Winter Tyres
Cooper Tire Europe has announced a pair of new products designed specifically to cope with the UK’s winter motoring conditions. The Wiltshire-based company’s latest high-performance tyres for winter, the WM-SA2 and WM-ST3, are available now in sizes ranging from 13” to 16”.
Goodyear’s Europe, Middle East and Africa third quarter sales increased 7 per cent from last year on top of a “strong price/mix performance” to $1.7 billion despite being hit by $0.1 billion in unfavourable forex translation, making them the highest since the third quarter of 2008. The company continues to post improved figures for the year to date, with sales up to $4.68 billion in the first nine months (from $4.24 billion in 2009), yielding an operating income of $259 million – way up on last year’s $41 million.
The Goodyear Dunlop Technical Support team, otherwise know as the ‘Tyre Doctors’, has recently moved from Wolverhampton to Birmingham to be part of the TyreFort operation. And this means a change in phone number for those dealers that want to ‘talk technical’. With immediate effect the number has changed to 0121 306 6890.
As UK tyre suppliers, distributors and fleets show increasing interest in stocking and promoting winter tyres, consumer magazine Auto Express has published a winter tyre test showing that the season-specific products offer three times more grip than standard “summer” products. The winter tyre test, full details of which are published in the latest issue of the magazine (available today – 27 October 2010), saw Auto Express test six current winter tyres (205/55 R16) against all-season and summer tyre control products.
The opportunity for increasing winter tyre sales has not been lost on two-wheel wholesaler Bike Tyrestore, which is publicising its range of Sava winter scooter tyres. BTS says the Sava pattern (MC32 WIN SCOOT) is widely used in Europe, allowing cold-weather riders to negotiate the slippery conditions seen in the UK last winter. The wholesaler stocks five popular sizes. Sava’s MC32 M+S is similarly made for motorcycle applications in sizes 100/80-17 52R and 130/70-17 62R.
Volvo Car UK has announced the launch of its new Winter Tyre Programme, which offers drivers the opportunity to purchase a set of alloy wheels and Continental or Pirelli winter tyres. For a twice yearly charge, Volvo is also offering storage of the off-season tyres and fitment when it is time for the changeover. Volvo says the scheme is “a response to last January’s heavy snowfall, which saw the coldest temperatures since 1963 and icy conditions that caused misery for millions of motorists”.
Kwik-Fit has joined tyrepress.com in noting the sudden dive in temperatures experienced across the UK yesterday. The fast-fit chain says drivers should “learn from last winter”, after a new survey conducted on 2,013 people by ICM Research for Kwik-Fit suggests that over 70 per cent of drivers were affected by the weather last winter, with one in three skidding on Britain’s roads. 15 per cent were involved in, or witnessed an accident and 12 per cent only narrowly avoided a collision. Four out of ten drivers had to put off a trip last winter due to the conditions, and one in six had to abandon their journey, according to the survey.
Many UK readers of tyrepress.com will have woken up this morning to temperatures approaching freezing point; before the morning drive in Stoke-on-Trent, the hometown of Tyres & Accessories Towers, the sudden need to root out the ice-scraper and turn the blowers up high did not go un-noted. With temperatures to continue in this vein throughout the week, will UK drivers’ thoughts extend beyond the purchase of a new can of demister and head towards the tyres, just as last year’s cold weather brought on a rush to fit more suitable rubber for the conditions?
Giving the range its UK debut at Brityrex (following a European launch at Reifen Essen in June and the initial unveiling at Reifen China last December), Techking’s aim is to place the Effiplus brand at the top of the budget segment with a view to progressing into the economy sector within the next five years. To this end, the company used its position at Brityrex as platform for attracting new distribution partners. The company’s strategy right across Europe is to offer its partners exclusivity in the various markets it works in, but company representatives also recognised that in some mature markets like the UK this it not always possible. While Techking is said to prefer to the model of offering exclusivity to a single partner, one idea is to divide the market between two or three regionally exclusive distribution partners, if necessary.
In recent months Techking has been in the spotlight because of its entry into the passenger car tyre market, yet during CITExpo the Chinese OTR tyre specialist’s exhibition presence was also very much aligned towards the commercial vehicle sector. Techking’s aim was to present itself to its professional customers around the world as a solutions provider rather than just a supplier of tyres, explained market manager James Wang when speaking with Tyres & Accessories: “We want to offer service focusing on tyre management.” Techking presented one such service at the exhibition, namely its “Total Tire Management System” (TTMS).
Continental reports the approval of its ContiCrossContact Winter as original equipment on the Land Rover Freelander and Range Rover Sport. The cold weather tyre has been approved in size 235/55R19 105H for the Land Rover Freelander and 275/40R20 106V for the Range Rover Sport.
There’s been a nip in the air of late, and Nokian Tyres has recognised this as the perfect time for a reminder that fitting eco winter tyres can help reduce vehicle fuel consumption. “Car drivers even can cut their fuel consumption even by half a litre on 100 kilometres with the environmentally friendly low rolling resistance tyre Nokian WR G2 if the air pressure is right,” commented Teppo Huovila, vice president of R&D at the Finnish manufacturer. “A rolling resistance lowered by 40 per cent saves six per cent fuel.”
Germany’s provincial transport ministers have decided upon the introduction of legislation making the use of winter tyres compulsory. The national transport minister, Peter Ramsauer, reports that appropriate changes to Germany’s Highway Code are expected to be implemented by in parliament “as soon as possible.”
Leading tyre wholesale operation Micheldever Tyres Services reports that it has increased unit sales despite the difficulties of selling in a market beset with recessionary pressures. This year the company expects sales of 6 million tyres – equivalent to just under 20 per cent of the total UK market – with an annual turnover of over £300 million. Not bad for a company that was bought from its founder Tony Todd in a reported £85 million deal just four years ago. When Tyres & Accessories spoke to wholesale director Alan Baldwin he revealed that these unit sales are set to include 1.2 million Kumho tyres. So does this figure reflect a market move to the mid-range as other sources suggest?
Bridgestone promises to have a “strong presence” at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, which opens to the public on October 2. The tyre maker is an original equipment supplier to all major French car manufacturers, and at the Bridgestone stand (Hall 1, Booth 550D, for those of you planning a jaunt across the Channel) visitors will be able to see Bridgestone’s prêt a porter range worn by some of France’s top models, including the new Citroën DS3 and Peugeot 207 SW Outdoor.
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