If you talk to car tyres as you amble down the street there’s every chance that all is not right in your life. Let’s face it, chatting with the black round objects is just not the done thing. But if a recently rolled out concept product from mobile phone manufacturer Nokia ever comes to mass market fruition, tyre talk may well become an everyday affair.
Sealey has launched its latest Vehicle Service promotion featuring nearly 400 of the hottest products for the professional Auto Engineer.
The 32 page promotion includes a combination of new and innovative products and incredibly low priced deals, with up to 77 per cent off list prices.
Amongst the many products featured is a new range of EOBD (European On-Board Diagnostics) Code Readers which save time and money by taking the guesswork out of fault-finding and diagnosis.
Also available with 31 per cent off list price is the new VS8192 Colour Video Bore Scope – ideal for internal inspection of cylinder bores, engine components and other machinery/industrial applications.
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Michelin North America intends to appeal the decision of a circuit court in the state of Louisiana. A jury awarded 54 year old Drusilla Boudreaux US$32.4 million after deciding Michelin was responsible for a 2002 accident in which she was paralysed. Ms Boudreaux was a passenger in a vehicle that skidded on a wet road, crashed and caught fire. The owner of the vehicle had recently purchased two new BFGoodrich tyres, which were installed on the car’s front axle.
The jury placed responsibility for Ms Boudreaux’s injuries upon the tyremaker as they determined that it had not adequately informed all tyre retailers about the increased danger of aquaplaning should new tyres be fitted to the front axle of a vehicle rather than the rear. The plaintiff’s legal representatives attest that Michelin was aware that fitting new tyres to the front axle increased the risk, but the tyremaker only informed the large US chain Costco of the potential danger. Costco was sent a safety video and policy document. Attorney Carey Wicker told the court “when Costco enforced the policy, they lost two per cent of their sales or about $10 million per year based on sales of 500 million tyres per year.” Wicker further argued that “because of the customer backlash Michelin did not do the video or policy document with anybody else.”
Michelin has decided to evacuate the families of French nationals in its employ in Algeria because of concerns for their safety. The plans for their repatriation from the North African state were made after nine people, including two French nationals, were injured during an attack made upon a convoy of foreign workers in September. A group with al-Qaeda affiliations claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack.
Violence linked to terrorist activities has surged within Algeria this year, with dozens killed by suicide bombings in September alone. Recently al-Qaeda released a video in which second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called for militant groups in North Africa to “cleanse” their lands of the Spanish and French.
The French tyre major said operations at its Hussein Dey facility in Algiers would continue and that those actually employed at the plant would remain in Algeria.
The future of the UK tyre industry belongs to those who invest in their staff, believes David Boulton from Entyrety. Boulton, technical sales manager for the Birmingham based supplier of tyre and fleet training and support services, is concerned that a lack of investment in training will not only perpetuate existing bad workplace practices, but also will ultimately drag these businesses down.
“It is well known that in certain areas of retailing there is a shortage of good tyre technician/fitters,” comments Boulton, adding that this problem stems from a lack of investment over many years in the people who carry out this function. As a consequence, he believes, in some areas the ‘interface’ between the tyre industry and the public has been found wanting. “There has been some improvement in recent years,” admits Boulton, “but this is only in the businesses who recognise that to safeguard their future they have to invest in their staff and provide training and development schemes. These will be the companies that survive long-term, and those that do not invest could face a bleaker future.”
Rally driver Dave Appleby is set to wow the crowds at the Castle Combe Rallyday on Saturday with an outing for the amazing Aston Martin Rally GT. And Hankook tyres are taking to the Internet to promote their tyres’ grip. Appleby and the car feature on a preview video posted on the You Tube website http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aMin5vbRO3Y. cja
A nail caused the tyre failure that lead to the accident that nearly killed Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. According to a BBC report the “catastrophic disintegration” could have been prevented was it not for the “the inability to spot the damage to the tyre.” As a result the 88-page report criticised the Top Gear team for not having anyone present “with sufficient knowledge to assess the adequacy” of the safety checks.
Much of the BBC’s report into Richard Hammond’s crash focused on the role tyres played in the crash. New Hoosier P225/50 ZR15 (front) and P275/50 ZR15 (rear) tyres had reportedly been bought for the Vampire jet car involved, shortly before the crash. There was no suggestion that there were any manufacturing problems with the tyres, but rather that an object such as a nail caused a “catastrophic failure” that resulted in the front off-side tyre being “comprehensively destroyed.”
Following the success of its ‘viral’ marketing campaign, first introduced in March 2006, Goodyear has chosen to promote its RunOnFlat tyres around the world through advertising agency Leagas Delaney. Two humourous new ‘virals’, internet based video advertisements that are distributed by individuals e-mailing them to friends and colleagues, have been released. Both videos, titled ‘waterbed’ and ‘bouncy castle’, demonstrate the perils of being caught with a puncture. Once the video has been watched viewers are invited to click through to Goodyear’s dedicated campaign website, www.runonflat.com.
The virals will be ‘seeded’ – introduced to the internet – by Go Viral, an agency that specialises in user-driven marketing campaigns. Go Viral handled Goodyear’s earlier viral marketing program, and the agency reported that these videos were viewed nine million times in nine months, with a million views in the campaign’s first week alone. Go Viral is confident that the latest viral videos will reach their desired target audience in the three intended markets.
Nitto Tire North America Inc. (Toyo’s Nitto Tire sales subsidiary in the US) has won a gold award for its website (http://www.nittotire.com) in the “Consumer Information” category of the Horizon Interactive Awards. The awards are an international competition recognizing outstanding work in the field of interactive media, such as on-line advertising and CD-ROMs.
Two US university students have made history by successfully making what is said to be the world’s longest basketball shots. From their vantage point in the gondola of the Goodyear blimp, hovering 500 feet above the ground, Stacey Freyer and Jennifer Hanson – both avid supporters of their University basketball teams – cast a regulation size basketball towards a 100-foot hoop on the ground.
Freyer and Hanson were amongst four students selected to attempt the shot, winners of the Goodyear “Get There” Blimp Shot Contest, part of the tyremaker’s new nationwide advertising campaign. In recognition of their successful shots both Freyer and Hanson received a number of “Get There” prizes, including travel, accommodation and tickets for two to attend one of the sporting events for which the Goodyear blimp will provider aerial coverage for during the next 12 months. As an added bonus, video of both winning shots and the balls they used will be added to the exhibits at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield Massachusetts.
Sapphire Energy Recovery has launched a new-look website designed to appeal to a wide range of audiences including tyre retailers, the waste disposal industry, children and students and the general public. Sapphire’s sales and marketing manager, Ryan Mifflin commented:
A council in Worcestershire is employing concealed video cameras to help put an end to the prolific practice of tyre dumping in rural lanes. The Malvern Hills District Council has selected a number of remote locations for the installation of CCTV equipment in response to a recent spate of reported tyre dumpings.
Striking Goodyear employees have warned the public to think carefully when choosing new tyres for their vehicle in the next few months. Their concerns are based upon potential safety issues posed by Goodyear tyres manufactured by replacement non-union labour.
“These tyres aren’t being built by professionals that know what they’re doing,” stated striking worker Tom Angell. “They’re just people they’ve pulled out of temporary agencies. People that have basically never built tyres before in their life.”
(Las Vegas/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. announced a partnership with Electronic Arts on the latest version of EA’s popular Need for Speed video game series. Cooper will have an in-game presence in the form of decals, branded billboards and storefronts in the new Need For Speed Carbon game. Additionally, the Cooper Zeon 2XS will be prominently featured in the game’s only drift track. Need for Speed Carbon, which features both city street and canyon racing, is available worldwide as of 1 November.
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The board of directors of SmarTire Systems Inc. has promoted Vice President of Sales and Marketing, David Warkentin to President & Chief Executive Officer of SmarTire. Prior to joining SmarTire in August 2005, Warkentin was the vice president of sales for Intrinsyc Software International, Inc., a Canadian public company that provides engineering services to wireless mobile device makers and licensable software for the wireless telephone handset market.
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