Failure to heed prior Environment Agency warnings has led to a 12 month prison sentence for Staffordshire man Mark Watts. On February 14 the 41-year old Burntwood resident was sentenced at Mold Crown Court for charges relating to the illegal deposit and keeping of controlled waste; namely, the illegal depositing and storage of used tyres on rented land at Abercynllaith and at Broad Oak Business Park, Whitchurch.
Yokohama HPT has confirmed that it will continue to work in partnership with one-make race series in the UK in 2011 and add a further three series to its portfolio of championships choosing Yokohama as control tyre. The company will supply control tyres to almost 30 race series. Commenting, head of Motorsport at YHPT Mark Evans said; “It looks as if 2011 will be an even busier season for Yokohama than last year and I am delighted that our involvement in motorsport is growing, both on a global and a domestic level. I am very pleased that we are continuing our relationships with some of the UK’s premier series, on the racetrack, rallycross circuits and oval tracks. I’m also excited by the prospect of supporting several new series, such as the VTEC Challenge and the new rallycross categories.”
According to the UK distributor for Yokohama tyres, Yokohama HPT, the British motoring public seems to be grasping the benefits of using winter tyres. Even before the recent cold snap, YHPT reported swift sales of its W.drive range of winter tyres, available for the first time in the UK this season. The consensus among those companies selling winter tyres into the British market seems to suggest that this year has seen significant growth, a development predicted in tyrepress.com articles since last year’s cold snap.
While tyre manufacturers do everything in their power to reduce braking distances, recent test results highlight that there is performance gap wider than a supersingle separating the best and worst braking systems on new vehicles. That's the conclusion of a recent report by the UK's leading consumer magazine Which? The consumer watchdog measured the average distance new cars took to stop from 62 mph, one of the ongoing tests Which? carries out across 160 cars a year. In the supermini category, the Volkswagen Polo took 34.16 metres to come to a stop, whereas a Suzuki Alto took 42.52 metres – a performance gap of over 8 metres.
In response to Delticom’s record full-year 2010 figures, financial analysts have commented on the “very strong preliminary full-year figures.” Prior to the release of the preliminary numbers, which Tyres & Accessories published online at tyrepress.com on 17 January, the company predicted it would achieve 30 per cent growth and a pre-tax profit margin (EBIT) of 11 per cent. However financial analysts at Deutsche Bank had predicted that the company would outperform these already strong figures.
December's Tyres & Accessories magazine is now available online. Subscribers can virtually view all the pages of our Year in Review issue by clicking more below. The December edition also contains features on the Equipment and
Consumables part of the business and the Reifen China 2010 exhibition that was held at the end of last year in Shanghai.
As was the case for the ContiEcoContact 5 (see yesterday’s article on tyrepress.com), reducing rolling resistance was also a goal for the ContiSportContact 5 development team. The new range, scheduled for release in spring, will eventually replace two products – the SportContact 3 and the CrossContact UHP. Accordingly, this means the new range will cover both passenger car and 4×4 sizes.
The team at Tyres & Accessories wishes all its readers a Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming year. We hope 2011 will be a successful year for you and your business, and we look forward to delivering you the latest news and industry information through our magazine, tyrepress.com website and e-Newsletter. Please note that the Tyres & Accessories office will be closed from the evening of 17 December, 2010 until 4 January, 2011.
Toyo Tire & Rubber has announced that it has completed its acquisition of the Malaysian manufacturer Silverstone Berhad. Tyrepress.com reported initial talk of the acquisition back in October (follow the link at the bottom of this story for full details). Toyo has acquired all of Silverstone Berhad’s 203,877,500 shares. Toyo said the acquisition will “have a negligible effect on the company’s consolidated and non-consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 (FY2010).” Silverstone Berhad has 203,877,000 Ringgit (₤41.1 thousand paid in capital).
Telford-based tyre wholesale operation Treadsetters has beaten over 1600 other business to the finals of HSBC’s business thinking awards. The company, which earlier saw off strong competition to win its regional heat is now in line to win up to £5 million in lending and a financial reward of up to £100,000. Now, Treadsetters and just 17 other companies are vying for the title of overall winner of Business Thinking 2010 at the prestigious “International Insights” event in Hong Kong, which managing director Tim Davies is attending on 5 December.
Apollo Tyres has demonstrated it is moving towards its goal of becoming a global player and entering the top 10 within the next five years with the news that it has joined the list of globally approved suppliers to German car marque Volkswagen. However the prestige associated with VW's global OE approval of Apollo's tyres is multiplied by the fact that the company has been selected to supply the replacement to VW's compact Fox model, known as the “Up”, which can be described as a European OE contract. This mini model is expected to be produced at the German carmaker's Brazil plant, where the Fox was previously constructed.
Following many financial reports from tyre companies suggesting that sales are up but profits have not necessarily followed suit, it seems that the high price of rubber – cited as a major profit-eating factor – is set to continue its upward momentum in the near future. The Financial Times says heavy rains in south-east Asian rubber growing regions are responsible, having disrupted tapping in the region, thus limiting supply. According to the report, this situation is unlikely to be alleviated until 2012.
Talk of Kwik-Fit’s potential sale is nothing new – reports on tyrepress.com date speculation about another impending change of ownership since September 2008. However an unnamed source within the private equity house has reportedly told news organisations including the Financial Times and Reuters that PAI Partners, the French firm that currently owns the fast fit business, has appointed Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley to analyse the possible sale of the company. Unconfirmed speculation suggests the trigger for this move was the receipt of two bids. The Financial Times suggests Bridgestone and Michelin as two potential bidders; the former as a rival bidder to PAI in 2005, the latter as the owner of rival fast-fitter ATS Euromaster.
The long-awaited Brityrex 2010 exhibition got underway today, with a significant increase in visitor footfall compared to the same point in the last show back in 2007. Apaseal’s Bruce Somerville, who is exhibiting at the show, described it as “the best start to Brityrex for many years.” Official figures have not yet been released, however exhibition organiser ECI International is expected to confirm these observations when it releases initial show figures tomorrow.
With October’s Tyre Safety Month of October upon us, the organisation behind the initiative, TyreSafe has released a campaign video stressing the simplicity of testing the suitability of tyres. The video, posted on YouTube and embedded in the page below, features 7 year-old faux-mechanics Kyanne and Finlay showing drivers how simple it is to check their tyre tread depth with a 20p coin. The organisation also states that Department for Transport figures published in its latest road casualty report show that more than 200 people were killed or seriously injured (KSI) in the UK in 2009 as a result of an accident where illegal, defective or under-inflated tyres were a contributory factor.
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