Kings Road Tyres (KRT) has added three new sizes to its exclusive Blacklion range of products for the haulage sector. New for 2016 are the BT165 and BD175 steer and drive axle tyres, available in popular sizes 295/80R22.5, 315/80R22.5 and 315/70R22.5.
While the Uniroyal tyre brand is owned by Continental in Europe, in North America the name belongs to the Michelin fold and has been present in the consumer market there for more than 50 years. The existing North American market Uniroyal portfolio of passenger car, SUV and light commercial vehicle tyres is now being joined for the first time by a heavy commercial vehicle tyre range; six new truck tyres have been launched in the US market.
Having reduced a field of 51 to 19, Auto Bild announced that three of the winter tyres tested had made it all the way to the top of the German magazine’s rankings, picking up “exemplary” ratings. Continental’s WinterContact TS 850, Pirelli’s Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3, and the Barum Polaris 3 were the best performers, according to Auto Bild’s testers, who ranked the tyres based on their performance on snowy, wet and dry roads and their cost. The tests were performed on a VW Polo, with the tyres sized 185/60R15 T.
Kings Road Tyres has added the Blacklion passenger car range and new Turf/ATV tyres from its Kingstone house brand to its portfolio. Already the exclusive distributor of Blacklion’s TBR range, KRT has extended its stock with the Sailun-produced brand’s PCR products. KRT describes Kingstone, first introduced in 1987, as being among the very first house brands developed exclusively by a UK wholesaler. The development of a new range of 50 turf and all-terrain vehicle tyres is a reflection of KRT’s strategic decision to grow its business in this specialist market.
In its annual winter tyre performance survey, German motoring publication AutoBild narrows a wide field of 49 winter tyres and two all-season tyres with wet and snow braking measurements before conducting a full test of a range of characteristics. 19 tyres made it through to the 2015/16 season test, conducted using the tyre size 185/60 R15.
On 20 May 2015, Uniroyal celebrated the golden anniversary of its ‘Giant Tire’. The 80 foot (24.4 metre) tall model tyre – the largest ever made – was feted by an event at its home in the Detroit suburb of Allen Park. The Giant Tire sits at the entrance to the site where the Uniroyal – now part of the Michelin Group – sales office was formerly located.
Continental shares news that its ContiWinterContact TS850 finished first place in a winter tyre test conducted by Polish car magazine “motor”. The latest issue (43/14) of the publication compared seven size 195/65 R15 tyres. The winning ContiWinterContact TS850 was rated “highly recommended” and described as being “very good in the wet, very good on dry roads and good balance on snow.”
After 34 years in the tyre industry, Uniroyal truck tyres manager Glen Birkwood is retiring on 31 October. Having entered the tyre business in 1980, Birkwood rose through the ranks at Pirelli, Firestone and then Bridgestone before becoming Uniroyal truck tyres sales manager in 2000.
There’ll be room on top at Continental’s Reifen 2014 stand. The German tyre maker will make itself at home with a double-decker show stand in Hall 3.0 (Stand 3A36), and present its Continental, Uniroyal, Semperit, Barum and Matador-brand products on a floorspace of approximately 450 square metres.
Nankang Tyre UK has announced that it has agreed to partner the Fun Cup series, supplying its NS-2R as the control tyre for the series. Previously supported by Uniroyal, which supplied the series’ control tyres since its inception in 2002, Fun Cup cars in the 2014 season will fit the NS-2R at each championship, following […]
With the launch of the new RainSport 3 at the end of September, engineers at Uniroyal have developed what they call “a new generation of asymmetrical profiles combining the advantages of unidirectional tread concepts with those of asymmetrical tread concepts”. With its flow-optimized, asymmetrical tread, the Rainsport 3 offers a high level of protection against aquaplaning, precise handling on wet and dry roads, uniform abrasion, and comfortable driving behaviour.
Uniroyal has launched the latest generation of its wet weather-orientated RainSport line. However as much as this launch is a definite upgrade and refresh of its classic wet product after more than a decade in service, the move also represents a renewal of attention on the very well established brand. As well as bringing the RainSport range into the labelling age (every single fitment in the wide 185/55 R14 to 305/30 R19 range has scored an A in wet grip), the RainSport 3 seeks to extend its “best in wet” reputation further with a few percentage points of improvements in virtually every other respect as well. The exceptions are wear and noise, which remain relatively static compared with the predecessor product.
On 10 April the head of Continental’s Tire division, Nikolai Setzer, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning Continental’s consumer tyre factory in Púchov. The signing of the MoU at Continental’s headquarters in Hannover, Germany paves the way for an expansion project that will see passenger and light truck tyre capacity in Púchov rising by more than 5 million pieces a year.
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.
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