Brazil is not just a football country, but as a member of the BRIC also one of the fast-growing economies in the world. For 41 years Brazilian company Vipal has been engaged in the retread tyres business and is becoming increasingly involved in the European market. With high quality materials, a wide range of patterns and products and competitive prices, Vipal has already convinced many costumers.
Vipal Rubber will launch a second new product at Reifen 2014, joining its VL140 on Hall 10 Stand 10C32. The Brazilian retread components manufacturer will prepare for its country’s hosting of the World Cup by launching the VT190 tyre tread for highway cargo transportation. The tread has small and medium truck, minibus, pickup and light commercial vehicle applications.
Brazilian retreading material supplier Vipal, in partnership with Turkish retreading factory Tatkap recent won a tender to supply one of the largest fleets in Turkey, located in Istanbul. According to the companies, the IETT fleet runs 30,000 tyres on its vehicles, which serve a municipality, but working as a private company.
Vipal will exhibit its latest VL140 heavy duty pre-cure trailer and super single tread from Hall 10 Stand C32. The Brazilian retreading material supplier has taken its products to numerous trade shows already this year, including its home show, Pneushow-Recaufair , at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo.
Brazil’s Vipal Rubber reports that its VL130 ECO pre-cured tread has become the company’s first product to be approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership. As expected from a SmartWay approved tyre, the tread’s design and compound aims to maximise fuel efficiency; Vipal reports that the trailer axle tread has a low bearing resistance that generates less heat, thus ensuring less casing fatigue and helping to improve retreadability.
When Vipal opened up European sales offices in 2005, the Brazilian retreading materials supplier was just starting out in the collection of disparate markets that make up the continent. Now European sales make up nearly 15 per cent of the company’s global turnover. With this in mind and with growth still top of the agenda, Tyres & Accessories asked Vipal Europe general manager Alessandro Bottesini Campos how this happened and what is happening next.
Brazilian retreading products manufacturer Vipal has launched its VT160 tyre tread, designed specially to improve the traction of heavy vehicles in snow. The tread was first presented at Autopromotec in Bologna, when Vipal said the tread was suited best to heavy vehicles travelling on a variety of surfaces.
On Sunday 1 July, retread and repair materials producer Vipal visited Donington Park with the truck racing team it has sponsored for the past two years, Buggyra of the Czech Republic. Buggyra driver David Vrsecky collected 37 points over the weekend, with a second placed finish in the final race.
Continental AG is investing in a hot retreading production plant in Western Europe, the company has announced. A statement explained that this decision aims to underline the “great importance of retreading business for Continental” and adds weight to its ContiLifeCycle concept. No details of the amount of investment have been released. The location of the new production site will be announced at a later date.
Vipal, one of the largest manufacturers retreading and repair materials, has agreed to sponsor the Buggyra Formula Truck team for the second consecutive year.
In the 2011 season, Vipal participated with a VIP area in 5 of the 10 races and brought 75 customers, mainly retreaders form across Europe to the events. The races invited partners to were at Misano, Italy; Albacete, Spain; Nurburgring, Germany; Most, Czech Republic; and Le Mans, France. This year Vipal will participate with VIP areas in Istanbul, Donington, Nurburgring, Most and Jarama.
Brazilian retreader, Vipal’s mobile training unit helped to qualify 909 industry professionals in 2011, travelling nearly 23,700km across Brazil. In the last five years, the Carreta-Escola, as the mobile unit is called, has conducted 553 training sessions, delivered to 7,006 people across Brazil, with the number of participating companies reaching 334. Vipal expects to train about 1,050 people in 2012.
Bridgestone Europe is to roll out a new round of price increases for retread materials across Europe during the first quarter of 2012. Starting on 1 March and varying from country to country, price increases will average 10 per cent for Bridgestone and Bandag pre-cure tread products and 8 per cent for Bandag cushion gum products.
Borrachas Vipal recently brought together more than 60 journalists and recycling business representatives at a road test event held in Portugal. Members of the Asociación Nacional de Profesionales de los Pneumáticos (Anirp) [National Association of Tyre Professionals] as well as Portuguese journalists all took part. The aim of the event was to bring together media professionals to test cars and lorries that use recycled tyres.
Brazilian retread material and tyre repair manufacturer Vipal has hosted a course in Europe. The even was run in conjunction with Universidad Miguel Hernández and Asociación Española de Neumáticos Reciclados (the Spanish recycled tyres association).
One of the objectives of the inaugural course in Elche, Spain, was to provide participants with a general overview of the techniques involved in recycling tyres, with a particular focus on common problems and methods for avoiding them. Held at the end of October, this event launched activities that are part of the course entitled “Research and Training regarding Recycling Tyres” that has become part of the Mechanical Engineering degree offered by the University.
Having sponsored teams in several Brazilian motorsport categories, Brazil-based retreader Vipal has begun sponsorship of the Buggyra team in the 2011 European Truck Racing Championship. “Vipal and Car and Truck Racing have been shoulder in shoulder since the company´s foundation. For thirteen years we have sponsored the Formula Truck in Brazil, contributing to the success of the category in the country. Now, due to Vipal´s expansion in Europe, we have decided for this sponsorship. Furthermore, what’s even better is that we get started in this new phase together with the current champion of the category”, explains Maria Locatelli, Vipal sales and marketing director.
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