Kwik-Fit Fleet will use this week's CV show to launch its improved service offering to light commercial vehicle fleets. As well as tyres, the company will showcase its other services, such as vehicle servicing and MOTs and its 'fit tyres at your premises' offering via its mobile tyre fitting and repair fleet.
The UK’s leading powered access platform provider – Nationwide Platforms – has signed a deal with ATS Euromaster, which will see the tyre services provider manage tyres on a fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles. As part of the agreement, ATS Euromaster will monitor tyre wear and usage, carry out repairs and fit replacements across the company’s fleet. This includes around 160 cars, 170 vans, 120 trucks, 50 trailers and 610 specialist pieces of vehicle mounted plant.
The Commercial Vehicle show 2012 will provide Blitz Rotary with the perfect environment to launch their new light capacity HydroLift S2 6.2 Tonne capacity wireless mobile column lifts.
The new lift is an important addition to the comprehensive range of Blitz Rotary commercial vehicle lifting equipment now available, including the very popular, 8.2 tonne capacity wireless mobile column lifts, recently launched at the Coach and bus live show.
Fleet management company sgfleet, which manages over 70,000 cars and vans worldwide and more than 2,000 in the UK, has switched to a Michelin tyre policy for its British fleet. Previously sgfleet fitted an alternative brand of premium tyre, however the company’s UK CEO David Fernandes made the change to Michelin after better results were obtained in tests.
Pro-Align has introduced a new range of scissor and four-post alignment lifts. The new Liftlign range has been designed to fit a variety of space configurations, allowing compact workshops the chance to offer a high-quality four wheel alignment service.
Sailun’s specialist light truck and commercial tyre pattern is called the Commercio – available in 16 sizes, the range is available through Sailun’s expanding European distributor network. The company’s European managing director, Martin West says: “the Commercio has been very well received in all of our European markets – the current levels of orders and the development of Sailun brand awareness and channels of distribution across Europe is very reassuring and 2012 promises to be a successful year the full range of Sailun passenger car and truck tyres.”
Government proposals to end annual MOTs would put at risk up to 50,000 jobs in the retail motor trade disproportionately hitting apprenticeships, young employees and independent businesses, according to new research by Pro-MOTe.
Japanese manufacturer Yokohama has a range of three van tyres available in the UK through its distributor Yokohama HPT and its nationwide dealer network. The patterns in the range aim to cover van applications across all conditions and circumstances, according to the company.
First in the commercial range is the RY818 tyre. Aimed predominantly at the urban delivery user, it features a flat tread pattern to maintain grip and safety under all vehicle load conditions while the design helps to improve water clearance in wet weather. Yokohama says its construction means that it will withstand the daily rigours of multiple deliveries, with its specially-designed kerbing rib protecting against sidewall damage, as well as resisting wear and generating long life and the all-important commercial consideration: value for money.
Continental’s van tyre range boasts the distinction of being fitted to one third of European manufactured vans as original equipment, and its three tyre models cover a range of driver applications in the light commercial sector, meeting passenger comfort and safety specifications. The range comprises the VanEco, designed to provide better economy through reduced rolling resistence; the Vanco 2, for improved longevity; the VancoWinter 2 for improved cold weather running; and the VancoContact 2, which strives for improved comfort through a passenger car-style tread pattern and construction.
UK vehicle tracking, telematics and systems integration, Isotrak has announced an open forum event at its Milton Keynes head office for LGV fleet operators. The event will be run as an open forum, chaired by Isotrak’s product manager, Jon Hannah, who will encourage an open discussion to provide operations and logistics personnel with the opportunity to gain insight into operational issues faced by similar organisations and to contribute actively to the agenda topics.
Nokian Tyres has introduced a new winter range for larger 4×4 vehicles, light trucks and vans. Known as the Hakkapeliitta LT2, the tyre employs the same innovations and technical solutions used in the Hakkapeliitta 7 passenger car tyre, however the Finnish tyre maker says the LT2 has been designed for heavy-duty use and this “combines uncompromised grip and exceptional durability.”
Luton-based Vauxhall Commercial vehicles sold more vans at retail in 2011 than any other manufacturer, says the SMMT. Van sales during the year totalled 11,436 – a 25.05 per cent rise over the previous 12 months. To put this in perspective, the market grew by 8.32 per cent.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reveal that, in 2011, there were 260,153 registrations of vans up to 3.5 tonnes; 16.7 per cent up on 2010.
Truck registrations were boosted by a buoyant sales month in December, with registrations for the month up 45 per cent year on year. For two-axle rigid vehicles above 6 tonnes, growth rates ranged from 30 to 90 per cent across the various weight segments. Previously, these sectors had lagged behind artic and multi-axle sales. Taking the year as a whole, truck registrations rose by 24.6 per cent.
ATS Euromaster has seen cold weather tyre sales quadruple in the Autumn of 2011, with strong demand nationwide from private motorists and fleets. Between September and November 2011 the retailer says it achieved a 301 per cent rise in the number of cold weather tyres fitted to cars, 4x4s and vans, compared with the same period in 2010. Huw Williams, group marketing director at ATS Euromaster, says: “This year we worked hard to secure significantly more stock and it’s enabled us to meet the exceptionally strong demand. We still have cold weather tyres available in many different sizes; however, it’s a continually changing situation and we’re yet to see sales reach their peak.”
US news sources report Cooper Tire & Rubber has brought in temporary workers to operate its Findlay, Ohio factory. Union member employees have been locked out of the plant since 29 November and local television station WTOL says temporary factory workers were driven in vans into the plant past picketing union workers on 5 December.
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