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.
Hexpol AB (publ.) has appointed Kenneth L. Bloom as new president of Hexpol Compounding Americas. Ken succeeds Tracy Garrison who decided to leave the company in November 2019. The new appointment took effect on 1 January 2020.
USA-based tyre retailer Les Schwab Tire Centers has confirmed it is seeking new ownership. In a statement issued on 24 December, the shareholder family of founder Les Schwab shared that “given the complexities of a fifth-generation family business and managing a company of our size, we are at an important point in the life of Les Schwab Tire Center.
Michelin’s North American operation has filed a suit against a company importing “counterfeit” tyres from China. The tyres in question are said to violate patents for the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is expanding its company-owned presence in the US Midwest through the purchase of Raben Tire for an undisclosed sum. The Indiana-based company operates several retreading facilities as well as more than 30 tyre and service outlets that cater to fleet and private customers.
Tyre manufacturers Toyo, Bridgestone and Continental are amongst the 52 automotive suppliers that paid a total of $23 million in settlements for antitrust law violations in California, USA.
TECH Tire Repairs, a wholly-owned company of Technical Rubber Company (TRC) has launched a new e-commerce site. According to the company, the site provides a way for any automotive, commercial truck or agriculture repair shop not supported by a TECH distributor, to access 24-7-365 TECH’s products.
Bridgestone Americas and material recovery company Delta-Energy have announced the first full-scale use of recovered carbon black (rCB) in the tyre market, according to the two companies.
Italian tyre brand Momo is celebrating a successful week at the 2019 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, USA in which the firm hinted that it will launch a new product next year.
TBC Brands, one of the largest distributors of private brand tyres in North America, has introduced its newest all-terrain tyre line, the Wild Trail All-Terrain XT, the successor to the Wild Trail All-Terrain.
Less than a year after Tirescanner.com was founded, at the start of November, the business reported that it is live in Florida. This means Tirescanner already covers 1200 postcodes codes, matching consumers with products from a range of hundreds of thousands of tyres and – crucially – connecting them with “the best local retailers”. At the moment this works on a next day install, but the plan is to take this to a same-day level. And more states are said to be coming fast. We’re used to pretty rapid progress when it comes to dotcom start-ups, but such fast growth is more understandable when you consider that Tirescanner is driven by Blackcircles.com founder Mike Welch. Tyres & Accessories recently caught up with Welch in order to find out how the company plans to continue and sustain this growth.
Arlanxeo intends to close its Keltan production unit in Orange, Texas, USA in the second quarter of 2020. Arlanxeo says it will “strive to limit the impact of the closure by working in close cooperation with all affected stakeholders, both internally and externally”.
Cosmo Tires has added a mileage warranty to its passenger and light truck tyre line-up. The Tire Group International brand also has a “recap and casing warranty” on all its truck and bus tyres. Together they comprise the new “Cosmo Tires Warranty Suite”, the company states. In addition to adding more than 10 new sizes to its comprehensive road hazard programme, Cosmo also provides a mileage warranty of up to 45,000 miles on its RC-17 and El Jefe HT lines.
In the USA, Yokohama Avid S34RV tyres have been selected as OE on the 2020 Chrysler Voyager. The fitment covers the North American market, including Canada and Mexico, in size 235/65R17 104T. The Voyager is now available for purchase.
On the other side of the Atlantic Galgo and Cooper Tires have partnered to “increase productivity, meet customer needs and provide cost savings, by collaborating to align product warranties on new tyres”.
Yokohama Tire Corporation has a new vice president of Information Technology. Pavan Desaneni succeeds Wasi Ahmed in this capacity and will report to Tom Masuguchi, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the tyre maker’s North American business.
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