Truck Tyres
Several months ago, Goodyear commissioned French market research company MV2 Conseil to look into tyre purchasing habits amongst European fleet operators. To gain an insight into the priorities at play when selecting tyres, during June and July MV2 Conseil interviewed approximately 500 fleet operators based in France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain. Goodyear has now published the study’s preliminary findings.
On 14 August, Toyo Tire & Rubber, along with its North American subsidiary Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas and its affiliates, filed a formal complaint before the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against 22 manufacturers, importers, and sellers of passenger and light truck tyres.
Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Transport, Gavin Williamson visited the Goodyear factory in the West Midlands last week. The famous Wolverhampton factory has been developing tyres for 85 years in the region and is now a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for retreaded truck tyres.
Gavin Williamson MP started: "Goodyear are an important employer for the local area. My constituency starts at the edge of Wolverhampton so many of my constituents will be working at the plant. It is an important local employer and important local investor in the West Midlands.”
On 19 July, the first all-new ContiTread licensed retreading facility in the US officially opened. The DLS Retreading plant, located in Fort Mill, South Carolina, will serve the retreading market in its home state with truck tyres retreaded with ContiTread flat pre-cure treads, and will also offer emergency road service, truck tyre service and new Continental and General-branded tyres. The 72,000 square foot (6,689 square metre) facility includes a 16,000 square foot retreading unit as well as 11 service docks. DLS Retreading is expected to employ 50 workers within four years.
In June 2013 almost all tyre segments outperformed the same period last year, according to sales data released by European industry body ETRMA on 16 July. Winter tyres were said to be the exception to this rule, but no further details have yet been given. One perhaps surprising observation is that markets with weaker economies in Southern Europe are actually performing better than the more established DACH or Scandinavian regions “In southern Europe, the consumer cannot delay any longer change of tyres. We seem to have reached the bottom”, ETRMA secretary general, Fazilet Cinaralp commented. However as good as bottoming out may be for future prospects of an upturn, in the short term is said to be bad news for input suppliers.
Goodyear has announced its plans to introduce a new generation of truck tyres, with two completely new ranges to launch onto the European market in September. Kmax and Fuelmax steer, drive and trailer tyres will focus on providing the manufacturer’s optimised longevity and fuel efficiency options respectively. Therefore the new tyres represent an interesting departure from other premium brand manufacturers’ portfolio strategies, taking the emphasis off the type of operation – long or regional haul for example – and put it on the fleet’s economic priority.
Kama brand tyres once again feature amongst the best products in Tartarstan. Russian company Tatneft reports that Two sizes of Kama Euro tyre – 129 195/55 R15 and 205/55 R16 – produced by subsidiary tyre maker Nizhnekamskshina, and three Kama N series tyres – NR 201 245/70 R19,5, NF 201 245/70 R19,5 and NT 201 385/65 R22,5 – produced by the Nizhnekamsk SSC Tire Factory, were recognised in the ‘industrial and technology products’ category of the “Best Goods and Services of the Republic of Tatarstan – 2013” contest.
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Hangzhou Zhongce is one of a number of major Chinese brands making a first appearance at Tyrexpo India this week, a development that organisers ECI International says is indicative of the increasing interest Chinese tyre manufacturers are taking in the Indian market following several years of trade restrictions.
At the end of June, Kraiburg Austria held its inaugural “Retreading summit” in the village of Leogang. Some 70 guests from eight European countries and from Russia participated in the event, which was devoted to the most pressing current subjects of interest within the retreading sector. These included the repercussions of advances related to truck tread design patents and what this means for Kraiburg’s own in-house tread development. A second emphasis was presented by Hans-Jürgen Drechsler from the German tyre trade association (BRV) and Christoph Priewasser, product manager at Kraiburg Austria, about the latest interim results from the BIPAVER “Re-Tyre” project and Kraiburg’s parallel undertaken “tyre labeling” project.
When the Pneuhage Group began retreading using the Bandag process at its Karlsruhe, Germany plant in 1988, it was not yet fully apparent how the company would develop in this market segment over the coming years. Today – exactly quarter of a century later – Pneuhage is positioned as one of Germany’s largest retreaders and is now a Michelin Recamic partner. A key factor in its business success has been the 88 outlets Pneuhage operates. Of these, the majority are active in the commercial vehicle tyre segment. They are the foundation upon which future growth also seems possible, explains managing director Erwin Schwab during a visit to the Pneuhage rereading facility in Nossen, near Dresden.
Demand for heavy goods vehicle trailers is expected to grow 2 per cent during the course of 2013, despite a weak first six months of the year. Analysts from Clear International have issued a new reports saying as much and forecasting the demand for heavy goods trailers in Western Europe to 2017.
While we have all heard references to the financial crisis ad nauseam, in the retreading sector the paucity of quality casings is becoming a crisis of its own. Of course there are links between the general economic environment and the lack of casings in the market, but there is more to it than that. It seems that a number of pressures have combined to cause a perfect storm of hindering factors, preventing the necessary supply of casings getting to the people who need them the most – retreaders. And while getting hold of any retread’s most fundamental component is said to be taxing for everyone, things are said to be especially difficult in the independent sector.
Interstate Tyre & Rubber Co has announced the agreement of a new exclusive passenger car and light truck tyres distribution deal with Euro-Tyre BV Sucursal Portugal in Spain and Portugal. Interstate says the companies will pursue a number of brand awareness and marketing communication initiatives through fellow Benelux tyre wholesaler Euro-Tyre’s Portuguese affiliate in order to stimulate sales and growth for Interstate.
A small family business in southern Italy is achieving excellence in the tyre repair niche. Founded in 1980 by Giuseppe Ferrara’s family, the company is named RFP, but the brand is better known in the industry as Tap-Rap; a name that is synonymous with specialist and advanced know-how in repairs. What distinguishes Tap-Rap is not only its specialised product, but also its patented technology, which Ferrara calls "a real transplant surgery."
The voting process for the 2013 NTDA Tyre & Fast Fit Awards has already begun and ends on 27th September. The big difference this year is that voting is only via the NTDA website (ntda.co.uk/TAFF) and not by post, as in previous years. For the second year running, the TAFF Awards are sponsored by speciality chemicals company Lanxess.
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