Truck Tyres
Dayton is expanding its range of truck tyres with the launch of on/off-road tyres: Dayton D800M steer and D800D drive for mixed on- and off-road service. Made in Europe and subjected to Bridgestone quality controls, Dayton on/off-road tyres are designed to give truck operators the same “essential performance at the best price” as the Dayton on-road truck tyre line-up introduced in 2015.
ATS Euromaster has opened a new centre in Rupert Street, Birmingham, that will provide truck servicing, as well as acting as a training centre for new expert technicians.
An upgrade to the existing Aston Truck service centre, ATS Euromaster has invested around £250,000 in a move to new premises which at 22,000 square foot are around double the size of an average service centre.
From 1 January 2017, BVF1RST, the wholesale arm of the Bandvulc Group will be the exclusive supplier of the Uniroyal truck tyre brand across the UK.
Throughout 2016 Bandvulc has introduced a new generation of tyres. These meet the modern day needs of transport companies and provide consistent performance and safety for regional applications and long-distance routes. The new steer axle FH 40, drive axle DH 40 and trailer axle TH 40 tyres boast increased mileage, wet performance and reduced rolling resistance over predecessors.
The Barum range has expanded with the addition of three new trailer tyres to the 200 R-series. The BT 200 R is now available in sizes 385/65 R 22.5 and 385/55 R 22.5 as well as in the special 445/45 R 19.5 size developed for use in volume transport. The Continental-owned brand reports that the “robust tyres feature high mileage and economical fuel consumption and the flexibility for use in both regional and long-distance transport.”
The De Rooy team, winner of the 2016 Dakar rally truck class, is returning to defend its crown on Goodyear Offroad ORD tyres. Gerard De Rooy and his team chose the tyre for its four race trucks as well as fitting Goodyear Omnitrac mixed service tyres to their service trucks. The team will target a repeat success with the support of the tyre manufacturer, which will provide testing and back-up.
Goodyear has announced the introduction of a new High Load version of its Fuelmax T trailer tyre. The HL 385/65R22.5 Fuelmax T is engineered for axle loads of up to 10 tonnes, meeting the increasing demand for such tyres as more European countries adopt higher vehicle weights. Like two other sizes of the trailer tyre, the new size achieves the highest A grade in fuel efficiency on the EU tyre label.
The latest figures suggest that in 2016 we had the third highest level of new trailer registrations ever, surpassed only by the figures for 2007 and 2008. However, there is also “a distinct weakening of the market in the second half of the year” according to CLEAR analysts who suggest the market is now forecasting a weaker fourth quarter than was predicted earlier in 2016. Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are all less buoyant markets than they were assumed to be six months ago.
Prices for truck and bus tyres sold by Bridgestone Europe rose today, and a new price structure will also apply to car and motorcycle tyres as of 1 January 2017. The average price of Bridgestone and Firestone truck and bus tyres has gone up by one per cent, while passenger car and motorcycle tyre prices will increase by an average of three per cent. The revisions are non-linear and vary across the different product ranges.
Bandvulc has added Marc Kinnear to its sales & key account management team. He joins Bandvulc having been in the tyre industry for over 14 years in varying roles, most recently in an operational and administrative position which enabled him to gain valuable account management experience.
Europe’s retreading industry is in poor shape. Sales volumes have – with the exception of a peak in 2010 and 2011 – decreased by a quarter since 2007. What’s more, the million or more retreads that weren’t (or couldn’t be) sold during this time were offset by an almost one million unit rise in new truck tyre imports. It is no great secret that up to 90 per cent of these imports originate in China and are offered in Europe at prices that make those typically charged by retreaders seem exorbitant, and it can even be posited that these products call an entire industry’s competitiveness into question. Pre-cure retreading, a process more often than not performed by small and medium-sized operations, has come under particular pressure of late. Looking at this phenomenon, it is easy to wonder if we are witnessing the start of a long-term structural change within the industry.
ATS Euromaster claims to have reduced tyre-related breakdowns for Rotherham-based logistics specialist the Green Group by more than 30 per cent since it took on the contract two years ago. The fleet service provider says this has been achieved thanks to its proactive Mastercare fleet inspections.
During the course of the 2016 Paris Motor Show, Tyres & Accessories took time out with Florent Menegaux (Michelin chief operating officer in charge of product and core business).
Our conversation covered four key areas: Mobility – that is, Michelin’s increasingly evident philosophical evolution away from simply being a tyre maker towards being a mobility provider; Products and services – in other words the traditional well-established product centres the company is best known for (as well as the innovations connection to and rising from these areas); Experiences – what has traditionally been known as the maps and guides part of Michelin’s operations, but which is increasingly seeking to connect the firm’s excellent brand and content with technology and monetisation options; and finally distribution – the actual means of getting products (and services) from the manufacturer to the end-user via the professional supply chain.
Bus operator Rotala has signed up to Michelin solutions’ Effitires tyre management programme for its 650 single- and double-deckers.
The five-year pence-per-mile contract covers the combined fleet of Rotala’s five subsidiary bus operations: Diamond Bus, Diamond Bus North West, Hallmark Connections, Preston Bus and Wessex Bus, plus a number of smaller companies and local transport firms.
Sometimes it pays to think small. Qingdao Nama Industrial Co. Ltd, manufacturer of the Nama tyre brand, has found a niche market on the lower end of the rim diameter scale. Tyres & Accessories spoke with company chief executive officer William Liu at CITExpo, and Liu showed off several diminutive products (the smallest had just a 10-inch rim diameter!) including a product aimed at the European market.
On 19 October the board of directors of Pirelli & C. S.p.A. met in Milan to discuss the integration of Pirelli Industrial and Aeolus, along with plans for a 2018 IPO, a year earlier than expected.
As a result of the meeting the board, approved the firm’s 2016-2018 industrial plan, including its vision up to 2020 for Pirelli consumer.
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