News from the tyre wholesale sector
The 10-year contract between Heuver Tyrewholesale and Aeolus Tyres has been extended. Director Jan Heuver signed the agreement with Wang Feng, general manager at Aeolus Tyres. “We have been working with Aeolus for over 10 years now”, states Heuver in reaction to the contract extension.
County Donegal’s Ulster Tyre Company has announced it is to use the Cameo platform to establish a line into MIDaS B2B from Cam Systems. The new applications will enable the tyre wholesaler and retailer to streamline trade lines with its partners to support its ambitious growth plans. The company’s 50,000 sq ft site houses over 20 different brands of tyres, covering all segments. The decision to introduce the two platforms together is based on the company’s desire to increase customer connectivity, interaction and delivery, and to acquire effective tools for effective operations in the future.
SA Tyres and manufacturer Federal have hosted a riding experience for its clients and salesmen at Gerotek Testing Facility near Johannesburg, where business partners participating in the 2011 One Day Test Drive programme from all over the country. The event was designed to give dealers the opportunity to see how Federal tyres are evaluated in a test in hazardous driving conditions.
Tire Group International has been named the fourth largest Hispanic owned exporter in the USA by Hispanic Business Magazine. Tony Gonzalez, TGI’s CEO said: “We are very excited and honoured by the ranking, it’s a true testament to the hard work and effort of our entire team, The Winning Team.”
Micheldever Tyre Services has told tyrepress.com/Tyres & Accessories that the company is “absolutely delighted” to be nominated for the 2011 TAFF Wholesale Awards. A spokesman for Micheldever firmly stated its appreciation: “We are very grateful for the support of our customers in recognising our efforts and backing this with a nomination in the Wholesaler Category.
In the final quarter of 2010 Bridgestone announced that it was reorganising its European operation into key “regions“. At the start of 2011, this plan entered its second phase with the establishment of the North Region (consisting of the UK, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland and Sweden). As a direct result of this, there were a number of promotions for executives at the company’s UK headquarters.
On 1 January 2011 John McNaught became North Region managing director with Sam Enya as the North Region deputy managing director and also sales administration director. At the same time John Folliss became North Region commercial sales and marketing director with Andy Lane taking the position of North Region consumer sales and marketing director. Six months into his new role, Tyres & Accessories met with Andy Lane and learnt details of how the company sees the UK and other North Region markets progressing or otherwise this year and how the new approach positions the company to deal with this.
The latest data from the US shows that shipments, what we might call sell-in sales, of light vehicle replacement tyres fell 12 per cent for RMA members and 10 per cent for the overall industry in July. This follows falls of 8.6 per cent in June and 10.7 per cent in May. Commenting on the figures, Deutsche Bank analysts pointed out that “the weakness was significantly more pronounced for broadline (economy) tyres,” with volumes down more than 20 per cent year-on-year in this segment.
In what has been described as a tyre “industry first,” Micheldever Tyre Services/Protyre has applied the Motor Codes online customer ratings tool, displaying up-to-the-minute satisfaction scores and real-time motorist feedback across all 53 Protyre outlets.
Powered by data collected through the Motor Codes online survey – a measure of service satisfaction amongst customers of its garages throughout the UK – the ratings widget has been developed as part of a recent refresh of the car service and repair regulator’s website. It appears against all Motor Codes garages, clearly visible to motorists using its Garage Finder tool to search for a reliable business.
MAM Software has announced that Tyrespot is using its EDIWheel tyre ordering module. Almost all of Tyrespot's tyre purchases are now conducted electronically, saving the company hours of administration and paperwork.
Tyregiant.com, backed by well-known UK tyre wholesaler Bond International, has been pre-launched today with the firm offering a taster of what the “the online pit stop for fantastic quality tyres at discount prices” has to offer. According to the company, the winning news is that by dealing directly with factories throughout the world they can offer up to 50 per cent savings on leading brands, beating competitors who claim to offer up to 40 per cent off. For full details see future issues of Tyres & Accessories.
Turkish tyre producer Lassa Tyres has sealed a partnership agreement with Borussia Mönchengladbach Football Club for the 2011/12 football season. The news follows an earlier contract that saw Lassa agree to partner with Bolton Wanderers in the UK as well as an advertising deal at RCD Espanyol in La Liga for the 2011/12 season. Both were brokered by London-based Samson Sport Consultancy.
During a recent drifting event in The Netherlands, Frank van Leeuwen, managing director of Euro-Tyre, spoke about the relationship between his company and Infinity Tyres, their future together, and their combined approach to European legislation.
Within four weeks of the company’s launch, Traxx Tyres secured new premises 15 minutes from London for the business’ head office. Walk in through the shining polished glass doors and you are greeted by the smell of new carpets and freshly unwrapped furniture. However, the first thing you notice is that this is not simply the administration department of a regional wholesaler, but rather the suite of ground floor offices and board rooms tell you that this operation is set up to be the nerve centre of a business with national aspirations. With the company having such impressive aspirations, Tyres & Accessories visited the Bracknell headquarters (Maxx House) to find out more about Traxx’s short history, recent achievements and plan for the future.
Stapleton’s managing director Kenji Murai and trading director, Steve Parker, have resigned from their positions as directors of Stapleton’s. Yutaka Kimbara has now been appointed as managing director of the leading tyre wholesale business and take over the leadership of the company with immediate effect. The news followed a board meeting yesterday (26 July 2011), which resulted in Stapleton’s directors communicating “a number of changes to its composition.”
Wholesalers depend on delivering customer service to stay in business and today's customers are increasingly demanding. It is a tribute to their ability to keep customers happy that all of last year's finalists – B.I.T.S., Bond International, Grouptyre, Micheldever and 2010 winners Stapleton's – have made it to this year's shortlist and are joined by a sixth finalist: Viking International. This is always a competitive category and even more so this time around with six companies to choose from.
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