Across the Atlantic they are called tires, while over here we use a “Y” and say tyres. This tag provides the latest tyre business news emanating from the United States of America (USA), whichever way you spell it.
American Tire Distributors (ATD), the largest replacement tyre distributor in North America, has published its first Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) report. With its release, ATD commits to “identify opportunities and invest in solutions that are designed to improve its holistic community impact while delivering unmatched customer service to the entire replacement tyre ecosystem.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen opened up a 12-point gap at the top of the Formula 1 Drivers Championship after an intensely tactical two-stop race against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas. Verstappen switched from the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tyre to the P Zero White hard tyre on lap 11, with a successful ‘undercut’ to gain the lead from his rival, who stopped three laps later. Mario Isola – head of F1 and car racing at Pirelli said that the two drivers had used “exactly the same” pre-race tyre allocation in different ways to produce a “thrilling finale between two drivers absolutely on top of their game.”
Guinness World Records has acknowledged the Hankook Tire-supported ‘Volkswagen ID.4: Great Roadshow through the U.S.’ as the longest continuous journey by an electric vehicle (non-solar) in a single country. The 35,000-mile trip took place between 13 July and 18 October. The team’s VW ID.4 visited all 48 contiguous US states in all-electric mode, thereby breaking the previous record that was set in 2019.
Peter Gibbons is stepping down as chief executive officer of TireHub, the US-based tyre distributor jointly founded by Bridgestone Americas and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Ted Becker, TireHub’s vice-president of sales and marketing, will become interim chief executive officer once Gibbons leaves the company in mid-November to pursue a new career opportunity.
Maxam Tire North America has made its MS503 L5 tyre available in 875/65R29. The OTR and industrial tyre specialist says it is the only L5 aggressive high-traction tread pattern tyre in the industry available in this size.
ATEQ TPMS Tools and Anyline, which develops mobile data capture technology, have announced that they have entered a strategic partnership that they say will “propel the TPMS industry forward”. As a result, Anyline’s advanced optical character recognition (OCR) solutions for the automotive aftermarket will be integrated into ATEQ’s TPMS tools, enabling technicians to scan tyre DOT codes, as well as vehicle identification numbers (VIN) and license plates.
The long-term partnership between Continental Tire and the top-flight men’s football league in the USA and Canada has been extended, and to commemorate this renewal of the relationship during its 150th anniversary year, Continental is gifting US$150,000 to the “incredibly passionate” fans of Major League Soccer (MLS), the Club Supporters Groups.
Claudio Zanardo has been named the next chief executive officer of Pirelli Tire North America. He will begin in this role on 1 November, succeeding Pietro Berardi, who is leaving the company to pursue a new professional challenge. Zanardo joins the North American team from Pirelli’s headquarters in Milan, where he has most recently served as senior vice-president Moto and Velo.
Ukranian tyre maker Rosava has shared an update on its activities in the US tyre market. It began exporting tyres to the USA in 2019, initially exporting 50,000 tyres a year. Rapid growth ensued, and Rosava reports that it has shipped 400,000 tyres to the USA in the first nine months of 2021.
Hankook Tire is expanding its Dynapro line-up in North America with the introduction of the new ‘Rugged Terrain’ Hankook Dynapro XT and next-generation Dynapro AT2 Xtreme. It will offer the Dynapro XT is 30 sizes in this market. At launch the Dynapro AT2 Xtreme will cover 32 sizes, however Hankook says it will continue adding new sizes through a phased launch, eventually reaching 98 total sizes by 2022. The tyre maker states that the introduction of the two products will accelerate its penetration into the US market.
Singaporean tyre producer Omni United has marked a decade of supporting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation via its flagship brand Radar Tyres. Since 2011 the company has donated nearly US$1.4 million to fund 28,000 hours of lifesaving research.
Nexen Tire has entered into a three-year partnership as exclusive tyre for the Anaheim Ducks, the California-based ice hockey club founded in 1993 as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The exclusive tyre arrangement also covers Honda Center, the Ducks’ home stadium.
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.’s Advan Sport V105 tyres have been selected by Volkswagen of America for its Atlas Cross Sport GT Concept, which was unveiled in July. The car is fitted with 285/35ZR22 106Y size V105 tyres.
Bridgestone Americas has made a ten per cent minority investment in Wrench, a US-based mobile vehicle services and technology company. According to Bridgestone, the new partnership will accelerate both companies’ ability to meet the needs of car owners with best-in-class technology in the rapidly growing mobile vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance market.
CM Shredders has installed a new high-capacity automated tyre shredding system for the Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA) in Suffolk, Virginia, USA.
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Pirelli
ATEQ
VW; Yokohama
CM Shredders