Wheels
TRW Automotive Holdings was recently awarded the 2013 General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for “achieving consistently high levels of quality performance” during the past year at then of its manufacturing facilities.
In July, Carlisle Companies announced it was seeking “strategic alternatives” for its Carlisle Transportation Products (CTP) business after it recorded a non-cash pre-tax loss of $100 million due to goodwill impairment during the second quarter of 2013. This strategic alternative turned out to be a divestment; this week the company said the tyre and wheel business has been purchased by American Industrial Partners for an enterprise value of US$375 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.
When the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, creator and organiser of the ’24 Heures du Mans’ has invited Nissan to enter its ZEOD RC into next year’s 24 hour race, the Japanese vehicle maker has turned to Michelin to develop the tyres on which the electric race car will compete. The car that will take to the Circuit de la Sarthe in June 2014 was officially unveiled in October 2013 – and the director of Michelin’s 4 Wheels Racing division was on hand to talk about the tyre maker’s participation in the project.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems is preparing to present what it claims will be the largest agricultural tyre on the market in terms of footprint and tread width. The giant IF900/65R46 TM1000 High Power tyre will be available to view on the stand at Agritechnica between 10 and 16 November 2013 in Hannover, Germany.
The company that gave the world the forged aluminium wheel has released what it calls the “most advanced aluminium wheel alloy in 45 years.” Alcoa says the new lightweight alloy, which it calls MagnaForce, is on average 16.5 per cent stronger than its 6061 alloy in similar applications. The use of MagnaForce will thus allow for lighter, stronger wheels with the same corrosion-resistant characteristics found in the current Alcoa range.
Uniwheels reports that its ‘Thalassa’ rim has been selected as an original equipment fitment on the Volvo XC90. The Swedish four-wheel drive will receive a 20-inch diameter version of the lightweight, five twin-spoke alloy rim.
Sri Lanka is one of Apollo Tyres’ fastest growing export markets – the company says sales there have increased more than 50 per cent year-on-year since the brand’s introduction into Sri Lanka in June 2011. The Indian tyre maker has now opened its first branded retail outlet within the country.
Motor Wheel Service Distribution (MWSD) will stamp a new Chevron mark onto every steel wheel to assist operators in choosing quality products, while aiding traceability. The imprint, taken from the company’s logo, has been introduced to help truck, trailer, bus and coach fleets identify superior quality wheels that were sourced by the company.
A year on from the introduction of European tyre labelling legislation, the longest term data available assessing its impact suggests it is increasingly influence consumer purchasing choices. According to research carried out by Ipsos MarketQuest across six European markets on behalf of Goodyear Dunlop, 54 per cent of consumers are aware of tyre labelling. However, what is perhaps more significant is that about three quarters (71 per cent) say that it has influenced their purchasing decision saying they “utilised its gradings on three performance criteria before making their purchase”. The research was conducted by MarketQuest in June and July 2013 among 4,200 consumers from UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland, who had bought tyres over the past six months.
The 2014 Chevy Spark EV, now on sale in the US states of California and Oregon and scheduled for release into some European markets, Canada and South Korea, is being supplied with Bridgestone’s Ecopia EP150 tyres as original equipment. Bridgestone says the 140hp 119 combined miles-per-gallon equivalent (MPGe) compact car is fitted with Ecopia EP150 tyres manufactured at its Hikone plant in Japan; size 185/55R15 82T tyres will be mounted on the front wheels and size 195/55R15 85T on the rear.
Compared with producing a new tyre, retreading saves up to 30 per cent in energy and 70 per cent in raw materials. Retreading also lowers overall cost per kilometre, but despite these benefits the European retreading market has been hampered by a scarcity of the industry’s main raw material – good quality, retreadable casings – and by the availability of new imported tyres whose casing quality is not sufficient for retreading.
Uniwheels shares that it is supplying 20-inch alloy wheels to the latest BMW 6 Series M Sport Edition. The wheels are produced at the company’s Werdohl plant in Germany and are fitted to order on Coupé, Cabrio and Gran Coupé versions of the model.
VWE (a provider of VRM license plate search technology in the Netherlands and also a reseller of DriveRight products) has produced a case study demonstrating usage of Drive Right tyre and wheel data. VWE has linked the data from DriveRight directly with the Dutch number plate register. This allows customers to get the correct combination of wheels and tyres for their vehicle by using their number plate in the website search, where the VWE solution is available. Profile Tyrecenter from the Netherlands has become the first company to use this database and, in the company’s own words, take a step ahead of their competitors.
Measuring 2.32 metres in diameter – that’s 7 feet and 7 inches for those of you reading this in imperial – the new 850/75R42 Firestone DT23 is the world’s largest agricultural tyre. The first delivery of this giant was recently made to a farm in Denmark.
German-based Pirelli company Pneumobil GmbH has established its first flagship ‘Driver’ centre. The Driver store in Frankfurt opened its doors on Friday 13 September, and this will hopefully prove a lucky date for the new premium concept. Pirelli intends to expand the Driver network, however it has not outlined its future rollout plans or indicated whether the Driver centre concept will be extended to other markets.
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