Truck Tyres
Tructyre (Fleet Management) Ltd has announced that it acquired the PK Commercial Tyres group of companies effective 31 October 2012. According to a statement detailing the news, both companies, having worked closely together over a number of years, report “good synergies”.
Michelin has appointed Guy Heywood as commercial director of its truck and bus operations in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Heywood, 45, has been with the company for more than 14 years, having served the last two years as national sales manager of its commercial vehicle tyre operations. Heywood also spent four years as production manager at the Stoke-on-Trent-based Remix plant. Reporting to Marc de Bellescize, sales director for Michelin’s European Truck Tyre Division, Heywood replaces Bill Schafer, who is returning to the USA to take up a position within the Michelin group there.
After years of planning, debating and discussing, tyre labelling is finally with us. From today every new passenger car and truck tyre must be sold with a European label of some kind (like the one opposite) and those doing the selling must tell their customers about it.
Of course with only small numbers of retailers prepared before today's deadline, no clear enforcement mechanism in place and with 70 per cent of consumers unaware of the new rules it is unlikely to be plain sailing for everyone's favourite sticker.
So, apart from the obvious investments in research and development, how exactly has Michelin improved its XLine highway tyre range’s wet grip and rolling resistance? And what do we know about why these tyres perform throughout the life of the tread?
Uniroyal enjoyed a “very good” second day of the Brityrex 2012 according to Sales manager, Glen Birkwood. The eastern European manufactured brand was communicating the products’ cost effectiveness at Brityrex, and Birkwood explained that the brand is currently “regaining” some of the ground it lost towards the beginning of the year in the UK as the cheap budget market expanded.
Long-time supporter of the Brityrex show, Kings Road Tyres had one of the exhibition’s more imposing stands, located next to the entrance, while associated brands, Uniroyal, for which it has the UK licence, Aeolus and Antyre – Chinese brands for which the wholesale part of KRT is the exclusive distributor in the UK – were present with stands of their own. Added to the “multi-brand presence” promised by Purchasing and Marketing manager, Tim Bader on the company’s own stand, featuring “the latest from Matador, Taurus, Cooper 4×4 and Aeolus Truck Tyres,” the company represented its truck, bus, agricultural, industrial and 4×4 ranges strongly.
Treadsetters (part of the TIA Group) says it took part in this year's Brityrex to promote the company's three leading brands – Torque, Hifly and TIA Wheels – further, having supported the event for many years. The Telford based tyre wholesaler said Brityrex 2012 joins a number of other international shows at which it has presented a high corporate profile this year, including Essen, Russia, Tyrexpo Africa and events in Tanzania and Panama. The company says the events are part of the group’s growing image “as a global player in tyres and wheels”.
Michelin has marked the 60th anniversary of the introduction of radial truck tyres in 1952. The company says its first Michelin X Radial truck tyre helped to transform the road transport industry, which until then was using cross-ply tyres. The company says radialisation made trucking safer and more efficient. Of course, following the innovation, other manufacturers pursued the same path, meaning that radial tyres accounted for 100 per cent of the Western European truck tyre market in 2011. Michelin now estimates that radials account for 73 per cent of truck tyres worldwide.
Vacu-Lug has been appointed as the sole UK distributor for all West Lake truck and bus radial tyres. The move means nine product lines spanning a wide variety of operation types and with a choice of 17.5", 19.5" and 22.5" rim diameters have been added to the Vacu-Lug line up.
Continental is introducing a 385/65R22.5 version of its Generation 2+ steer axle tyre, making the HSL 2+ front axle tyre now available in 11 different sizes. The range includes four XL versions of the long distance tyre for front axle loads of up to eight tonnes. Conti says this is in recognition of the increasing load on the front axle for vehicles with heavier drive trains to meet the Euro 6 emissions standard.
You might have expected Kings Road Tyres’ 40th year to have been marked by transition following the Group’s management buyout by Adrian Bader (managing director), Mark Cooper (commercial director) and Simon Lister (financial director). However, with the directors’ vast experience within the company, and the strong emphasis within its wholesale businesses on long-standing partnerships with both tyre brand suppliers and customers, the company told Tyrepress.com that the achievement of the last 12 months has been that “to the outside world, the business hasn’t changed with the ownership”; though strategic and business developments have continued under the new ownership team, some of what has happened was detailed in pre-existing plans and the focus has been on “making it seamless”.
Axle Group Holdings company, Viking Wholesale Tyres and Equipment operates from eight strategically located warehouses, serving customers across Britain. In addition to supplying a range of premium brands, Viking launched its exclusive distribution deal for Westlake PCR to light truck tyres earlier in 2012, with an internal event to highlight the patterns and sizes available in the UK and to emphasise the substantial investment made at Westlake manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce.
Trading in over 30 countries around the world through a series of partnerships, Treadsetters has developed its international activities as part of the TIA Group of companies. Treadsetters believes that the ongoing growth within the global tyre market can be attributed to a combination of providing the company's international client base with ongoing extensive sourcing and marketing expertise, technical support and advice along with the responsive supply of tyres and wheels. The company has recently exhibited in South Africa, Tanzania and Panama as part of the company's ongoing dynamic sales and marketing campaign.
When Itochu completed its purchase of the UK’s largest tyre retail operation, Kwik Fit in June 2011, the corporation underlined the separation of the retailer and its wholesale operation, Stapleton’s. A year on, and the latter company has renewed its focus, in its words; the STS, Tyre Pros and Central branded shops are no longer within Stapleton’s remit, meaning that the UK’s largest tyre distributor now has a clear single focus on distribution. “By taking our own retail operations out of the Stapleton’s arena this year we’ve been able to concentrate all our investment, effort and expertise on delivering a doubly effective response to our retail customers’ requirements, building those needs into every strategic move we make to offer real, tangible benefits to our customers’ business,” says Stapleton’s managing director, Yutaka Kimbara.
Last week, Marangoni asked unions to approve a restructuring plan and proposed investment of 2.7 million euros into its retreading operations. According to Tyrepress.com’s Italian sister site PneusNews.it, the proposal includes a major revision of the Rovereto location’s truck tyre retreading operation. Marangoni Group ended 2011 with 7.9 million euros of losses, which are said to be mainly due to financial charges and the tax burden.
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