Truck Tyres
The Bandvulc Group reports its sales of the Fulda commercial vehicle tyre range grew 30 per cent year-on-year during 2011. The credit for this respectable increase goes to the both the Fulda portfolio itself and Bandvulc’s marketing efforts; following on from last year’s better than anticipated result the company expects sales of Fulda tyres to remain strong in 2012.
Major agricultural tyre supplier to the UK market, Kings Road Tyres boasts a £5 million inventory of agricultural tyres, making it the country’s foremost trade supplier for this specialist sector, according to KRT. The wholesaler is the official wholesale distributor for major manufacturers Michelin, Firestone, Trelleborg and Goodyear as well as being the exclusive UK wholesaler of both the Taurus and Jetire brands, and its private brand range of Kingstone brand tubes. In addition the line-up has recently been further extended by the addition of Kleber in 2011.
Although six of the world’s top 20 largest tyre manufacturers are located in China and/or Taiwan, and despite the fact that all of these have global ambitions, for the most part these companies are still developing their positions in international markets. Likewise while reams have been written about the top names and more recently there has been increased coverage of the activities of the Korean bloc (Hankook, Kumho and Nexen), far less detail is reported about the leading Chinese players. It has to be said that this is partly because of the media’s gravitation towards well-known names but is also because – and this is something of a generalisation – Chinese manufacturers don’t have the best reputation when it comes to international communications.
At Continental Tire the Americas’ annual truck dealer meeting, company executive vice-president Paul Williams announced plans for a ‘multi-million dollar’ investment in the ContiLifeCycle tread rubber plant in central Mexico. This investment will double plant space to more than 4,000 square metres and include the addition of extra curing and finishing lines.
Eldan Recycling has developed tyre recycling equipment that enables owners to process whole car and truck tyres including super singles and even OTR and mining tyres. De-beading of the tyres is not required prior to processing. The company uses a modular approach, which covers all customer requirements on equipment to process at different levels down the “recycling road” including production of shreds, chips, granulate and powder – all having their own platform within recycling. The various standard plants are “multi-size”, which give the customer total control over the production of a various range of output sizes. By a simple and quick change of the screen combinations in the machines a different range of output sizes is produced.
Pirelli and Vacu-Lug have renewed the contract that means the Lincolnshire-based retreaded tyre manufacturer will continue as sole producer of the Pirelli Novateck range in hot and cold cure processes in the UK. The relationship between the two manufacturers dates back to April 2007 when a production agreement between the companies dictated that Vacu-Lug take over the machinery and moulds from Pirelli's own production facility in Burton-upon-Trent.
Continental has named the new executive vice-president for its replacement passenger and light truck tyres Asia Pacific business unit. Antonio Lopes de Seabra, formerly in charge of Continental Mabor in Portugal, takes over from Andreas Esser in the role and reports directly to Nikolai Setzer. Esser has taken over responsibility for Conti’s commercial vehicle tyres business unit, effective 1 January.
Taking pole position for this year's round of price rises is Yokohama Tire Corporation, who on 3 January announced a planned increase of up to eight per cent on all its commercial truck tyres in the US. The new prices will take effect 1 February, and the company says further in-line adjustments will be announced at a later date.
Claiming a UK and Irish truck tyre market first, Michelin has introduced a six-month accidental damage warranty with every replacement market purchase of its new X Works tyre before the end of May 2012. The tyre maker says it took the decision to introduce this warranty as it is “so confident” of the tyre’s robustness. Purchasers wishing to register their tyres under the free guarantee must either download the form from the X Works microsite at http://xworks.michelintransport.co.uk or contact their local Michelin account manager.
Hankook Tire has released an optimised version of its AH22 truck radial; this new tyre called the AH22+ and is aimed at drivers and fleets operating in regional and delivery traffic. The manufacturer says the all-axle truck and bus tyre makes improved performance possible in both city and overland traffic thanks to an optimised tyre structure with wider belt, reinforced bead and new tread design.
The Nizhnekamsk SSC Tire Factory has began production of a new size rear axle fitment for its Kama N 202 series range; the new addition is a 295/80 R 22.5 fitment. In a statement announcing the new tyre’s release, the Russian tyre maker shares that its Kama ‘N’ series tyres with a 202 index are “designed to run on asphalt, rough terrain or dirt roads at any time of the year at temperatures from -45°C to +55°C.”
Toyo’s new tyre plant in China’s Jiangsu Province is officially open. On 8 December Toyo Tire & Rubber held a ceremony to mark the entry of the Toyo Tire (Zhangjiagang) Co. Ltd. passenger car and light truck tyre factory into the company’s global manufacturing network.
The uncertain economic outlook in Europe looks set to hit sales of heavy trailers in 2012. Demand for new trailers is now forecast to fall below the level of 2011, according to some market analysts. As a consequence the sales figure for 2012 will be 10,000 trailers less than was forecast in May this year.
The latest forecast for the UK’s replacement tyre market for 2011 suggests volumes total 1 million units, which will be marginally down on the comparable 2010 figure of just over 1,050,000 units. Speaking at the recent Continental UK market trends briefing in London, new commercial vehicle marketing manager Tracey Hyem explained that the recent UK trend was at odds with the European experience, which has seen most other countries experience positive growth in replacement tyre sales with an average increase of 3 per cent overall.
Norfolk-based tyre business TYM International has secured its continuing relationship with leading Chinese tyre manufacturer Triangle Tyres. The deal was sealed following meetings between TYM International general manager Steve Eke and Triangle senior vice president and international export director Lin Bin at the manufacturer’s Weihai, Shandong Province headquarters at the end of November. Furthering a relationship that first began in 2004, the agreement sees the two companies aim to develop their growing mutual business in the UK earthmover, truck and passenger car tyre segments.
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