Winter Tyres
2014 marks the 80th anniversary of the Nokian Kelirengas winter truck tyre, and the manufacturer has introduced two new sizes of its latest winter TBR model, the Hakkapeliitta Truck D. In addition to the existing size of 315/80R22.5, the sizes 295/80R22.5 and 315/70R22.5 will be available at the end of the summer of 2014.
On 23 June Apollo Vredestein introduced a new generation of all-season tyres – the Vredestein Quatrac 5. In parallel the company also launched the new Snowtrac 5 winter tyre. However, as much as the launch was about these products and the technology associated with them, there was also a heavy emphasis on further communicating the upwardly mobile so-called “brand emotion” the company has work hard to associated with its name during the last two decades. The launch could also be read as suggesting a broadening in the company’s pioneering approach to the development of the winter tyre market in the UK to include a greater role for all-season tyres.
Goodyear Dunlop reports that demand for its winter tyres from Police forces across the UK increase by nearly 30 per cent between 2012 and 2013. The increase suggests there is an increasing appetite for more reliable and predictable performance during winter months according to Kiran Panchal, Goodyear Dunlop Fleet Key Account Manager.
Summer is just around the corner, but some motorists in the UK and Europe who changed over to winter tyres last autumn haven’t yet changed back. Bridgestone has issued a reminder that its time to swap to summer tyres, and gives a couple of good reasons why drivers should do this sooner rather than later.
GT Radial’s Hall 3 stand at Reifen 2014 hosted the launch of two new products alongside the already announced GSR225 Combi Road multi-use tyre. The GTL925 low platform trailer tyre and the GSW226 steer axle winter tyre are both being shown for the first time at Europe’s largest tyre fair.
Following what it describes as “massive growth” in sales of winter tyres over the past three years, ATS Euromaster expects higher demand than ever in 2014. The tyre specialist says it is in talks with fleets about their requirements for winter 2014/15 and is urging customers to place their orders for cold weather tyres sooner rather than later, to avoid missing out.
Making its debut at the British tyre industry show Brityrex on 7-9 October 2014, Nordic Tyres has announced that it will showcase Nokian Tyres’ PCR and 4×4 ranges. The Lockerbie based company is the sole UK distributor of the Finnish manufacturer’s products, including its forestry, agricultural and industrial tyre ranges. The exhibition will take place at EventCity, Manchester.
Taiwanese tyre maker Kenda intends to strengthen its passenger car tyre business in Europe, and has named the German market as a particular focus. To support its efforts, the company has opened a European headquarters in northern Germany and as of 1 September 2013 employed former GITI Tire passenger car tyre marketing director Michael Andre as its marketing and sales manager for automotive tyres.
Motorists in Italy have until 15 May to change their winter for summer tyres – and some face hefty fines if they fail to do so. Under a new regulation introduced by the country’s Ministry of Transport, M+S and snowflake marked tyres that bear a slower speed rating than the car’s maximum speed must be removed for the summer season. Failure to do so by the 15 May deadline may result in a fine of at least €419 and up to €1,682, and the vehicle needing to undergo a roadworthiness inspection.
Nexen Tire will display its complete line-up at the company’s two-storey, 520 square metre Reifen 2014 stand. Tyres making an appearance include Nexen’s current summer, SUV and winter tyres plus concept and project tyres.
This year, Nokian Heavy Tyres is introducing a new winter tyre aimed at contractors such as those engaged in winter road maintenance and snow clearing. Nokian claims this new addition to its portfolio, the Hakkapeliitta TRI, as “another first from the inventor of winter tyres” and says it introduces totally new technologies that will benefit users in winter contracting and snow clearing businesses. These innovations include a “revolutionary tread design, tread block siping with siping activators and specially designed winter tread compound”; features said to “ensure that the user has superior traction and the best possible handling without compromising the economy of use.”
An individual company has no say over the economy, nor can it order the weather conditions that best suit its requirements. But it can adapt to these variables, and prosper. Although the past year was a challenging one for tyre wholesalers in Europe, Netherlands-based wholesaler Van den Ban Autobanden B.V. has continued to invest time and resources in projects that will help it move forward in the current environment. Commercial manager Cyril Versteeg and Leonie de Wit of the marketing department recently shared details of these developments with Tyres & Accessories.
A lot has been said about the tough year in our market during 2013 and the reasons for this, but despite such talk many larger wholesalers managed not just to turn a profit, but to enjoy a very good year. Deldo Autobanden N.V. was one such company; sales and organisation director Tom Van Dyck tells Tyres & Accessories that while the Belgian wholesaler’s results last year weren’t on the level experienced between 2010 and 2012, they were still the fourth or fifth best in the company’s 40 year history.
Shanghai based contract tyre manufacturer, SD International (SDI) will return to Reifen with a stand in Hall 9 (9C321). The company will display four PCR brands: Pace, Zeta, Maxtrek and Autoguard. The Pace and Zeta high performance ranges both offer the new Alventi UHP asymmetric range. Maxtrek offers a choice of three high performance patterns: […]
Almost a year after Bridgestone’s plans to establish a joint-venture factory in Russia’s Ulyanovsk Oblast region were made public, groundbreaking was held at the site of the tyre maker’s future passenger car radial factory on 1 April. The facility will be erected on an 81 hectare site around 900 kilometres (560 miles) southeast of Moscow, and production is expected to start in the first half of 2016. Plant output estimated to reach approximately 12,000 units a day by the second half of 2018.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.