Started in 2000 by owner and president, Carl Koester, the TireJobs Company is a US tyre industry specific web- based employment referral service. Given the strapline, “Real Tire Jobs for Real Tire People”, Koester predicts that there will be a huge shuffle of employees as soon as the economy improves. He advises companies, “start working on their bench strength now before the talent is no longer available.”
The HiQ fast fit network has secured its first partnership with a large UK main car dealership, and the company believes this could pave the way for similar arrangements in the future and form part of the company’s attempts to revolutionise the way that fast fit is delivered to motorists. The partnership will see HiQ operate its services from Ford dealer David Harrison Ltd in Peebles.
The British motoring public has spoken – Motor Codes has revealed the top ten garages in the UK as voted for by more than 8,000 motorists as part of its nationwide ‘Golden Garages’ competition. The ten favoured establishments receiving the most votes, in alphabetical order, were:
Continental Tire the Americas reports it new low rolling resistance version of its HDL2 DL Eco Plus drive tyre, due for commercial release in June in 275/80R22.5 size, has been added to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership’s list of low rolling resistance commercial vehicle tyres.
Delticom North America, the US subsidiary of Europe’s largest online tyre retailer, has launched www.tires123.com, an online store targeting tyre retailers and service centres. The dealer-only website is the wholesale version of sister site tires-easy.com, a consumer site Delticom states is “known for its low prices for consumers.”
The Michelin Group is first and foremost a tyre maker – 99 per cent of its business is directly tyre related. Yet the residual proportion of Group activities not centred upon the black, rubbery rings – the company’s maps and guides, ViaMichelin and Michelin Lifestyle – should by no means be viewed as just a sideshow, a therapeutic diversion from the serious business of producing tyres. In the words of Michelin managing partner Jean-Dominique Senard, “the one per cent is crucial to the 99 per cent of sales. It gives us half a billion contacts through our website clicks, and tens of millions of maps and guides are sold.
It may be barely two years old (having been founded in April 2008), but Tyrepac is vying for position as Asia’s first tyre e-tail portal. Currently operating in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and South Korea, the Singapore Hitwise report for the week ended March 6 ranked Tyrepac fifth on the Shopping and Classified listing, losing out only to the likes of eBay and Amazon. In terms of sales, the target for this year is 6 million Malaysian ringgits (£1.2 million, 1 million euros). This may sound small, but the company is already showing the rapid signs of growth seen in e-tailers from other continents. In its first year Tyrepac generated less than half of this, reporting a turnover of 2.5 million ringgits (£500,000; 400,000 euros).
The Tire Rack has made a major enhancement to its TireRack.com consumer tyre and wheel sales website, reports Tire Review. The enhancement is “designed to make the tire buying experience even faster, easier and more efficient,” Tire Rack said, by allowing easier access to TireRack.com’s three consumer tire research pages: Surveys, Reviews and Tests. Users can now see all three areas at the same time.
In the USA, the TIA says it is still working to either reduce or eliminate the added tariff placed on China-made consumer tyres by the Obama Administration last September, reports Tire Review. The three-year tariff adds 35 per cent to the price of consumer tyres exported to the US from China, dropping to 30 per cent in its second year and 25 per cent in the third.
Dunlop has released an application for iPhone and Blackberry devices designed to give consumers information on the tyre best for the user’s car and the features and benefits of the selected tyre. The application allows users to search for the most appropriate tyre for their car by selecting their vehicle model. It also allows users to find out where their nearest Dunlop stockist is at the press of a button. It provides all the information available on the brand’s website, but with what the company says is an easier and simplified viewing format specifically designed for the smaller mobile screen.
A rally is to take place at Donington Race Track on Sunday 7 March, 2010 in an attempt to secure the Castle Donington facility’s future. The Facebook group behind the rally, set up by schoolteacher and racing fan Lee Coombs, has nearly 12,000 members, meaning the rally has a good chance of a high attendance – the latest estimate being 10,000 attendees, according to Derby’s Evening Telegraph. The event will be attended by the current owner Kevin Wheatcroft, who is said to be in talks with several potential investors keen to restart racing at the venue. Wheatcroft will attend the event, a source told Tyrepress.com, at which he is expected to make an announcement about Donnington’s future.
Blackcircles.com’s newly updated site recently received a Hitwise award for being in the top 10 in the United Kingdom 'Shopping and Classifieds – Automotive' category. Mike Welch, Blackcircles.com's managing director and founder said:"I'm delighted with what the guys have developed. The site is looking great and is a lot easier to get to grips with. This is an important step for us and shows our ongoing commitment to improve our customer's online experience. I'm confident that everyone will find our new website a lot easier to use and that their experience with Blackcircles.com will now be better than ever".
The Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship will begin on Sunday 28 February at Little Silver near Exeter, when a host of GP stars and top British riders will contest the spoils.
Vintage and classic specialist Longstone Tyres is saying benvenuto to Italian customers, and to cater for car enthusiasts from this part of the world the South Yorkshire based company has launched an Italian language website. Longstone worked with a translation company in Sheffield to prepare the www.longstonegomme.it site, and proprietor Doug Cawley states the website has already been a "great success" and obtained good search results from Google.it and frequent Italian traffic.
Federal Tires has debuted a new series of videos on YouTube. The Taiwanese manufacturer hopes to utilise what it calls “the social media communication approach” as a premier platform for the distribution of its “high quality footage of events in all forms of motorsports.” This is the beginning of a new marketing strategy for Federal in 2010, in which it seeks to increase its “presence in an increasingly competitive and crowded web space”. The tyre-maker says it will encourage visitors to interact with the brand either through submitting ideas to suggest product improvements, or spreading the word about Federal virally using self-generated content.
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