Winter Tyres
Continental Tyres is showing its support for October’s Tyre Safety month in October with a call for UK motorists to be aware of the safety benefits winter tyres offer. Traditionally the British climate has been viewed as too temperate to warrant winter tyres, yet last year’s ‘big freeze’ saw many drivers unprepared and left stranded or involved in accidents that might have been avoided had winter tyres been fitted.
Fulda has announced the launch of the Kristall Control HP, its new cold weather tyre featuring “Snow Catcher Technology”, comprising the tyre’s carcass and tread design and full silica compound. The Kristall Control HP is designed to deliver improved performance on wet and snow covered roads.
Michelin has become the 50th ‘business champion’ to join government-backed Driving for Better Business campaign. In doing so, the company has committed to help promote at-work driving safety initiatives to other public and private sector fleets. The tyre maker’s involvement with the campaign comes after reducing its road crash rate by more than 50 per cent in the last five years and adopting a target of zero incidents. Michelin says improving safety has helped reduce accident damage costs by 46%. It has also seen significant savings on indirect costs, such as vehicle hire and driver time.
For the first time ever Kwik-Fit Fleet is running a special winter tyre programme, and at the time the company is offering corporate customers a hotel facility to store summer tyres when the weather is at its severest. The fast-fit company is urging fleets to plan for winter driving conditions by arranging now for summer tyres fitted to vehicles to be removed in October/November before the first snows, and for £40 a van’s summer tyres can be removed, packed, labelled and stored at Kwik-Fit Fleet’s National Distribution Centre in Northamptonshire. In the spring, the summer tyres will be returned to each customer’s centre of choice for fitment with the winter tyres removed and stored until required again.
The Nokian eNTYRE all-season tyre, first released late last year, is now available to customers in the UK through mytyres.co.uk. The online retailer reports it has secured UK exclusivity for the range and is targeting the eNTYRE at motorists who want a tyre that can be used all year round but seek additional limited snow performance.
Hankook Tire says it is excited to announce its first appearance at the Moscow International Automobile Salon. The company’s reports that its exhibition space (booth 430 in hall 12 for those of you planning to visit) has been custom designed for this show and reflects the growing importance of the Russian and CIS markets for the company’s future business strategy.
BMW has launched a specialist winter tyre swap programme designed to mirror the winter tyre hotels mostly found in continental Europe. The idea is that buying the package gets you two sets of tyres and alloys – one for summer and one for winter use – and the dealership stores the set you not using until the next changeover. By officially promoting winter tyres in this way, BMW UK becomes the first carmaker to offer an official service in this way. It is also the first time BMW have offered an official branded winter wheel and tyre package. The news follows renewed winter tyre activity in the UK that has seen ATS Euromaster order £3 million of the seasonal products and Yokohama launch a winter range here in recent months.
In reporting its financial results for the first half of the 2010 financial year, Germany’s Delticom AG – the company behind mytyres.co.uk – observed a marked difference between the performance of its main e-commerce business and its comparatively small-scale wholesale operation. Delticom notes the continuation of the global economic recovery during the first and an improvement in conditions in most European countries, yet has also seen that within the “strong rebound” in its home market Germany domestic demand has lagged behind the improving consumer sentiment. Therefore, while the internet is “steadily gaining significance as a sales channel”, Delticom states that the late-cycle retail sector as a whole “has not yet been able to benefit from the upturn to the same extent as other sectors of the economy.”
ATS Euromaster has placed advance orders for over £3 million worth of cold weather tyres, following strong interest from UK car and van fleets. The decision to raise its winter inventory with more of Michelin’s Pilot Alpin PCRs and Agilis Alpin van tyres comes amidst claims that the upcoming winter will yield greater demand for the seasonal product. The tyre specialist announced its plans to roll-out a cold weather tyre programme in April, and Steve Bury, Head of National Car at the fast-fit specialist, says the company has been quick to set-up the infrastructure and IT systems required to support the planned introduction this October.
Net sales at Nokian Tyres rose 36.3 per cent year-on-year during the second quarter of 2010 to 260.4 million euros, giving the Finnish tyre maker total net sales of 444.2 million euros in the current financial year – an increase of 28.1 per cent over the first half of 2009. Operating profit for the quarter was 60.9 million euros, a year-on-year growth of 200 per cent, while operating profit for the first half stood at 82.0 million euros, up 369 per cent on the corresponding period of last year. Second quarter net profit amounted to 52.6 million euros, a growth of 342 per cent on the 11.9 million euro profit in quarter two of 2009. Profits for the first two quarters total 72.6 million euros, an impressive 4,740 per cent increase on the 1.5 million euro profit reached in the first half of the 2009 fiscal year.
Wednesday 6 October is the date when the winners of 2010 Tyre and Fast-Fit (TAFF) Awards – the sixth year of the awards – will be revealed at the NTDA's Annual Dinner. But there's a long way to go before then, as the list of nominated companies has only recently been published, with voting forms appearing in last month's and this issue of Tyres & Accessories. Once again, we are the media partner for the TAFF Awards and are sponsoring the "Industry Advertising Campaign" category.
As in previous years, customers are invited to choose a company from each of five short lists in the following categories: Tyre Manufacturer of the Year, Wholesaler of the Year, Industry Advertising Campaign, Tyre & Aftermarket Equipment Supplier of the Year and the Environmental category. Look out for articles detailing each of the categories in our e-Newsletter over the next few days and a complete run-down of the nominations in the August issue of the magazine. First off – Tyre Manufacturer of the Year.
The UK distributor for Yokohama tyres, Yokohama HPT Ltd, has announced it will supply the market with a selection of the company’s W.drive winter tyres; this is the first time Yokohama winter tyres have been available here. Adopted by manufacturers such as Audi, Bentley, Lotus and Mercedes AMG as winter options and recommended by motoring organisations around Europe, the W.drive range is designed to provide grip and safety on snow and ice and allow drivers to maintain control in all conditions.
In North America Michelin is gearing up to launch a new Uniroyal winter tyre, the Tiger Paw Ice & Snow II. Scheduled for release on August 1, the new passenger car range will be available in 29 sizes, nine of which are Tiger Paw Ice & Snow I designs previously only available in Canada. Michelin describes the Tiger Paw Ice & Snow II as a tyre “provides both durability and reliability for driving in severe winter conditions at an affordable price.”
Bridgestone is preparing to launch its first all weather tyre, the A001, in Northern Europe ahead of the coming winter season. This new tyre, the company says, is intended to meet the safety and performance demands of the region’s fast changing weather conditions.
Cooper Tire has introduced two new ranges of high performance tyres intended for winter conditions, the WM-SA2 and WM-ST3. The manufacturer reports these newest members of Cooper’s high-performance line-up benefit from the latest state-of-the-art production technology and have been designed to offer firm footing on snow and slush.
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