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.
It isn’t currently available on this side of the pond, but in the US Michelin’s Tweel has been available for almost a year and is expanding its collection of accolades. In April the airless tyre won a Silver Edison Award and now it has been named one of the 2013 contractors’ top 40 new products by publication Equipment Today.
Five of the top seven ranked competitors at the second staging of the King of the Valleys endurance event used Maxxis’ M8060 Trepador competition tyre. Maxxis UK managing director Derek McMartin says the partnership Maxxis has established with the King of the Valleys is “hugely beneficial”.
ATS Euromaster has opened what it calls a flagship centre in on the Gatwick International Industrial Estate in Crawley, West Sussex following more than £450,000 of investment. The new facility occupies a 7,574 square foot site and is set up to accommodate all vehicle types under one roof, including cars, vans, trucks, buses/coaches and industrial vehicles. Its opening follows the merger of two former centres in the local area; one of which serviced cars and vans, and the other commercial vehicles.
British firm Trax JH Ltd, the second largest wheel balance weight manufacturer in Europe, has been selected to supply wheel weights for the new Ford Transit to be built in Kansas City, USA. Widely known in Europe, the Transit will be new to North America and is expected to be sold as the “T” series. The model will be launched in 2014.
Essex-based Anglian Truck Tyre Management will be introducing CAM’s UniSerV application suite, featuring its e-Tablet and Document Manager modules, which will enable the commercial tyre specialist to create a seamless, streamlined, paperless process for its commercial tyre fitters, saving considerable administration time and money.
While many motorsport series take a summer break in August, Yokohama says there was still plenty to keep its tyre engineers busy across Europe and the world last month. The Japanese brand supports more than 35 race series in the UK and Europe with more around the world, including the USA and Asia, including the FIA World Touring Car Championship, the FIA European Rally Championship and the UK BRDC Formula 4 series.
On 6 September Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. president and CEO Akira Nobuki confirmed that company has made a couple of overseas appointments to its North American operations.
Italmatic Group has entered into a Joint Venture with Tesco of America Inc., the US based supplier to the automotive and tyre sector. The joint venture will be renamed as Tesco Italmatic LLC, with headquarters in Oakland Park, Florida, USA. According to the company, the partnership will focus on “making a strong statement for the distribution of Italmatic products in the North, Central and South American regions, offering a wide and complete range of products and services.”
The 1,000 or so employees at Lanxess’ global headquarters have completed the shift from the German town of Leverkusen to Cologne. The headquarters team now resides at the ‘Lanxess Tower’ at Kennedyplatz number 1 in the city’s Deutz district. For the first time, all of the company’s central management functions are united under the one roof.
On 5 September, representatives from Kumho and leaders of Macon-Gibb County in the US state of Georgia jointly announced that an agreement has been reached that will allow the tyre maker’s Kumho Tire Georgia, Inc. unit to begin construction of its tyre plant. Kumho will initially invest around US$200 million to build the plant on a 150 acre site within the Sofkee Industrial Parklocated in Macon, Georgia. The plant will employ more than 300 people and mainly service the North American markets.
A report in the Financial times says that Hankook will shortly begin work on building its first plant in the USA as part of its plan to increase its presence in North America. The move is seen as a key part of Hankook's ambition to become one of the world's top five tyre manufacturers.
Shandong Linglong manufactured Infinity Tyres offer both light and heavy radial truck tyres, with 15 dimensions available for the former, and a heavy truck radial range featuring over 20 patterns in 40 dimensions.
Infinity Tyres meet major international standards including DOT (USA), ECE (European), SASO (Middle East), and are in addition REACH compliant for Europe.
All-steel truck radial tyre manufacturer Dynacargo began exporting to the United States earlier this year. According to online news reports, Dynacargo (a member company of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Co., Ltd.-Kaidi Xixiang Company) has gained permission from Shaanxi Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau to export to the North American market.
The DC, located in Los Angeles Vipal is opening a new distribution center (DC) in the city of Los Angeles, California in the USA. The company reports that it will serve the Western regions of the United States and Canada. Vipal already has two other DCs in the US – one in Florida and another in Virginia. With the addition of this new investment, Vipal will have a structure with a capacity of 1,500 positions for pallets. The Los Angeles DC is being run by local partner JAS Forwarding (which also operates the Florida DC).Vipal describes the move as a way of boosting its presence in the country, which will enable further growth in the world's largest market for retreaded tyres, the US.
Trust My Garage (TMG) has experienced a boom in membership since the announcement that the scheme has applied to become a Government backed TSI code.
Following the announcement at the Trading Standards conference in June the number of independent garages wishing to become a TMG member has increased by an unprecedented 20 per cent.
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