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Marangoni Adds 8 Sizes to Summer Performance Tyre Range

Marangoni has added eight new sizes to its 2008 UHP range, four in the Verso line-up and four in the Mythos line. The new offerings in this segment confirm, states the Italian manufacturer, its increasing specialisation in high and ultra-high performance tyres.

The Verso line has been extended with four new sizes for premium mid and larger-sized vehicles such as the Audi A4, Alfa Romeo 159, Mercedes C Class and Saab 9-3, as well as for MPVs such as the Fiat Ulysse and the Renault Espace. The new sizes are, 205/60 and 215/60 for 16-inch rims and 215/50 and 225/50 for 17-inch rims. The Verso 2008 range now includes the following sizes:

13th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

980 Tyres in 8 Days – Dunlop Prepared for Le Mans

A fifth of the vehicles starting at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 14 are not running on rubber supplied by a certain French manufacturer – these eleven vehicles will instead have their tyres supplied by Dunlop, a company that some would be surprised to learn had driven more cars to Le Mans victory than any other make of tyre. Since 1923 Dunlop tyres have helped to deliver a total of 34 wins during the famous endurance race.

From the moment the test session began at Le Mans on June 1, Dunlop’s engineers and technicians started gathering information and making decisions on which tyres to make for the race. The recent wet weather has meant the tyre development programme was not as decisive as Dunlop had hoped, but from early on the morning of June 9 the factory began work to produce an extra 980 of the best performing tyres, in addition to the 3000 already built for Dunlop’s eleven teams. The turnaround for these tyres, including different compounds and for both wet and dry conditions, was just eight days before the trucks left Fort Dunlop in Birmingham for the journey to Le Mans. The company’s 14 tyre fitters left with the trucks and were joined by the rest of the team over the following two days.

12th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

MAK Launches New Wheels

Italian wheel manufacturer MAK used the Essen show to launch a number of new additions to its product range.

The first of these is the Corsa, designed with young customers in mind, hence its sporty appearance and attractive price/quality ratio. The wheel’s 20 spokes give the Corsa a light and modern look; the spokes are slim and tapered and the wheel is presented in a finish known as Ice Titan – dark grey for the rims, high sheen diamond for the spokes.

The Corsa is available for four and five stud fitments, maximising the number of 15″ and above fitments for which the wheel is suitable. It comes in four sizes: 6.5J15″, 7J16″, 7J17″ and 8J17″.

New wheel number two is the MAK Veloce – the name means ‘fast’ – and it boasts a stylish, 10 coupled spoke design with a “satin” finish. The spokes curve slightly and the design of the wheel is graceful and open.

11th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Broadening the Base of the Business

International News, Product News

Starco GB Ltd has appointed Chris Wilson (who joins from Summit Tyres) to spearhead a new industrial tyre aftermarket sales team. Wilson brings with him almost four decades of experience in the sector, which includes work at the sharp end of running a mobile fitting business. As a result of this – and the recent addition of the GlobeStar forklift tyre range – Starco’s management hopes to develop a real focus on the forklift end of the industrial to complement its growing OEM supply operation.

Up till now, Starco GB Ltd has remained relatively quiet about the ins and outs of the company’s generally OE-focused strategy. However, now that the business has made the strategic decision to move more into the aftermarket (while also continuing to develop its business to OEMs), the Europe-wide specialist tyre distributor invited Tyres & Accessories into Starco GB’s headquarters in Rugeley, Staffordshire.

T&A met managing director, Bob Cooper and account manager, Chris Royle, who explained that up till now roughly 90 per cent of Starco’s current business is OE related. When Bob Cooper joined the company 12 years ago sales amounted to somewhere in the region of £1.5 million a year. According to Bob Cooper, sales this year will be approaching £20 million, a clear demonstration that the OE-facing part of the business has served Starco well. In the future Starco GB is aiming to generate “very significant growth in the industrial tyre aftermarket” in addition to this, perhaps as much as doubling sales generated in this side of the business. Bob Cooper was keen to stress that the company has no plans to reduce its OE-focus. On the contrary, the strategy is to grow this part of the business too.

With offices right across Europe (plus one as far east as Kazakhstan and another in the US), you can’t help wondering if the decision to increase aftermarket focus is part of a pan-European move? In short the answer is both yes and no.

Some of the businesses Denmark-based Starco operates around Europe (take the company’s German branch for example) run on quite different strategies to the UK operation. In Germany the OE/replacement breakdown is the mirror image of what it is over here – roughly 90 per cent aftermarket sales and 10 per cent OE supply. So while Bob Cooper points out that there is an overarching drive to broaden the group’s base in general terms, the company is not in any hurry to change what is already working well.

Starco takes on GlobeStar forklift range

In addition to its existing range of Kenda pneumatic tyres and its own brand offering, Starco recently took on the GlobeStar solid forklift tyre range. With all the leading forklift tyre manufacturers feeling the pinch of increased raw material costs, and most now asking for raw material surcharges the cost/performance balance is as important to customers as ever. Not surprisingly the GlobeStar range is said to excel in this respect, offering good performance for a competitive price. At the economy end of the market, Starco have also brought in the Performer line for those seeking industrial tyres at a lower price entry point.

The new industrial aftermarket team, led by Chris Wilson, is comprised of three sales staff with backing from all the other departments of their business. At any given time, Starco’s Rugeley warehouse holds roughly £3 million of stock. Up to a third of this can be described as industrial, including brands such as TVS, Gommasol and Marangoni. The rest of the stock comprises of ATV, wheelbarrow, turf, high speed trailer, small materials handling and other specialist wheels and tyres.

Starco GB has also invested in high speed automated tyre fitting machinery, which allows the company to send more 12 to 16-inch tyre and wheel assemblies to OE customers than it ever could with man-power alone. The company has also invested in the construction of temperature controlled curing rooms in order for the company to expand the tyre-fill service it offers it’s customers.

Planning for the expansion of the industrial aftermarket side of the business began three years ago and the company has been operating in the wider industrial segment for around eight years now. So, if Starco’s acquisition of a new brand and “very significant” investment in stock is anything to go by, it is clear that the company is preparing for the long-term.

10th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli P6000 Victorious in Wheels Test

Pirelli’s P6000 has been awarded top marks in Tyre Test 2008 – a challenging series of tasks conducted by Australia’s Wheels Magazine. The P6000 was given a total score of 99.01 out of a possible 100, making it the top tyre tested in the 195/60R15 category.

Goodyear’s Eagle F1 Asymmetric received similar high praise from the magazine, ranked first in the 235/45R17 category and picking up an almost equally impressive score of 98.95.

6th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Chicago Pneumatic Increases Socket Range

Chicago Pneumatic has announced a large extension to the company’s existing range of sockets. The addition of 500 individual sockets and 16 new sets represents a large increase in the product range available, encompassing in total 44 socket sets and 774 impact sockets.

Gary Rigg, the company’s UK business line manager comments that the update has been prompted by customer feedback: “we had some feedback from customers and distributors that a good impact socket line needs to cover all their needs in term of types and sizes. This is the reason why we drastically expanded the range. We also took this opportunity to improve the quality of the new impact socket line”.

5th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Protector Proving a Popular Addition to Kirkby Offering

Based at an extensive site adjacent to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Kirkby Tyres & Wheels offers a full range of industrial tyre stock across several brands including Protector, which was introduced during 2007. According to company representatives, the Protector brand is “already proving to be a very popular addition to Kirkby’s portfolio and well accepted by distributors and end users alike.”

The Protector range is exclusive to Kirkby in both the UK and Ireland and includes sizes and patterns for industrial solid press-on, industrial solid resilient, agricultural implement, agricultural R1 and open centre implement, MPT, ATU, skidsteer, skidsteer turf diamond and port tyres.

3rd June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kirkby Makes New Sales Appointments

Kirkby Tyres & Wheels recently announced the appointment of a national accounts director and a new addition to the sales team. According to the company the appointments further strengthen the company’s ongoing momentum as a dedicated one-stop-shop for all sectors of the industry.

Simon Michael becomes National Accounts Director and joins Kirkby from Cooper Tyres (UK) whom he joined back in 1995 as a Regional Sales Manager (when they were Avon Tyres). During the past 13 years Simon steadily progressed to the position of Senior National Account Manager and now looks forward to the new challenges ahead of him.

3rd June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Custom Wheels Entering US Aftermarket Mainstream – SEMA

Custom wheels and performance tyres in the US are rapidly expanding beyond the hot rod and racing market and into the mainstream aftermarket population, reports the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). Retail sales of custom wheels increased from US$1.265 billion in 1991 to more than $4.5 billion last year, a rise of 257 per cent. The percentage of cars produced with custom wheels has grown from 40.3 per cent in 1996 to 66.5 per cent in 2006, and the number of light trucks so equipped has gone from 70.9 per cent to 72.2 per cent during the same period.

Specialty/performance tyres often follow the custom-wheel market, SEMA adds. When customers upgrade the wheels on a vehicle, there is an inclination to do the same for the tyres. The market for performance tyres is slightly larger than the custom-wheel market. Performance tyres generated $4.4 billion in retail sales in 2006.

2nd June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

A Little Bit Different: Vogue Follows Its Own Path in Industry

Founded in 1914, Vogue Tyre has always been a little different, a bit more upscale. Best known as “that Cadillac tyre,” Vogue catered to top-end cars and sold what was touted as the industry’s first whitewall, a stark contrast to the day’s solid black tyres. Later, it added its now trademark white/gold sidewall stripes.

A family-owned company then as it is now, Vogue has never aspired to be a major tyre player, but rather wants to be known as a quality company with quality people (180 of them) offering quality products. The Mt. Prospect, Illinois-based Vogue is also a quality customer, celebrating its 70th anniversary as a Goodyear customer – and as Goodyear’s oldest private brand account.

30th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire Opens Asia Technical Centre

Cooper Tire’s position as an emerging global tyremaker has been strengthened by the opening of the Cooper Tire Asia Technical Centre in China. Located in Zhudi Town, 35 kilometres northwest of central Shanghai, the 5,000 square metre centre is intended to, says Cooper, to “position the appropriate tools, technology and intellectual resources closer to Cooper’s key customers in the region – its Asia production facilities and the Asia-Pacific markets.”

Facilities at the new centre include test wheels, a tyre forensics laboratory, tyre and rim storage, a vehicle lift, support workshops, materials laboratory plus offices, conference rooms and work rooms. It is estimated that more than 50 Cooper engineers, chemists and technicians will work at the facility, the third such centre operated by Cooper worldwide.

28th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Luxury Wheels Improves Your ‘Lex Appeal’

While Bristol based Luxury wheels is carving a name for itself as a source of quality aftermarket wheels, many people don’t realise the company also offers an extensive range of styling lines in its product portfolio.

To give an example of the company’s work, the Lexus LS600h pictured here was specced by one of Luxury Wheels’ Norwegian dealers with the full Autocouture styling package. The ‘Progressive Line’ kit consists of front bumper, fog lamps, side skirts (in either short or long wheelbase), rear bumper, two replacement front wings with vents, and a rather saucy dual stacked exhaust. This ensemble is topped off with a rear spoiler and Autocouture boot emblem for that final finishing flourish.

27th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Mobile Tyre Changer From Hofmann Megaplan

Hofmann Megaplan has recently introduced what the company claims to be the most capable tyre changer ever designed to be used in a mobile fitting van.

The megamount 401 XL Racing works on the space-saving ‘swing-arm’ principle that has proved so popular over the years in mobile fitting vans, but that has also presented limitations in terms of the range of wheels they can handle. The 401 overcomes these limitations by utilising the ‘Quadraclamp’ turntable system from the 701 model that allows clamping up to 26″, and the ‘megafit’ arm for handling stiff, low profile and run-flat tyres.

19th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Superior Industries’ Net Income Increased in Q1

Supplier of OE alloy wheels, Superior Industries International, have announced a decrease in net sales for the quarter period to March 31, 2008, but despite this a marked increase in net income. Net income, at US$3.71 million, delivered a result of $0.12 per diluted share compared to net income of $0.08 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2007. Commenting on these results, company chairman and CEO Steven Borick said: “The benefits of our hard work these past few years to optimise our manufacturing performance have continued into 2008. Reflecting our continued progress in improving production efficiencies in our plants, we delivered sharply higher gross margin for this year’s first quarter versus the prior year despite the impact of the American Axle strike on our shipments to GM.”

14th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hayes Lemmerz to Close US Aluminium Wheel Facility

On May 12 Hayes Lemmerz International announced the planned closure of its aluminium wheel manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Georgia (USA) by the end of this year. The company has taken the decision to close the factory due to global overcapacity in the light vehicle aluminium wheel market and the increasing level of aluminium wheel imports coming into North America from countries with lower production costs. The company says the closure announcement reflects its overall strategy to continue to focus its business on the “right products in the right geographic regions”.

The Gainesville facility, which has been producing wheels since July 1994, employs approximately 290 people. Employees were advised of the closure during a meeting at the facility. A portion of the production currently at Gainesville will be moved to the Hayes Lemmerz aluminium wheel facility in Mexico.

13th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors