SMMT figures show that commercial vehicle sales in September rose slightly – the 43,787 sales represented a rise of 0.8 per cent. Van registrations for the month were 39,060; up 1.1 per cent, but truck sales were down 1.5 per cent to 4,727 units.
Don’t you just hate it when you’re driving down the road and people start shooting at you? Apart from the noise and inconvenience involved, a stray bullet can really wreak havoc on your tyres. Fortunately, one Hangzhou, China-based tyre maker has the answer for those who want to avoid weapons-related punctures.
The Euromaster Group has announced that it is to expand into Portugal, the 16th European country in which it has operations. The Group has a network of 48 locations in the country, and more than 2,000 across the continent. The Group says customers of its UK-based ATS Euromaster stores will be able to access its all-round service options for UK cars, vans and trucks visiting the continent.
Maxxis’ range of winter tyres is designed to cope with conditions across Europe, where the manufacturer says they have “proved their reliability”. Designed to disperse snow and deliver improved grip, Maxxis has developed its winter weather tyres with Virtual Intelligent Prototyping technology, engineering them to cope with the most extreme temperatures and slippery surfaces. The range currently includes the MA-PW, the MA-W1, MA-W2 and MA-SPW Wintermaxx range tyres, and the MA-SW Victra Snow tyres.
Dutch tyre wholesaler Interstate Tire & Rubber Co. has added three new winter lines to its 2012 winter programme, which now covers van and SUV sizes, as well as including a fully studdable PCR-light truck line. The three new winter tyres join the popular the popular Winter IWT-2 EVO line, meaning that the company now offers over 120 unique sizes in its private brand winter line-up. The wholesaler says that the new additions mean that its own brand has 11 tyre lines and over 250 sizes in what it calls the “premium-budget segment”.
Hankook is intent on meeting labelling legislation head-on with its latest winter tyre, the Winter i*cept RS. The tyre, designed for small city vehicles up to MPVs is optimised for the moderate climate of Central and Western Europe, the manufacturer says, designed for wet, snowy, slushy and also dry roads. The directional, V-shaped five-rib tread features 14 per cent more kerfs (otherwise known as sipes), which are arranged at lateral angles between 0° in the centre-tread and 15° in the shoulder for greater traction. The tread is wider compared to the previous model, increasing the contact patch. Grip on snow and slush is improved by blocks in a staggered arrangement along the middle of the tread, while corrugated 3D kerfs increase traction and braking performance on all smooth surfaces.
The Department for Transport has released statistics concerning British road traffic levels for the second quarter of this year. The statistics are divided into vehicle types (cars, light vans, HGVs and other vehicles – this latter category includes motorcycles).
Mobile tyre fitting service TyresontheDrive.com, a business established last year by former Michelin manager Dominic Clark, is said to be growing at a rate of 20 per cent per month. To support its expansion plans, the company is now integrating the tyre industry dedicated Cameo, Workshop Scheduler and MIDaS technologies from Cam Systems into its existing bespoke systems; according to Cam Systems these new additions will provide a more structured and stable back office that will deliver immediate efficiencies and time-saving benefits.
128,871 new vans (up to 3.5 tonnes) were registered in the EU, or 6.5 per cent less than in the same month last year. Germany was the only significant market to post growth (+12.3 per cent), while all others contracted. The French shrank by 0.8 per cent, the British by 2.5 per cent, the Italian by 30.3 per cent and the Spanish by 30.9 per cent.
One of the UK’s largest water companies, Anglian Water, will begin a trial of Michelin’s cold weather tyres on its van fleet this winter. The company hopes to find a solution that will ensure its workforce can carry out vital duties safely and reliably in hostile weather. The company looks after more than six million domestic and business customers across the South East, and wants to carry out its operations unaffected by poor weather conditions.
Dunlop has released its latest van tyre, the EconoDrive. The company says it designed the new tyre specifically to lower the cost of ownership for van owners and drivers, and claims to have employed 12 engineering upgrades and new technologies to achieve this goal.
Van rental specialist Hiregate Vehicle Rental has appointed ATS Euromaster as its tyre service provider. Hiregate specified a company with commercial vehicle expertise and a national branch network to provide comprehensive support to customers.
Hiregate was established in 2011 and added 1,000 light commercials to its books in the first 12 months. Today the fleet numbers more than 1,500 vehicles, ranging from compact city vans to high roof, long wheelbase models, plus chassis cabs mounted with box, tipper, Luton and dropsied bodies. The company is still poised for growth, having the stated aim of growing its fleet to 3,000+ vehicles by the end of the year.
Although an independent company, Hiregate has been set up on the back of the established Dawson Group operation, allowing it to utilse the 24 existing Dawson Group sites across the UK to provide customers with a nationwide rental network.
The makers of a patented exhaust system that aims to ‘revolutionise’ aftermarket sales is among the latest exhibitors to sign-up for October’s Brityrex International show in Manchester.
Birmingham-based Truck Tyre Solutions (TTS) made its debut at this year's CV Show as part of the company's profile development programme. With a distinctive stand display the company's main objective was to further enhance brand awareness of the Firenza truck tyre range for which TTS act as the appointed exclusive distributors throughout the UK. A full selection of the Firenza truck range were on display for inspection and TTS sales director, Carl Falconer states that there was an encouraging response to the brand throughout the show. He added: “It is a good mid-range performing tyre that continues to gain recognition from our fleet customers.
Tyre dealers have often emphasised the improvement in performance at sub-seven degrees Celsius that cold weather tyres offer, but the relatively mild weather of the 2011/12 winter may have diminished the upward momentum of consumer interest in the product. However, ATS Euromaster argues that an analysis of UK temperatures during peak driving hours in even the last winter shows that fitting cold weather products would have been worthwhile. Temperatures dropped below seven degrees Celsius during prime commuting hours on 147 separate days between 1 October 2011 and 31 March 2012. The statistics, provided by the Met Office, cover temperatures in 10 major UK cities from 7:00 till 9:00 and 16:00 till 18:00.
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