processes and supply chain to developing innovative, eco-friendly materials.
Pirelli UK was named Tyre Manufacturer of the Year at the Tyre Industry Awards 2024, recognising the company’s excellence in product innovation, sustainability, and beyond. The NTDA Tyre Manufacturer of the Year Award celebrates the achievements of manufacturers that have made significant contributions to the tyre industry, with the winner decided by a select panel of independent industry experts. Pirelli’s success stems from its unwavering commitment to quality, safety, and sustainability, exemplified by products like the P Zero range, including the P Zero E tyre: the first UHP tyre on the market with more than 55 per cent bio-based and recycled materials.
The themes of the 2024 Tyre Industry Conference were first outlined by NTDA chief executive Stefan Hay, who framed the current moment for the tyre trade as a time of flux. This period of change is characterised by opportunities to achieve strides forward in areas such as digitalisation, training, roadside safety and sustainability, but also significant threats to the sector, like cyberattacks and the difficulty in recruiting younger people to tyre industry roles. Hay said that the need for highly skilled workers has intensified, due to an ageing workforce, declining interest in engineering jobs, and increased demand for hybrid and remote working from the younger generation. Ultimately, it may be that progression in the evolution of the tyre industry may be realised by embracing perceived threats, Hay suggested.
When DME Tyres’ Bill Clarke, the Tyre Recovery Association’s president, addressed the impressively large number of delegates from across the tyre sector at the 2024 Briefing Day (Tuesday 24 September, Leamington Spa), he was in no mood to mince his words. “I don’t think the UK recycling industry can survive in its current form…with one hand tied behind its back,” he said, summing up many years of frustration for the TRA and its members. With a new government slowly – too slowly, perhaps – setting out its legislative agenda, his dramatic rhetorical tone was understandable. With several issues coming to a head, led by an end-of-life tyre (ELT) export situation that is, in every sense, unsustainable, and evolving UK legislation governing waste carriers, brokers and dealers (CBD), the association and its forum speakers demonstrated an increased urgency about the tyre recovery situation.
The UK’s National Tyre Distributors Association has welcomed the publication of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) response to the extensive consultation on modernising MOT testing for cars, motorbikes and vans. The association was vocal in its opposition to any extension to the current gaps in required MOT tests, namely three years after a new car’s registration and an annual test thereafter. The NTDA said its position was based “primarily on safety grounds, but also based on years of independent statistical information demonstrating that the current model works and is, overwhelmingly, supported by both the trade and UK motorists.” The consultation was launched in January 2023, with the aim of seeking views to ensure roadworthiness checks continue to balance the cost to motorists, road safety, advances in vehicle technology and tackling vehicle emissions.
NTDA chief executive Stefan Hay’s 2022 Tyre Industry Conference address sought to bring tyre distributors together and further mobilise what he referred to as the tyre trade team:
Hankook’s Tyre Manufacturer of the Year winning entry at the NTDA Tyre Industry Awards “demonstrated, in great detail, its growing marketplace leadership in product, performance, innovation, productivity and sustainability,” according to NTDA chief executive Stefan Hay. The award was presented to Hankook Tyre UK’s sales director Paul Emery and marketing & communications manager Zoë Baldwin. Emery said: “We are a relatively small team at Hankook and are extremely proud that the UK tyre industry has recognised the strength of the Hankook business. This is truly a team effort and a team award.”
The Tyre Industry Conference 2022 has opened at The Vox Conference Centre, Birmingham. The National Tyre Distributors Association’s annual event, sponsored this year by wholesaler GB Tyres and Indian tyre brand JK Tyre, is presenting tyre business delegates with a stimulating programme of presentations tackling the biggest questions facing different sectors of the distribution chain; from the newest innovations in tyres for electric vehicles to the key issues affecting tyre recovery and recycling. Stefan Hay, NTDA chief executive, set the tone of the event with his opening address, calling for a collaborative effort from the industry to tackle pressing issues, such as the skills shortage and efforts to decarbonise and promote the circular economy. Meanwhile, Simon Wright used his first conference address as NTDA national chairman to pay tribute to his predecessor Martin O’Brien as “a master of the round and black,” and to celebrate the association’s success in promoting tyre technician training and accreditation, with “around 2000 commercial tyre technicians” going through its newest scheme.
The UK Garage and Bodyshop Event at the Birmingham NEC hosted the finale of Autogem’s inaugural TPMS Expert competition on Wednesday, 8 June. 12 regional finalists assembled on Autogem’s stand to demonstrate their problem-solving skills in front of hundreds of onlookers, including a judging panel of industry experts. Merityre’s Liam Gaynor was crowned TPMS Expert (large retailer) with Hometyre’s Craig Schwartz taking the small retailer award, while all 12 finalists were commended for detecting various TPMS faults quickly and efficiently, communicating them clearly to the panel. Meanwhile Autogem, which has developed the TPMS Expert award over the past few years to help raise standards and awareness about tyre pressure monitoring systems, has been praised by automotive retail bosses and industry experts for its first nationwide competition.
Michelin’s successful entry for the Tyre Industry Environment and Sustainable Solution Award 2021 “stood head and shoulders above the rest in terms of corporate ambition, vision and practical commercial initiatives across the whole field of tyre recycling, materials reuse and wider environmental campaigns,” according to the judging panel, NTDA chief executive Stefan Hay commented. The tyre manufacturer’s entry for the award highlighted its aim to create greater value at all stages within the circular economy.
Autogem has been praised as “an indispensable partner in the aftermarket to a great number of businesses” following its victory in the Tyre Industry Awards 2021 Aftermarket Equipment Supplier of the Year category. The UK provider of automotive chemicals, fasteners, hand tools, workshop consumables, and TPMS solutions was recognised for its adaptation during the pandemic as well as its investment in products and training support.
The two Tyre Industry Awards presented to Bridgestone during the National Tyre Distributors Association’s 7 October ceremony represent a “huge coup” for the company according to Andrea Manenti, North Europe region vice president. The manufacturer said the awards were the result of its recently launched “best-in-class new products” and its “commitment to a sustainable future and staff training.” Bridgestone was presented with the Staff Training & Development accolade and the headline Tyre Manufacturer of the Year award – the fourth time they have triumphed in the category since 2015 – at a packed International Convention Centre in Birmingham.
NTDA chief executive Stefan Hay’s NTDA Tyre Industry Conference 2021 speech covered a range of pressing topics, that – due to the impact of the pandemic and its associated lockdowns – couldn’t be addressed in-person before now: key worker lobbying, climate change and the importance of training and technicians were amongst the main topics.
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