Tyres & Accessories May 2013

Tyres & A

ccessories May 2013

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w.tyrepress.com

May 2013 The magazine for the tyre and wheel industries

OFC May 2013_4mm 08/05/2013 13:48

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WWW.TYREPRESS.COM 3TYRES & ACCESSORIES 3/2013

EDITORIAL

TYRES & ACCESSORIES 5/2013

EDITORIAL

WHETHER THE OCCASION IS A CORPORATEPRESENTATION OR A THEATRE PRODUCTION,the moment immediately before you set foot onstage is probably the most nerve wracking. With atriple dip recession narrowly avoided and somefirst quarter results suggesting that the worst ofthe downturn is behind us, this is probably a goodanalogy for where the tyre market at large findsitself as the first half of 2013 draws to a close. Onethe one hand manufacturer-supplied unit volumes,such as the first quarter figures supplied by theETRMA, don’t exactly make easy reading and thereis talk of restructuring. But on the other hand theworst could be over.

Car tyre demand in the first quarter was downby a double digit percentage across Europe.However, various product segments are perform -ing better – take truck tyres for example, whichaccording to the ETRMA were down just one percent to 1.879 million tyres when you compare thefirst quarter of 2013 with the same period in 2012.In addition, different markets are performing, well,better than the broad pan-European trend sug-gests they should. Outside Western Europe, mar-kets like Russia (see further coverage on pages 44and 84 for more on this) continue to impress des -pite what is going on over here.

Likewise, when you consider the numbersfrom different vantage points you get a differentperspective on what is going on. In the UK at leastany first quarter volume declines reported in sell-infigures were around half as bad when countedfrom the sell-out point of view, leading us to sug-gest that demand – although battered – is morerobust than many may have thought. Indeed, whenyou consider the numbers of tyre retail branches inthe British market as a benchmark metric, thingsare considerably more stable now than they werea year or two ago (see this month’s Retail feature,especially pages 29-30). There is even talk ofsome kind of replacement tyre demand recovery,with the ETRMA suggesting the industry expectssummer tyre demand to find itself performing“slightly above last year” by the time the secondhalf of the year is complete.

However, at the sametime questions of corpora-te restructuring and speci-fically the better balancingof supply and demand inWestern Europe havebeen persistent through -out the first quarter of theyear and will no-doubtfigure in the second halftoo. Whether or not theretail demand slump wit-nessed over the past few years is over, large tyremanufacturers are being forced to reconsider theexact details of their European manufacturingoper ations due to both contextual and investorpressures, both of which have arguably been pre-cipitated by the wider economic environment. Thefinancial crisis may have begun with the fallout ofsub-prime mortgage lending and the collapse ofinstitutions like Lehman Brothers, but the rippleeffect means the world is now a less stable andless predictable environment for the tyre industrytoo. And with this in mind, some of the world’s lar-gest tyre markers are seriously considering howlong they can continue operating with low levels ofproduction utilisation in low demand, relatively lowmargin, high cost, highly competitive and less sta-ble mature markets (see page 36).

Only the most pessimistic would suggest thegenerously proportioned lady got anywhere nearsinging during the whole credit crunch, financialcrises, euro-breakdown, recession saga. But as weapproach the end of the first half of the year it doeslook like some of the financial jitters experiencedby routinely profitable companies could be due tothe uncertainty associated with questions ofrestructuring and what is to come. Or in otherwords, as 2013’s act one draws to a close any wob-bles we are witnessing could be a dose of stagefright before the curtains part on the second half ofthe year.

Stage fright

A N N U A L D I N N E R

DATE & VENUE:Wednesday 16th October 2013The Hilton Metropole at the NEC Birmingham is justly rated as one of the best hotels in the Midlands and its purpose built banquet suite provides the perfect backdrop

EVERYONE IS WELCOME:The most prestigious event of the year and the key social event for the UK Tyre Industry. All are welcome, so join the Association members and all the ‘movers and shakers’ from the UK Tyre Industry to celebrate our 84th Annual Dinner.

THE ENTERTAINMENT: Hal Cruttenden is one of the top comedians working in the UK today, as well as being a highly acclaimed writer and actor. He has toured the UK and regularly appears at top UK comedy clubs, as well as at the Edinburgh Festival.

TICKETS:Members: £95 or £90 each for group bookings of 10 or moreNon-Members: £110 or £105 each for group bookings of 10 or more(All prices ex VAT)

To book tickets or for further details please contact us on email: [email protected] or 08449 670707

ACCOMMODATION:We have a limited number of rooms available at a discounted rate. To book online go to:http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/B/BHXMETW-GTYRE-20131016/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG or phone 0121 780 4242 and quote GTYRE

84th

& TAFF AWARDS PRESENTATION

2013 TAFF Awardsin partnership with

Hal C

ruttenden

The right tyre for every applicationA highly qualified team combines innovation capaci-ty and technical skills when choosing the materials used. Thanks to the careful selection and repair of the casing, and to the compounds and tread patterns used, the performance of Marangoni retreads is equivalent to the one of a primary brand new tyre.

MARANGONI S.p.A.Tel: +39 0464 301111 · Fax: +39 0464 [email protected] · earthmover.marangoni.com

Only Marangoni offers 5 years of guarantee.We can make this commitment because of our technical standards of production and the usage of high quality materials.

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FORCE IN MOTION

WWW.TYREPRESS.COM6 TYRES & ACCESSORIES 5/2013

NEWS IN BRIEF

Goodyear a Boeing Supplier of the Year

On 18 April, the Boeing Companyhonoured Goodyear Tire & Rubberas one of its 17 most exceptionalsuppliers. Goodyear was selectedfrom a pool of more than 23,000Boeing suppliers from around theworld and received a BoeingSupplier of the Year award at a cere-mony held in San Diego, US. The tyremaker was awarded in theElectronics/Hydraulics/Mechanicalcategory.

“In today’s challenging businessenvironment, an agile supply chainthat continuously delivers excellentperformance is critical,” said JackHouse, vice-president of SupplierManagement for Boeing Defense,Space & Security and leader ofBoeing’s companywide SupplierManagement programme. “The sup-pliers receiving Supplier of the Year awards have demonstratedoutstanding commitment to provid-ing our customers with the best-value, highest-quality products andservices, while meeting the custom-ers’ requirements and anticipatingtheir needs for the future.”

“Boeing has been a valuedGoodyear customer for many years,”added Pierre Jambon, vice-presi-dent, Off-Highway Tires, Goodyear.“We are proud to receive the BoeingSupplier of the Year award. This is animportant honour, and we look for-ward to maintaining a high level ofexcellence as we continue to supplyour premium tyres and services toBoeing.”

Boeing selected its winning sup-pliers based on statistical measure-ments of quality, on-time delivery,post-delivery support, cost and theability to anticipate and respond tochanging customer requirements.

sg

Superior Industries names site for new plantAs of 2015, Super Industries Internationalwill expand its portfolio of Chihuahua-made wheels. The North American alumi-nium wheel manufacturer announced on16 April that its new manufacturing facil-ity in Mexico will be erected in the city ofChihuahua. Superior Industries says itand the state of Chihuahua have “agreedin principle to a series of incentives thatreflect a continued partnership betweenSuperior and the state.” Superior alreadyoperates three manufacturing facilities inthe city.

“Our positive discussions with thestate government of Chihuahua exempli-fy the cooperative relationship that hasexisted for the twenty years that Superiorhas been operating in Mexico,” saidSteven J. Borick, chairman, chief execut-ive officer and president of SuperiorIndustries. “Our team of employees inChihuahua is a critical part of our success

and we are excited to be able to committo providing more opportunities there. Ipersonally want to thank governor CésarDuarte and secretary of economy ÁlvaroNavarro for providing a commitment backto Superior with incentives that addresscapital and operating cost and expandingthe pool of talented employees neededas we grow.”

Superior previously announced itintends to invest approximately US$125million to $135 million to construct andequip the new manufacturing facility,which will have an initial capacity to pro-duce between 2 million and 2.5 millionwheels a year. The company currentlyproduces approximately 12.5 millionwheels annually. Groundbreaking is tar-geted for around the middle of 2013 andcompletion of construction anticipatedabout two years later. sg

Organisers have announced that the 2013International Rubber Research &Development Board (IRRDB) conferencewill ask “Are we ready for GreenTechnologies?” The event is being held inLondon and is scheduled to run 24 - 26June 2013. The conference has beenorganised jointly by the IRRDB,Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) and itsUK–based research facility the Tun AbdulRazak Research Centre (TARRC).

As you would imagine it will focus ongreen and sustainable technologies rele-vant to the rubber industry, with topicsranging from: the rubber economy, lifecycle analysis of raw materials and rubbercompounds for specific products andapplications of natural rubber, ‘green’

tyres, tyre labeling, genome research,biotechnology and physiology, cultivationand processing of natural rubber, inclu-ding crop improvement and harvesting,alternatives to natural rubber (Hevea bra-siliensis) and civil engineering applicati-ons.

The conference programme will fea-ture a field trip on Wednesday 26 June tothe world-renowned laboratories ofTARRC at Brickendonbury, outsideHertford. Transport from the MillenniumHotel will be provided. The conferencewill be part of the 75th Anniversary cele-brations of TARRC and will commemora-te the work of the IRRDB over more thanfifty years. cja

2013 IRRDB conference focusingon green tech, hosted in London

COMING SOON TO A SYSTEM NEAR YOU

T: +44 (0) 1453 891000E: [email protected] www.cam-esystems.co.uk/contact


NEWS IN BRIEF

WANT TO PROMOTE a tyre brand? Nottoo fussed about being paid for yourefforts? Nitto Tire U.S.A. may have justwhat you’ve been looking for. The tyremaker has launched its ‘Ambassador’ pro-gramme, a scheme aimed at its “mostloyal enthusiasts” and described as being“the latest extension of its dynamic com-munity building efforts.”

Within the Ambassador programme,the said loyal enthusiasts have the oppor-tunity to “become leaders and influen-cers within their peer groups.” To helpthem do so, membership in the program-me provides access to Nitto and automo-tive material such as videos, articles,images and interviews. Ambassadors areencouraged to share this informationthrough their personal social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter.Rewards points will be given out to active members and a leaderboard willtrack the most active Ambassadors.While only the five members with thehighest point total will be awarded prizesin any given month, all members enter

the draw to win a set of Nitto tyres at theend of the year.

“Our social media team has built anamazing community around Nitto fansand enthusiasts,” said Nitto Tire U.S.A.president Tomoshige Mizutani. “As such,we are constantly looking for new waysto create opportunities for our fans toengage with us and benefit from theirinvolvement with our brand.”

Nitto Tire U.S.A.’s Facebook fan basepassed the 3 million mark earlier this yearand the tyre maker claims to be the thirdmost followed Japanese company,behind Nissan and Sony. “Because theonline social landscape is always evolvingand there is no way of controllingEdgeRank, Facebook’s algorithm respon-sible for brands’ share of voice and reach,we have to explore new ways to facilitatecommunication with our 3.2 million loyalfans,” Mizutani added. “Our Ambassadorprogramme helps take back a measure ofcontrol and at the same time strengthensour social presence.” sg

Falken-sponsored Deanewins opening Irish Driftinground

Sunday 21 April saw some tightlycontested drift battles at theMondello Motorsport Park, withJames Deane coming out on top inthe first round of the Irish DriftingChampionship. In his Falken sponso-red Mazda RX-7, the 21-year-oldIrishman saw off rivals GavinLenihan and Shane O’Sullivan fromTeam Japspeed, who took secondand third place respectively.

Reflecting on his podium finish,Deane says; “We had a great start tothe drift season for 2013; I had somehard fought battles but managed tocome out on top in the end and thecar got massive attention all week-end with its new look.”

Supported by Falken TyresEurope, James Deane’s SR20-powered Mazda RX-7 is a new buildfor 2013 and features full Falken liv -ery. Deane’s RX-7 uses Falken’sAzenis FK453 UHP tyres along withan upgraded turbo and aero packa-ge, combining to create his mostpowerful RX-7 build to date.

Since competing at the age of 15,Deane has won five professionaldrift championships and securedover 40 podium finishes in eventssuch as Prodrift, Formula Drift andthe Red Bull World DriftingChampionship. Following his latestsuccesses, Deane will be racing inthe second round of the Irish DriftingChampionship in Punchestown;“Bring it on!” he concludes. sg

Deane drifts to victory at the MondelloMotorsport Park

Nitto seeks ‘influencers’ to strengthensocial presence

Maxxis to boost social networkingMAXXIS has announced its plans toincrease its presence on social network -ing platforms. New Maxxis marketingmanager Amy Colbourne explains that thecompany’s increased activity on social net-works will allow it to offer better customersupport, as well as allowing customers tospeak directly to the company more easi-ly. The brand has recently launched a newMaxxis Babes website and currently hasFacebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,Pinterest and Google+ accounts.

Colbourne says: “We want to givepeople the chance to interact with us,whether they are at home or on themove. Social media is a great way ofdoing that. Some platforms are obviouslybigger than others, but we don’t want to

miss anyone so we’re casting our net aswide as we can.

“The other thing social media allowsus to become is far more accessible toour customers. We are now in a muchbetter position to deal quickly with anyqueries that may arise, through any of thechannels they come to us by. We’re look-ing forward to ramping up the amount ofcontent we’re putting out through socialmedia, and hopefully people will get asexcited as we are and become moreengaged with Maxxis.”

Maxxis has over 16,000 ‘likes’ onFacebook and over 1,000 followers onTwitter, showing its strong performanceon the major social network platforms.

akb

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NEWS IN BRIEF

A look back at stories from the past 20years of T&A

May 1993

Pirelli decided to give up its shares inContinental, thus ending the long-running ‘takeover/collaboration’ saga.

In the UK, retreader the TechnicGroup unveiled its EnvironmentalTyre Control tyre collection initiative,with a video fronted by conservatio-nist Dr. David Bellamy.

May 1988

Continental said that in 1987, thecompany sold more than 50 milliontyres in Europe for the first time inits 126-year history.

At the 32nd Bipaver Congress Prof.Dr Norbert Walter, chief economistof the Deutsche Bank, told delega-tes that the proposed single curren-cy for much of Europe would leadto greater competition in the tyreindustry.

May 2003

Ohtsu Tire & Rubber announced thatit was to merge with its parent com-pany Sumitomo Rubber Industries.

In Korea, Kumho Industrial Co Ltdagreed to sell its Tire Business Unitto a joint venture company for theequivalent of US$ 1.2 billion.

May 2008

Hankook said it would double pro-duction capacity of its plant inHungary to 31,000 tyres a day.

Michelin revealed its intention toinvest £14 million in manufacturingand staff training at its truck andbus tyre factory in Ballymena,Northern Ireland.

THIS?REMEMBER

£100,000 worth of Pirelli tyres stolen at knifepointKENT POLICE is appealing for witnessesto a knifepoint robbery of about 1,500tyres from two HGV lorries near theDartford River Crossing. Officers were cal-led just before 7.15am on 8 April afterPirelli brand tyres, worth a combined totalof about £100,000, were stolen from twoartic lorries. Neither driver was injured inthe robbery.

According to the text of a Kent Policewitness appeal, at around 1am on 8 April aman knocked on the cabin door of a lorryparked on the side of the road, gesturingthat something was wrong with his vehi-cle. When the driver got out to assist, thesuspect threatened him with what is belie-ved to be a knife and forced him back intothe cabin. The driver was kept there untilabout 7am when the offender left thecabin. It was then the driver discovered

that all the tyres were missing from hisvehicle’s trailer. The driver’s colleague,who’d been hauling another load of Pirellityres, is also reported to have been threa-tened with a knife. Half the tyres were wit-hin his lorry’s trailer were taken.

“This was a premeditated robbery inwhich two men were held against theirwill,” said investigating officer, DetectiveConstable Simon Williams. “Clearly this isan incident that caused concern and dis-tress to the victims and I would urge any-one that has any information to come for-ward. Also, if you are offered cheap Pirellityres at a price that seems too good to betrue, then it probably is.”

If anyone has any information, call DCWilliams on 101, quoting CAD 08-0137.Alternatively, contact Kent Crimestoppersanonymously on 0800 555 111. sg

Cooper breaks ground on R&D centreON 12 APRIL, Cooper Kunshan Tirebroke ground on its new Asia-PacificTechnology Center in China. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended byChuck Yurkovich, Cooper’s vice-presidentof Global Research and Development,Allen Tsaur (Cao Kechang), vice-presidentand general manager, Cooper AsiaOperations, along with regional andgovernment representatives.

A total of US$10 million is beinginvested in the facility, which should

enter operation later this year. The tyremaker says locating its R&D centre nearthe Kunshan factory will enable it to moreclosely support the development of origi-nal equipment products.

“Cooper Tire will continue to investand grow and China and we will furtherenhance our technical personnel andcapabilities there,” stated Yurkovich.“Moving the Asia-Pacific TechnologyCenter to Kunshan accelerates thisgrowth.” sg

ISO 9001:2008 certification for Magna TyresNetherlands-headquartered OTR, industrial and truck tyre company Magna TyresGroup has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification for its quality management sys-tem. Official certification audits at the Magna Tyres headquarters in Waalwijk werecompleted in March 2013.

ISO 9001:2008 is a series of international standards and guidelines on qualitymanagement and quality assurance by the International Organization forStandardization (ISO). The certificate is only awarded to companies that can demons-trate their ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customerand applicable requirements, placing customer satisfaction as a key component ofthose requirements. Magna says being ISO 9001:2008 certified is the key to expand-ing the company’s presence in international markets. The certification was carried outby the independent certification body, TÜV Nord. sg

NEWSwww.ntda.co.uk

A highlight of the NTDA Annual Dinner is the eagerly-awaited presentation of the Tyre & Fast Fit Awards and this year’s event is no exception.

As last year, the speciality chemicals group Lanxess is partnering with the Association in sponsoring the Awards. At the 2012 Annual Dinner, Lanxess and the NTDA officially launched a new App, which allowed retailers to demonstrate to customers the savings – in both fuel and money – that can be made by fitting tyres with low rolling resistance. Said Director Richard Edy: “We are very pleased with the take up for viewings of the App since its launch and anything that gives the motorist a better understanding of the performance of their tyres is to be applauded.”

But back to the TAFF Awards. The Association will be asking members for nominations this month, with the closing date being 31st May. Votes will be collected between June and mid-September and the Awards presented at the Annual Dinner on 16th October. The categories are the same as in previous years;

It’s TAFF Awards Time! NTDA 2011NTNTTTTT 10120202222 11DDADADA 2AAAAAAANNNNNNNTTNTTTTNNTTTTNNTTTTNTTTNNRECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

111111111111111111

Tyre Manufacturer, Wholesaler, Tyre and Aftermarket Supplier, Tyre Industry Advertising Campaign and the Environmental Award.

There are two other Awards which are not decided by customers’ votes, the Innovation Award and the Tyre Centre of the Year Award. For the former, suppliers are invited to nominate a product or service that they believe is truly innovative and a panel of experts will select the winner from a short list. The Tyre Centre of the Year Award gives members the chance to show off their commitment to customer service and all-round retail excellence. Companies are invited to nominate one of their centres – or for larger chains, one centre per NTDA region – to take part in a mystery shopping exercise.

As last year, the process will be carried out by leading market research company Encircle Marketing and overseen by the Aftermarket Supplier Group of the NTDA. Details of how to nominate your centre will be given in June, so, if you think your service offering is second to none, this will give you a chance to prove it!

The NTDA is delighted to announce that the speaker at the Association’s Annual Dinner will be comedian, writer and actor Hal Cruttenden.

Hal originally trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama before embarking on a career of stand-up and acting – on film he appeared in ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and ‘The Madness of King George’, while TV appearances include roles in ‘Shackleton’, ‘Eastenders’, ‘Kavanagh QC’ and many others.

His stand-up career includes sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Festival and London, as well as UK tours.

Internationally, Hal has performed stand-up in the US and Canada, India, all across Europe, the Middle East and China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Hal has also performed for the British Armed Forces in Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.

Recent TV comedy appearances include ‘Live at the Apollo’, ‘Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow’, the Royal Variety Performance, ‘John Bishop’s Only Joking’ and ‘The Rob Brydon Show’. Hal can also be heard frequently on Radio 5 Live and he is currently writing a sitcom (‘Hal’) which will air on Radio 4 next year.

To book tickets for the Annual Dinner or for further details please contact us on email: [email protected] or 08449 670707

Versatile All-Rounder to Speak at Annual Dinner

A N N U A L D I N N E R

DATE & VENUE:Wednesday 16th October 2013The Hilton Metropole at the NEC Birmingham is justly rated as one of the best hotels in the Midlands and its purpose built banquet suite provides the perfect backdrop

EVERYONE IS WELCOME:The most prestigious event of the year and the key social event for the UK Tyre Industry. All are welcome, so join the Association members and all the ‘movers and shakers’ from the UK Tyre Industry to celebrate our 84th Annual Dinner.

THE ENTERTAINMENT: Hal Cruttenden is one of the top comedians working in the UK today, as well as being a highly acclaimed writer and actor. He has toured the UK and regularly appears at top UK comedy clubs, as well as at the Edinburgh Festival.

TICKETS:Members: £95 or £90 each for group bookings of 10 or moreNon-Members: £110 or £105 each for group bookings of 10 or more(All prices ex VAT)

To book tickets or for further details please contact us on email: [email protected] or 08449 670707

ACCOMMODATION:We have a limited number of rooms available at a discounted rate. To book online go to:http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/B/BHXMETW-GTYRE-20131016/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG or phone 0121 780 4242 and quote GTYRE

84th

& TAFF AWARDS PRESENTATION

2013 TAFF Awardsin partnership with

Hal C

ruttenden


UK TYRE MARKET

Erich Fric joined GoodyearDunlop UK almost a yearago and brought with himexperience of leadingGoodyear Dunlop operati-ons in Austria and theNordic market

New leader, same directionT&A meets Goodyear Dunlop managing director Erich Fric

THE LATEST IN A SUCCESSION OF LEADERS atTyre Fort in Birmingham, Erich Fric bringswith him an easy-going, but teutonic clarityinto his (relatively) new role of GoodyearDunlop UK managing director. Almost ayear after news of the appointment wasreleased, Tyres & Accessories visited thecompany headquarters in mid-April for theMD’s first published interview in his currentrole where he shared his views on theBritish tyre market and recent corporate cri-ticism of the companies EMEA region.

A mechanical engineer by profession, Erich Fric is a57-year-old Dunlop and before that Robert Boschveteran. He may be new to Goodyear Dunlop UK,but he’s not new to Britain. In fact Fric’s route into hislatest position demonstrates that his earlier experi-ence of working in the UK made something of an

impression. At one point in a previousprofessional incarnation, Fric spenttime working with diesel injection sys-tems. And with British Leyland andother truck OEMs here in blighty ascustomers, this meant travel and resi-dency in the UK. As it turns out theexperience was so positive that whenhe heard of the opportunity of workingin Britain again, he jumped at the chan-ce.

But steering Goodyear Dunlop’spresence in the British Isles issomewhat different to his last coupleof postings leading Goodyear Dunlopin Austria and the Nordic/Baltic mar-kets. Almost a year into the job, hedescribes the UK tyres sector as “a bigand dynamic market”, adding that theBirmingham-based is comprised of a“strong team wants to move forward”despite the obvious difficulties facingthe tyre business in general. Andwhat’s more, from his vantage pointthe company is already “going in thatdirection” and has “the potential forstrong growth.”

Three to five years assignments are the norm

But first the obvious question – how can a leadingmanufacturer maintain its position in a close-knitmarket such as the British Isles when the leadershipchanges as frequently as it has? Erich Fric is the fifthmanaging director at the company since 2004. Hismost recent predecessor, George Rietbergen, stay-ed less than three years and before moving on to aEuropean vice presidency, like Mark Brickhill beforehim.

In answering, Fric flipped the question around:“Three to five year assignments are thenorm….[and] Europe couldn’t have asked GeorgeRietbergen to move on if the team left behind wasnot already strong for the structure to functioneffectively with leadership turnover having beenwhat it has been. Another factor is the loyalty of theteam which includes many who have stayed longerand in some cases career long service of 25 or soyears. These veterans bring real stability and contin -uity with them.” Asked how long he was planning tostay, Fric answered directly without any hesitation: “Iwouldn’t mind saying five years – if the team andcompany agree.”

After establishing that Fric doesn’t have any plansto move on at this point, the conversation movedonto the unique retail and wholesale flavour inherentin the UK market. “It’s a bit complicated compared tothe Nordic markets,” Fric offered euphemisticallyreferring to the vast number of brains distributed bythe combination of a handful of large wholesalers andretailers plus a myriad of independent tyre dealers.Elements of this can be found in other European mar-kets but the combination can’t really be found withinany other single market in Europe. Referring to therelatively unique role play by wholesalers in the UK,Fric obsevered: “Here they are real experts in logis-tics”. It seems his first goal with regard to the whole-sale business is to establish relationships before fur-thering cooperation: “Once we have found common -ality there is the opportunity for partnership. Whileproduct forecasting is hard in Nordic markets [forexample] the logistic expertise of UK wholesalershelps a lot and this is one such opportunity.”

One might think that it is complex product lineslike winter tyres that particularly require this kind of


UK TYRE MARKET

cooperation, but according to Fric thewinter market operation here is actuallyconsiderably easier than in Scandinavia andother heavy winter markets. In the Nordicmarkets the proliferation of stock keepingunits (SKUs) is significantly more complica-ted because, although people might put itin the same box as Germany or Austria,there are probably double the winter pro-duct lines before summer and all-seasontyres are even considered. Although virtu-ally everyone fits winter tyres in the coldmonths, 50 per cent of these are studded,with another quarter produced with softwinter (or extreme winter) compounds,which offer comparable performance tostuds for most Nordic drivers and with therest driving on Western European wintertyres. And this is all in addition to the sum-mer tyres present in the market.

Instead Fric’s enthusiasm towardscooperating with British wholesalers isbecause of their forecasting prowess andtheir ability to offer multi-drop servicesalmost anywhere in the UK. Indeed theconcept of doing three drop a day to tyredealer on the outskirts of Norwich wasboth baffling and impressive to Fric.

Corporate finger pointing

One of the dubious privileges of being aleader is that you have to face down criti-cism. So what does Erich Fric make of thefact that in recently financial results state-ment Goodyear Dunlop UK’s US-basedhead office has bemoaned the profitabilityof the company’s Europe Middle East andAfrica (EMEA) region? While he admittedhe cannot speak for the region as a whole(but rather the British Isles for which he isresponsible) Fric did share his perspectivein terms of the European tyre business ingeneral and the UK market in particular.

While people may draw their own con-clusions about the potential internal politicsassociated with discussions of finger point -ing between different regions of a globalcompany, it is also be worth pointing outthat what might be numerically true forEurope, the Middle East and Africa as awhole may not be true for each individualregion. And what may be true for Europeas a whole may not be true for the consti-

tuent countries within the continent.Indeed what is true for Europe (that its2012 figures were somewhat underwhel-ming) doesn’t appear to be the case for theUK where 2012 full-year figures were up on2011, which itself was good and has evenbeen described as a “turnaround” year.

There are also said to be reasonableexplanations for what has transpired. Aswe know from evidence in markets acrossEurope, dealers have learnt to keep inven-tories low and OE business has been signi-ficantly impacted by an overall lack ofdemand. Across Europe, winter tyre saleshave been markedly down, but once againthis is patently not the case in the UK. Andeven if it had’ve been, the size of this seg-ment means its impact would have beenmuch more limited that in large mainlandEuropean markets such as Germany.However while these structural factorsmean sales of bread and butter productshave felt the effects of market conditions,Fric points out that the highest value UHP,RunOnFlat and 4x4 products have beenoutpacing the recovery of the market,meaning sales should be particularly goodwhen the market as a whole recovers. Thiscan be seen in the market shares of theGoodyear and Dunlop brands combined,which when taken as a pair put the manu-facturer clearly ahead of its premium com-petitors. However, taken as individualbrands the company’s two flag brandsremain a few places off the pace.

In light of all this it is worth asking whatimpact the corporate criticism will have onEMEA plans. With the closing ofGoodyear’s Amiens plant and the likes ofMichelin openly considering its Europeancapacity requirements, Pirelli delaying itsindustrial plan and Continental admittingahead of publication that it will undershootits first quarter financial targets, does thismean Goodyear Dunlop is considering anyfurther production efficiencies inBirmingham or Wolverhampton? The simp-le answer is no. According to Fric, UK pro-duction capacities have already been pret-ty much optimised and these operationsare set to stay as they are. Furthermorethere are no specific plans for additionalefficiencies (read cuts) across Europe atthis time.

Premiumisation

With ERMC saying European sell-in wasdown double digits last year and was simi-larly poor in the first quarter of 2013; andwith third party market researchers sayingsell-out was half or less of that, industryfigures are beginning to indicate that thereis room for optimism. And while no-one isexpecting an overnight turnaround, Friccounts himself amongst those that see themarket’s decline as coming to an end.Overall, he says it stabilise, but we canexpect some degree of upswing in thepassenger car and truck and bus sectors.The relatively positive sell-out data com -bined with the UK’s almost uniquely positi-ve new car registration figures are cited asthe reasons for.

However, Fric understands that in orderfor Goodyear Dunlop to achieve its goals itcannot simply sit tight and wait for the mar-ket to recover. Instead the emphasis is onleveraging the company’s strengthsthrough product innovation, OE, motor-sport, tyre tests and education, marketingand promotions Here in the UK (as oppo-sed to the Nordic and German/Austrianmarkers) a tyre is a real commodity. Andfor this reason Fric admits that the compa-ny must take the recent growth of uppermid-range challengers seriously.

Labelling is a help in the longer termand Goodyear Dunlop’s current Europeanpositioning is interesting in this respect(see “Goodyear aiming to lead in tyre label-ling”, Tyres & Accessories April 2013 formore on this). But the emphasis needs tobe on innovation: “When we come off thegas with this we lose momentum”. Anadvocate for winter tyre criteria when thelabelling rules are revisited, Fric is also asupporter of labelling enforcement. Butwhat does that mean in practice? Fric’sresponse was perhaps the clearest andmost straightforward of the day, summingup the calm but clear approach of themanaging director: “It means yes when itcomes to offering know-how support andno when it comes to financial support.” Astraight answer to a straight question.

[email protected]

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UK TYRE MARKET

THE UK TYRE INDUSTRY has beentaking deliberate steps to developits fledgling winter tyre market formore almost a decade. Over theyears improvements have accelera-ted with the passing of time. Now,new research produced by marketanalysts GfK suggest sales areaccelerating faster than ever.

According to the analysts at GfK, the win-ter tyre market started selling in particu-larly developed volumes during theperiod between October 2010 andFebruary 2011 when unit sales showedgrowth of over 85 per cent on the sameperiod the previous year.

The following year sales grew againby over 70 per cent in terms unit volume.According to GfK, this was “solely on theback of growth expectation as duringOctober 2011to February 2012 as most ofthe country did not experience sustainedcold weather or more particularly snow.”Far from the nightmare of a winter sea-son experienced by some of the arguablymore developed winter tyre markets onthe continent, the UK experienced sustai-ned growth.

However, that said – and this won’tcome as a surprise to anyone – thisseem ingly unending growth is reportedto have stalled during the last winter sea-son (October 2012 to February 2013). Thiswinter saw sales fall by around 30 percent. However, GfK reports that theselevels are still in excess of the very coldwinter of Oct 2010 to Feb 2011, whichwas hailed as something of a winter tyresuccess.

How big is the winter sector in termsof volume?

Percentages are all well and good, butwhile helpful for getting a feel of whichway the market is going, we also need areference point if these numbers are tohave any real value. So with this in mind,how big is the winter sector in terms ofvolume?

According to Kevin Glynn, AccountDirector, Auto at GfK, if we look only atsales from independent dealers we cangain an understanding of the relationshipon average pricing between winter andsummer tyres (not including fleet sales).His view is that winter tyres are worththe effort to sell as on average they go for

around 1.3 times the price of summertyres.

Are there particular sizes that are par-ticularly common? Again, if we ignore anyanomalies caused by fleet sales tyresizes in winter reportedly reflect the pat-tern we see in summer tyres with theUK’s perennial favourite size (205/55R16)being the best seller in a H speed rating.

Taking GfK’s sell-out data to togetherwith ETRMA’s sell-in data for roughly thesame period presents us with an interes-ting conflict. With ETRMA saying theEuropean winter tyre market plummetedby about 20 per cent and GfK putting thedecline in single digits there are two par-ticularly plausible explanations. Firstlythat the demand has been incrediblystrong and this has been supplied by non-manufacturers or that secondly dealershave got used to de-stocking inventoriesduring these straightened times andspend last winter selling off the previousyear’s stock. Of course the third option issome kind of combination of the two.Perhaps there is increased demand andthis is being fulfilled by whoever is offer -ing the best deal, but perhaps we areseeing a de-stocking effect in action aswell. [email protected]

Numbers fly in the face of claims of winter tyre market naysayers

UK’s fledgling winter tyresector is growing

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UK TYRE MARKET

Road safety glass ceiling?Industry bodies working hard, but high numbers of drivers failing tocarry out simple checks remain the norm

THETYRE INDUSTRY’S FOCUS on the safe use ofits products continues to appear evergreenin its appeal. In key speeches towards theend of last year, both the NTDA and TyreWholesalers Group chairmen spoke of thedangers associated with part-worn tyres,while TyreSafe’s Tyre Safety Month addres-sed the issue to record high numbers ofinterested parties. However, TWG chairAshley Croft posed a more fundamentalquestion: “until we can educate the publicand enforce existing tread depth laws howcan we realistically expect our message onpart-worns to be heard?”

On the evidence of more recently published infor-mation, it appears that the safety and economicreasons for avoiding part-worns will remain obscu-re to many drivers, since they simply fail to take onboard the seriousness of proper tyre care. Thisoccurs even when confronted with the increasingweight of information received through broadcastssuch as The BBC’s One Show and at point of saleas a result of TyreSafe’s commendable campaig n -ing. The organisation “reached new levels of…par-ticipation” in 2012, with 200,000 leaflets and pos-ters distributed to those in the tyre industry, parti-cularly to participating tyre retailers and workshopsoffering free tyre safety checks to car owners.Chairman Stuart Jackson is justly proud that since2006, it has contributed to achieving a reduction of

“Poor tyre maintenanceaccounts for billions oflitres of wasted fuel andincreased CO2 output of9.2 million tonnes eachyear” – Bridgestone

4171_GAU861_ad_AW.indd 1 04/03/2013 12:40


UK TYRE MARKET

38 per cent in the number of people killedor seriously injured in a tyre-related acci-dent in the UK.

Yet in Department for Transport figu-res between 2010 and 2011, this figurerose for the first time in this period. Andthe industry continues to report highnumbers of illegal tyres at the point ofremoval.

‘Alarming’ Bridgestone data

The seriousness of the state of Europeandrivers’ tyres was the subject of 2012information gathered by Bridgestone,during the manufacturer’s free tyre safetychecks taken out across the continentand in the UK. The results, gatheredduring more than 28,000 free tyre safetychecks provide grim reading, suggestingthat tyre care and awareness has contin -ued to deteriorate in the region. The mostalarming change from data gathered inthe same way in 2011 is an increase of 25per cent in the number of tyres eitherunderinflated or beyond the legal limit.While the European Union has in placemany strategies for making roads safer –it is a specified goal of the EU tyre label –Bridgestone’s data suggests that themost basic tyre checks remain beyondtoo many of the continent’s drivers.

Bridgestone says that 78 per cent ofvehicles surveyed were found to haveunderinflated tyres while over a quarterhad tyres that were worn beyond thelegal limit. In 2011, Bridgestone found 63and 20 per cent of motorists respectivelywere found to have underinflated and ill -egally worn tyres. The company specula-tes that the increase’s most likely causesare the economic crisis, rising fuel pricesand declining purchasing power; the mes-sage that correct tyre maintenance in thelong term increases the cost effective-ness of tyres in addition to their safetyappears not to affect drivers’ views onshort term maintenance or replacementcosts.

Bridgestone estimates that poor tyremaintenance accounts for billions of litresof wasted fuel and increased CO2 outputof 9.2 million tonnes each year.Underinflated tyres not only wear out

fast er but are also responsible for an esti-mated 3.9 billion litres of wasted fuel peryear, the manufacturer concludes.

Jake Rønsholt, general managerCorporate & Brand Communications,Bridgestone Europe explains: “Driving onunderinflated tyres is not only dangerous.It is an enormous waste of fuel and thecause of carbon emissions that couldeasily be avoided by simple, regularchecks. Ideally, drivers should check theirtyre pressure once a month. And whiledoing so, it is also a good idea to checktread depth and look out for damage orirregular wear at the same time.

“Some people tend to forget thatdriv ing on underinflated and/or worntyres may considerably impact handlingand braking… Many see tyres as onlyblack and round, a necessity purchase,but we must always bear in mind thatthey are the only point of contact withthe road, and the size of 4 postcards!”

Bridgestone says it plans to continuecarrying out free tyre safety checksacross Europe in 2013 in order to raiseawareness on the importance of tyremaintenance and its impact on safety, theenvironment and driving costs. 2012’sfigures represent the eighth consecutiveedition of Bridgestone’s data collected inthis way.

1.5 million ‘avoidable’ MOT failures

The glass ceiling effect in increasingsafety is not limited to tyres. The Societyof Motor Manufacturers and Traders indi-cates in research published in April thataround 1.5 million MOT failures each yearcould be avoided if motorists carry outsimple visual checks of their vehicles andforewarn their dealer of issues, beforethe annual test of roadworthiness.

The findings are highlighted as part ofthe ‘Minute Or Two’ campaign, whichencourages motorists to carry out 10visual checks of their vehicle prior to theMOT test. The full ‘Minute Or Two’ check-list, which can be viewed at www.pass-mymot.co.uk, includes checks of head-lights, tyres, windscreen wipers and fluidlevels. The website also features a videoguide to the checks and a Garage Finder

tool, powered by Motor Codes, the carservicing customer service schemebacked by Trading Standards.

The campaign is backed by everymajor car maker, and technicians at 5,545manufacturer main dealerships acrossthe UK are ready and able to assist cust -omers who might be unsure about carry-ing out the checks themselves. While thiscampaign is much more problematic thanTyreSafe – it has been criticised and con-demned by the Independent GarageAssociation as „a blatant attempt to drivebusiness away from small garages“ – thisis further evidence that, in spite of wide-spread publicity and the economic penal-ty of failing an MOT, many drivers remaintoo disengaged from caring for their vehi-cles.

NFDA director, Sue Robinson com-mented that the „scheme along with theassistance of their local manufacturermain dealer, could make a huge differ -ence to MOT pass rates.“ Experiencesuggests that the difference it can makecan only go so far.

With this in mind, it’s a good thing theplan to reduce the frequency of MOTtests – described by NTDA chairmanStephen Callow, an MOT inspector him-self, as “ridiculous” – did not go ahead. Infact, the significant numbers of MOT fail -ures and tyres illegal at the point of remo-val despite the large amount of roadsafety education organised by industrybodies, suggest that any reduction inlegal enforcement is misguided. And it’sa fair argument to suggest that theGovernment needs to step up and provi-de more stick to go with these numerouseducative carrots provided by TyreSafeand others.

Ashley Croft argued in 2012 thatgreater enforcement is necessary, butquestioned how to redirect resources in“this era of budget cuts and caps”. Hissuggested method – embarrassing theGovernment into redeploying resourcesthrough local publicity – seems like adecent idea. akb/pg

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UK TYRE MARKET

Analysts: UK to become e-commercecapital of the worldFrost and Sullivan offer 12 ‘mega trends that will shape Britain

IN THE FUTURE 81 per cent of the UK population will beliving in urban areas. There will be 200 million con-nected devices and one in four British citizens will beshopping online – the highest number in the world, percapita. The over 65s will represent a fifth of the popula-tion. The country’s South East region will grow to be -come the second largest region after London, accoun-ting for 15.3 per cent of total GDP. That’s all if Frost &Sullivan’s ‘New Mega Trends in the UK’ analysis, whichlooks forward to 2025, turns out to be correct. However,even if there are only half right the flavor of what mighttake place in the next year if of interest to all sectors ofthe industry.

In the report, which is being launched on 14 May, Frost & Sullivandetails and analyses 12 New Mega Trends that will drive growthand innovation in the UK. „These are new areas of growth in keyindustries that will help economic development, boost privatesector investment and promote partnerships with overseascompanies,“ explains Frost & Sullivan Partner Sarwant Singh.

One of the most interesting and important Mega Trends inthe UK will be Connectivity and Convergence. The UK will have200 million connected devices (six for every household) by 2020which means that the country is on the path to becoming a digi-tal economy with new business models and digital innovationhubs. One of the major industries that has benefited from theproliferation of digital devices is retail. Retail in the UK is transi-tioning from brick and mortar supermarkets to virtual stores andonline hypermarkets – merging both bricks and clicks.

The Bricks and Clicks Mega Trend is influencing most Britishretailers to transition from having a single/multiple channel to anintegrated cross-channel model, merging physical and virtualforms of retailing. The report suggests the UK will have the lar-gest online retail penetration in the world as 26 per cent of allretail sales will be online by 2025. Over 80 per cent of entertain-ment products will be sold online by 2025. New retailing busi-ness models in the UK have also opened up new commercialopportunities for allied industries such as logistics. As a result weare witnessing the introduction of innovative last mile optionssuch as click and collect, addressing challenges associated withmaking urban deliveries, given the Mega Trend of Urbanization inBritain – all of which is relevant to the tyre business. Indeed itshould be of particular interest for tyre retailers and e-tailers that

have been trying to fuse “bricks and clicks” with varying degreesof success over the last decade.

The UK will follow the global pattern of cities – not countries– driving wealth creation in the future. As mentioned, around 81per cent of the total population in UK will live in urban centres,say Frost & Sullivan. London accounted for 20 per cent of UK’sGDP in 2011 and could contribute about 25 per cent in 2020.This rapid rate of urbanization will compel companies to targetcities as their growth markets, with most UK cities alsoexpected to become the micro manufacturing hubs or digitalhubs of the country by 2025. Urbanization will also influencecompanies to become more rational and optimal in their opera -tions, creating a new ‘smarter’ UK.

Smart is the new green. This Mega Trend will see smart ini-tiatives replacing green concepts in many parts of the UK. Forexample, smart technology will find its way into most homes,with nearly five million broadband homes expected to have atleast one smart home system by 2017, generating £1 billion indigital revenues. Smart Mobility will save millions of poundsfrom reduced congestion as more door-to-door integrated mobili -ty solutions are introduced. A key aspect of dispensing anysmart initiative would centre on smart grids which are expectedto increase energy efficiency by 30 percent. Nearly 43 millionSmart Meters are expected to be installed in 30 million UKhomes by 2019 generating £14 billion to Britain by 2020. Of cour-se tyre labeling and green tyres in general neatly dovetail intothis. But while the kinds of tyres we might see on electric vehi-cles have been prototyped, this area is very much still in develop -ment.

The study also reveals many Social Trends. For example, oneout of five people in the UK will be aged over 65 by 2020. The65+ group is expected to contribute £77 billion to the British eco-nomy by 2030 (from £42 billion in 2011), with spending power toincrease to £130 billion in 2030 (£78 billion in 2011). Futureopportunities from Social Trends include new services and solu-tions in Healthcare, and neighbourhoods for aging citizens withnew technologies such as robotic care for the elderly. Health,Wellness and Wellbeing in fact would become a key Mega Trendfor the UK as preventive care becomes more important and rele-vant to its aging society. The future of Healthcare will be focus-sed more on wellness and well-being that define mind, body andsoul. This will create new opportunities in e-health, regenerativemedicine, personalized medicine, health kiosks, tissue engineer -ing, nutraceuticals, healthcare tourism, cybernetics, and non-invasive surgery. cja

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MAXXIS-13-467 OE wellies HR_Layout 1 03/05/2013 10:21 Page 1


UK TYRE MARKET

KENT-BASED supply chain specialist,Solstor UK Ltd has reported a reduction ofalmost 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide emis-sions since moving to a Vacu-Lug new andremould tyre policy for its tractor unit fleetand from a new-only policy to a Vacu-Lugremould policy on its trailer fleet last May.

"Solstor is firmly committed to redu-cing its impact upon the environment, andwe recognise the contribution being madein this respect to our operations by Vacu-Lug," says Andy Hitchings, operationsdirector for Solstor UK Limited."Furthermore, in addition to benefiting theenvironment, the switch in our tyre policy

is also proving financially successful whileoperational service levels are unaffected."

Since embarking upon its new tyrepolicies, more than 350 Vacu-LugDuramold super-single tyres have been fit-ted to the Solstor trailer fleet, representinga saving of 54.2 kilogrammes of carbondioxide emissions per tyre. This figureequates to the reduced amount of carbondioxide emitted during the remould manu-facturing process compared to that of anew tyre.

To emphasise the environmental bene-fits of its new tyre policies, a proportion ofthe Vacu-Lug Duramold remould tyres fit-

Solstor looks to Vacu-Lug for carbon reduction

The Solstar fleet will be shod with Vacu-Lug’sliterally green eco tyres

Michelin offers farmers ‘tyres on tick’FINANCING IS NOW AVAILABLE for UKpurchasers of Michelin agricultural tyresthrough the company’s new ‘Flexelagri’credit scheme. The tyre maker says qual -ifying UK farmers and contractors lookingto purchase Michelin agricultural drive ortrailer tyres, or the rims required for itsUltraflex technology, will be able to spre-ad the cost over two years at a 0 per centfinance rate. No deposit is required,however a £100 administration feeapplies.

“We are the first agricultural tyremanufacturer to offer such a deal in theUK,” commented Mike Lawton, commer-cial director of Michelin’s Agriculture divi-sion. “Michelin tyres are a premiumbrand and the upfront cost can some -times be daunting for customers, eventhough the quality of the product balanc -es out the costs by delivering increasedlongevity matched by impressive performance in the field andon the road. This deal allows our customers the financial flexi-bility to spread the cost of their new tyres over 24 months.”

As mentioned, the promotion includes Michelin’s full rangeof agricultural drive and trailer tyres, including its patentedUltraflex technology tyres, which are designed to carry thesame load at lower pressures, or heavier loads at the samepressure, compared with conventional agricultural tyres. TheUltraflex range includes Michelin’s AxioBib and XeoBib tyres for

use on tractors, CerexBib tyres for combine harvesters andSprayBib tyres for self-propelled sprayers.

To take advantage of the Flexelagri payment plan, a singletransaction must total at least £3,500, and not exceed £15,000.Furthermore, all tyres must be purchased from one ofMichelin’s participating Exelagri accredited dealers. The totalamount will then be payable in 24 equal monthly direct debitinstalments. sg

Michelin’s AxioBib and Ultraflex tyres are amongst the products available on credit


UK TYRE MARKET

Fleet manager Alan Flynn says the compa-ny’s tyre bill is the second highest vehiclerunning cost after fuel, and at least onevehicle suffers a puncture every day – andoften many more: “The risk of puncturesand irreparable sidewall damage is our big-gest problem. Every tyre in the fleet endsup being replaced due to damage; wellbefore the tread depth reaches the legallimit or we have a chance to regroove.”

Chevron has six depots across the UK and previously sourced its tyres via theIndependent Tyre Distributors Network. Flynn says increasingly high charges for road-side callouts and lack of adherence to its specified budget tyre policy forced Chevronto consider different suppliers.

“We chose to put ATS-E to the test based on the strength of its nationwide cover -age and 24/7 mobile support. This gives us access to the largest mobile tyre fittingfleet in the country, which helps ensure fast response times for roadside callouts –even in the middle of the night, which is our busiest time.”

ATS-E’s roadside call-out charges follow an agreed national pricing structure and thecompany is committed to adhering to the customer’s budget tyre policy, with a rangeof budget brands stocked nationwide. Flynn adds: “This should mean an end to fittersarriving at a breakdown with expensive premium-brand tyres. We’ve trialled premiumfitments before, but they aren’t a viable option given the nature of our work.

“On occasions where we have been forced down this route at the roadside it’sbeen an unnecessary cost for the business to swallow. It’s why we are ringing thechanges – ATS Euromaster is fully geared up to fit the tyres we specify.”

For routine tyre replacements, Chevron Traffic Management utilises a stock of sparewheel and tyre assemblies. Local ATS-E centres collect any spare rims twice a weekand fit new budget tyres, before returning the completed assemblies to Chevron’sworkshops for fitment. The tyre servicing company undertakes monthly tyre safetyinspections at each of the company’s six depots, designed to help reduce instances oftyre-related breakdowns and support the fleet’s commitment to good tyre husbandry.

Chevron undertakes all types of temporary traffic management, including lane clo-sures, contraflows, narrow lane systems and mobile lane closures, working in supportof the Highways Agency and major infrastructure development companies. It recentlyworked on the widening of the M25 between Enfield and the QE2 Bridge, which utili-sed more than 40,000 traffic cones.

In addition to its 4x4 pick-ups and vans, the truck fleet ranges from MitsubishiCanter chassis cabs mounted with dropside bodies for cone carrying, to a flagship fleetof 18 tonne Mercedes-Benz Axor, DAF CF 65 and Eurocargo Impact Protection Vehicles(IPVs). The IPVs feature a hydraulically-operated crash cushion for protecting teamsworking on the roadside and a rear facing Vertical Lift Light Arrow Board. akb

UK’s ‘most puncture-prone fleet’ appoints ATS-E

ted to the Solstor fleet are madefrom a green coloured compounddeveloped by Vacu-Lug. This com-pound has a lower rolling resistancethan regular tyres and therefore con-tributes further towards carbonreduction.

The green tyres have been manu-factured using a specially-formulatedcompound which replaces the tradi-tional carbon black with a mix of sili-cas, resulting in a low-rolling resist -ance product which provides oper -ational and environmental benefits.Independent trials conducted byTARCC (Tun Abdul Razak ResearchCentre, the UK-based research armof the Malaysian Rubber Board)report that the tyres are more envi-ronmentally-efficient in a number ofways. Firstly the silica-based com-pound is harder and tougher than astandard tyre, meaning there is lessdeformation in the crown area, whichsignificantly improves the tyres' rol-ling resistance by up to 30 per cent.In addition the tread surface of thehigh-silica compound is harder andmicro scopically rougher than regularcarbon black-based compound and,as a result, increases surface grip.

Less movement in the treadmeans there is less heat build-up,thereby prolonging tyre life. The har-der compound theoretically improvesthe wear characteristics of the tyreover a period of time. The silica-basedcompound shows a much improvedsnow and ice behaviour and betterwet skid properties, with abrasionremaining constant.

Solstor UK Limited is part of theAG Thames Group. In addition to itsCrayford Head Office site, the comp -any has depots in Peterborough, andBoston, as well as operations inSpain, Italy and Poland providing apan-European, end-to-end solution.The firm's double-shifted fleet of 80tractor units and 160 trailers is invol-ved in the distribution of fresh andchilled produce to many leading UKsupermarket retailers. cja

A 173 vehicle fleet thought to be amongst the most likely to sustain tyredamage has appointed ATS Euromaster to help maintain its tyres.Oxfordshire-based Chevron Traffic Management is the UK’s largest indepen-dent traffic management company and claims to operate in one of the mostdemanding environments for road-based vehicles in the UK. Chevron runs4x4 pick-ups, vans and trucks completing daily tasks on debris-strewnmotorway hard shoulders.

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RETAIL

Recent years have seen the British tyre market put underconsiderable pressure. The combination of reduced dispos -able incomes (due to the wider economic situation), lowermiles driven (down to the combination of the credit crunch)and sky-high fuel costs have pushed consumers to run theirtyres for as long as ever (often past the legal limit) and in 10per cent or more of cases to purchase part-worn tyres(some figures put annual UK part-worn sales as high as circa5 million units, while others hold 4 million). Either way, allthis has had a significant impact on new tyre demand, whichhas inevitably been felt by retailers themselves. However,while Europool figures report that European sell-in wasdown double digits last year, and was similarly poor in thefirst quarter of 2013 (a trend that is broadly similar in the UK),other market researchers report that UK new tyre sell-outwas roughly half as bad. On the one hand you could viewthis as reason for optimism, as a sign that the market is stabili-sing prior to recovery and the sell-in discrepancy was due to de-stocking. On the other hand you could say it is a testament tothe entrepreneurship of the retail business, which has kept thetyre business afloat in what have been undoubtedly challengingtimes.

A stuttering diesel-engine tyre retail environmentWhat we are left with is a diverse core of specialised busi-

nesses that represent a variety of different businessesapproaches and the complete range of sizes. Around them themarket context has been stalling and stuttering like an old die-sel engine. This, according to some figures, means that the 30-odd million unit average annual car tyre sales figure could beconsiderably less now. Different sources offer massively differ -ent opinions on this, but the consensus appears to be that 2011was something of a low water mark with demand falling up to11.5 per cent, the worst performance of all the major marketsin Europe. However, one report suggests the previous year(2010) was the strongest growth witnessed in the region,increasing 12.5 per cent. Therefore we have to read the drop inlight of the fact that it came off a high base.

Nevertheless, market research agencies put the retail mar-ket’s four-year (2007-2011) compound annual growth rate(CAGR) at between -2.4 per cent and -5.3 per cent, meaningthe market has significantly contracted during the period,which ever way you look at it. Having said all that, again like adiesel engine, once it gets going the UK market has one of thebest outlooks in Europe. Between 2011 and 2016 UK tyre salesare expected to record CAGR of between one per cent and 4.5per cent, depending on which report you are reading. To put thisinto perspective, the same reports suggest other leading matu-re markets such as Germany and France are going be flat ordecline during the period.

De-segmentation and selling powerBut how have retailers managed to keep sales going in

spite of the adverse conditions? There are likely to be many dis-parate reasons for this, but for the purposes of this article let’sjust look at two linked points - the selling power of retailers andde-segmentation.

It is well-known within the industry that the most importantinfluencer when it comes to consumer tyre buying is the retai l - er themselves. But why is this? As one market research firm

The re-volving retail marketWhat a changing market environment means for tyre retailers

Roughly half of the 30 million-odd tyres sold to UK motorists each year are delivered through tyre specialists,a figure that is broadly comparable with figures across Europe. And while there are some noteworthy differ -ences between the structure of the UK tyre market and mainland Europe in general, perhaps the most inter -esting details are to be found within this 50 per cent. That’s why in this month’s retail chains/buying groupsfeature Tyres & Accessories considers the state and make-up of the sell-out market and releases the detailsof latest top 20 tyre retail chains survey. As well as our own research we consider data compiled and analy-sed by four well-known third-party research firms, however for commercial and confidentiality reasons wearen’t citing the sources individually each time they are mentioned. Instead this year’s retail report analysestheir input and presents our view of the consensus.

While the impact of the recession has been felt all-round, retail has shownmore resilience than other parts of the tyre market. This year’s retail reportlooks at the reasons the behind this and the outlook for the future.


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said, in a recent report on the UKpassenger car tyre market in gen -eral, the presence of large numbersof small customers in this marketcan often imply low buyer power,since the effect of any individualdecision to buy or not to buy hasnegligible impact on revenues formarket players. Switching costs inthis market are low with little cost tothe individual consumer whenswapping their loyalty to anothergarage. Or in other words, there islots of competition and it costs not-hing to go to another depot. And ithas to be said that with a largechunk of consumers now pre-researching their tyre purchasesonline this is only likely to increase.However, dealers can and do playon the cost sensitivity of consumersand differentiate themselves on price. And before labellingthere was no way for consumers to objectively compare pro-ducts apart from magazine tests. Owing to the fact that maga-zine tests are by definition limited in their scope, the retailer isalso the tyre expert and therefore the voice of the reason in theconsumer conversation. As a result, buyer power isn’t over -whelming – when people need tyres they need tyres, even in arecession. But – as we have seen – it is certainly a moderateand some would say increasing influence in the market place.The second means of maintaining sales in the midst of turmoillinked to this.

As the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in thebush – even more so in a recession. So when a consumerenters a depot, selling tyres – any tyres – is better than not sell -ing tyres, even if the product sold isn’t a direct match for thepremium OE tyre fitted to the customer’s car. As a result, thereappears to have been a real tendency towards selling morecompetitively priced (and many would argue increasingly com-petitively performing) non-premium tyres. This is the so-calledde-segmentation phenomenon that we have become so famili-ar with. The latest research suggests that the age-old 40:20:40Premium:Mid-range:Budget segmentation of the market hasnow gone (see chart “UK tyre replacement market segment -ation”). While this model has been roughly in place for sometime, others (who presumably had different definitions of bud-get) have suggested the trend toward budget is more markedthan this, and therefore the latest data T&A has come acrossoffers confirmation of its reality.

What is perhaps surprising is where the swing is comingfrom. Broadly speaking, the swing is from Premium to Budgetrather than from Mid-range to Budget as you might expect,with some sixth sevenths of the roughly seven percentagepoint swing headed in this direction.

Looking forward

If you seek a prediction as to what is up ahead, there are someindications that the worst is over and therefore we may seesome improvement in the status quo by the end of the year.One such indicator is the fact that the general UK retail outlookis improving, along with increases in tax allowances and fallingfuel prices.

For the first time in two and a half years the general UKretail performance has improved. However, unless somethingchanges the second quarter of 2013 is set to “flat line”, accord -ing to the Retail Think Tank. Following its quarterly meeting inApril, the KPMG/Ipsos Retail Think Tank (RTT) reported that thedownward trajectory that has plagued UK retail since the startof 2011 finally turned around in quarter one of 2013, although asignificant increase in the health of UK retailing is unlikely toarrive any time soon. The RTT’s Retail Health Index improvedone point to 77 points, thanks to a marginal lift in demand,which would have been better still had it not been for the pro-longed extension of wintry weather throughout the whole quar-ter.

The RTT agreed that overall Christmas trading figures hadbeen relatively good, and that there were very few new casual-ties coming through now – the consequence of better run busi-nesses and an uplift in demand. Details about the differentsectors are perhaps irrelevant to those of us interested in thetyre business and automotive parts in general. However, whatthey do offer is an insight into consumer confidence. For exam-ple, while the food sector was something of a star performer,food margins remained broadly flat. And extra discounting wasnecessary to stimulate clothing sales in particular, and somemajor players remained heavily promotional led in the quarter(notably Debenhams and M&S). The logic is that if people are

Q4 2011

Source: Third party market research Tyres & Accessories 5/2013

42.6%Premium

35.4%Budget

22%Mid

Q4 2012

20.9%Mid

41.9%Budget

37.2%Premium

Note: Includes all passenger fitments

Change: Premium: 5.4 Mid: 1.1 Budget: 6.7

UK tyre replacement market segmentationUK replacement market segmentation


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scrimping on clothes they won’t necessarily have disposableincome to spend on tyres. But once again, because of the uni-que type of product context tyres are sold in, what it may meanin practice is that rather than fewer tyres being sold it will meanthe fight will really be over which tyres are sold. And again thefact that retail outlook is improving in general may suggest thatpeople will spend a bit more on tyres.

However, the broad retail situation remains “very mixed”and the RTT report suggests confidence is likely to remainweak because “the recent employment growth is expected totail off, inflation is on the increase again, and with fuel and ener-gy prices set to rise.” However, looking more optimistically,there is some support for increased spending based namelyrecent changes in income tax thresholds and better flowinglend ing. Commenting, David McCorquodale, head of retail,KPMG UK, said: “Overall the quarter was quite an even one forUK retailers as demand, margins and costs all remained relati-vely static and it looks like we’re at the bottom of the decline.”

Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics,added: "It’s a mixed picture. We have seen more employmentgrowth during the quarter, mainly part-time jobs and individualssetting up their own companies. Also, more people are lookingfor work as they come off benefits or come out of education.Consumers are more inclined to spend because it has become

easier to borrow and at the moment there is less incentive tosave. However, employment growth is tailing off a bit, incomeswill again be squeezed in the coming months so nothing is cer-tain. Everything is stacked against the consumer, but they keepon spending.”

Then there is the effect falling fuel prices are likely to haveon miles driven and therefore tyre consumption. According tothe AA, pump prices have dropped substantially following a fallin the price of oil and the wholesale price of petrol and diesel.As a result there is now said to be potential for the UK’s aver -age pump price of petrol to fall to 134pence per litre (ppl) in twoto three weeks. This means unleaded prices have fallen by3.0ppl from 139.9ppl to 136.9ppl and diesel prices even moreso, down 4.6ppl from 146.4ppl to 141.8ppl. All this means a)more pennies to spend on tyres when motorists need to,which will b) be more often because as prices lower milesdriven and thus tyre usage tends to increase, speeding up mar-ket throughput. So while quarter one delivered some very wel-come results, whether we see any increase in demand the nextquarter is open to discussion. Or in other words there are somepositive signs, but especially in the tyre industry it is too earlyto say. What is even less clear is what effect this will have onthe segmentation of the UK market as and when such effectskick in. [email protected]

Source: Third party data, T& A research Tyres & Accessories 5/2013

(1) Autocentres reportedly represent 8.2%

European car and van replacement tyres distribution channels full-year 2011

13.7%Independent garages

15.4%Other 50.4

Tyre specialists

20.5%Vehicle manufacturer networks

UK car and van replacement tyres distribution channels full-year 2011

50Tyre specialists

26.3%Other

12.8%Vehicle manufacturer networks

10.9%Independent garages

European car and van replacement tyres distribution channels full-year 2011

UK car and van replacement tyres distribution channels full-year 2011


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LLooking at the 2013 data we can see –broadly speaking – that the dominance ofthe largest tyre retail chains is softeningslightly. Kwik-Fit and the other Itochu-owned tyre retail brands remain dominant,but with their total branch count roundingoff at 791 five branches down on last year.This and indeed the general trend could beseen as something of a self correction ofthe market following Itochu’s Kwik-Fitacquisition in 2011 and the resultant bring -ing together of a number of different retailbrands under one umbrella.

Meanwhile branch attrition (or seen inanother light “right-sizing”) can also beseen at ATS Euromaster. Here the pattern ismuch more pronounced. While the branchcount is down 11 to 358 branches this year,which is the most in our survey of the top20, this actually means the retailer has 124less points of sale than four years ago. Or,to put it another way, it has lost almostenough dots on a map to make another HiQnetwork. However it has to be said that ATSEuromaster would frame this as a conti-nuing part of efforts to rationalise nationpositioning and increase mobile fittingcoverage.

National Tyres & Autocare remains sta-tic in fourth place on 225 branches. Like theother 10 networks in the top 20, consideringthe economic environment, it could beargued that this speaks of stability.

While it lost nine branches since lasttime we totted them up, HiQ remains infourth place with 131 dots on the map. Withthis in mind it is worth pointing out that this

is nine branches less than last year and 16down on four years ago. And this ninebranch swing is actually the second largestwe saw in this year’s survey.

Why tyre retail

Speaking to company representative theyconceded that the franchise network hasn’tgrown as quickly as the ambitious goalspublished at its inception envisaged, butthe company is said to have initiatedchanges to address this. Externally it appe-ars as if take-up of HiQ franchise opportuni-ties has been dominated by a relativelysmall number of franchise holders eachholding multiple branches, with the restsupplemented by franchisees with one ortwo branches. The potential criticism, fromsome quarters at least, is that this hasresulted in larger players having too muchof a say. Be that as it may (or may not be)Tyres & Accessories understands that thefranchise approach is being modified, withchanges centring on making it more attract -ive to independent tyre dealerships byadopting a more pay as you go approach –what some might call a softer franchisingapproach.

What these points don’t address how -ever, is that during the period of the initialfranchise offer the market has been affect -ed by both macro-economic conditions (adouble dip recession) and significant struc-tural change (Itochu’s Kwik-Fit buy-out, thegrowth of Point S and the establishment ofProfile Tyrecenter) in the UK. Both these

factors, whether individually or in combina-tion, could have also put some potentialfranchisees off. Indeed such points alsoaddress the lack of growth in the top 20 ingeneral.

With HiQ holding fourth, this rounds offthe quartet of truly national retailers with thenext two nearest (fifth and sixth placed,Protyre and McConechy’s respectively)some 90 branches behind. However, it mustalso be said that HiQ (the smallest of thetop four) is four times further from the topspot, some 660 depots behind pole positi-on. This diversity between the top fourdemonstrates the distribution of retail distri-bution amongst our top 20, which is there-fore no unrepresentative of the market as awhole. The one thing our top 20 can nevershow however is the influence of the manyone branch tyre shops that are all over thecountry.

One reason for the relative lack of move-ment in over half of the top 20 is the barriersto entry, many of which apply whether a busi-ness is established or not – especially at thistime. Tyre retail capital outlay remains high asit includes employing staff and building orsecuring garage premises. Brand awarenessand location remain of key importance. Thisbenefits large businesses and can lead smallentrepreneurs to build their own local orregional brands, partner with other like-min-ded operations in a retail network-cum- buying group or partner with whichevermanufacturer(s) are deemed to be offeringthe best package. Often it is a combination ofthese approaches.

Not just a fast-fit marketIn the UK tyres are retailed through a complex web of largechains and smaller independent dealers

With half of all tyres sold through tyre specialists, this is clearly the most influentialroute to market for tyre suppliers. Within this segment the balance of power is divi-ded between a relatively small number of nationally influential retail chains andlarge numbers of smaller operators. In fact, according to the Tyre IndustryFederation Factbook 85 per cent of tyre specialists operate from a single outlet. Atthe same time we have all been dealing with the financial effects of general econo-mic upheaval. All this makes insights into the ebb and flow of the tyre retail sectorall the more valuable.


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Then there are the technological costs.It not just tyre irons and jacks now its auto-matic test lanes, wheel alignment, diag -nostics and TPMS equipment as well as

point of sale systems. And this is not tomention training which is seen as a keyinvestment by many in the industry.Companies also have to comply with

employment, health and safety, labellingand environmental laws, which – whetherlarge or small - can deter new entrants intothe market. [email protected].

Top 20 UK tyre retail chains 2013 by branchesFirm 2008/2009 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 Change

Itochu retail 1) 670 676 796 791 (-5)

ATS Euromaster 482 369 369 358 (-11)

National Tyres & Autocare 214 207 225 225 0

HiQ 2) 147 150 140 131 (-9)

Protyre (Micheldever) 3) 34 53 53 46 (-7)

McConechy's Tyre Service 4) 52 52 49 45 (-4)

Malvern Tyres 5) 29 35 41 40 (-1)

Bathwick Tyres 28 32 32 32 0

Mr Tyre 24 25 25 25 0

Merityre 19 21 22 22 0

Exhaust Tyres & Batteries (ETB) 20 20 21 21 0

Bush Tyres 15 17 17 17 0

Kingsway Tyres 17 17 17 16 (-1)

Farmer Autocare 13 16 16 16 0

Selecta Tyre 14 14 15 16 (+1)

Watling Tyre Service 16 16 16 16 0

Universal Tyres 6) 18 18 15 14 (-1)

County Tyre Group 15 14 13 13 0

Dexel 13 13 12 12 0

Lodge Tyre 8 9 11 11 0

Total: 1848 1774 1905 1867 (-35)

Sources: Company information; T&A Research; NTDA

1) Including any former Stapleton's branches Central, STS, TyrePros etc.2) NTDA handbook says 131. HiQ reports 140 with 16 more coming on-stream in 2012.3) Correct according press release issued April 2012.4) NTDA handbook puts this figure at 46.5) Includes King David Tyres, Malvern Tyres, HiQ and Auto Tyre & Battery Co., Ltd branded depots.6) NTDA handbook reports 14.

Just missed out

Eden Tyre1) 6 7 8 10 (+2)

1)Tied for 21st with Kings Road Tyres, which remained static at 10 branches.

Top 20 branch count change 2011/2012 - 2012/2013

Top 20 total: 1905 (+131) 1867 (-35)

Sources:T&A Research; NTDA

A


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At Michelin alone, a combination of tyretechnology developments and wider varietyof vehicle models requiring a greater rangeof load and speed ratings has led to thenumber of Michelin car and van tyre fit-ments doubling to 800 in the last decade.This includes an additional 275 cold weat-her tyre lines.

Crinson says the UK fleet industry canlearn lessons from Europe, where companycar drivers are used to booking tyre appoint-ments in advance as a matter of course. “Inthis country we are fortunate enough to havea wide choice in the items we buy – fromcomputers to furniture or even cars. And inthe majority of cases, if people want a speci-fic or unique item they know not to expect towalk into a store and instantly get what theywant,” he said. “It’s the same with services. Noone expects to get an appointment with adoctor or dentist immediately unless it’s anemergency, and drivers would always expectto book ahead for an MOT or vehicle service.It is my firm belief that people need to startthinking of tyres in this way.

“It’s unrealistic to think that every tyredealer will have every single tyre line in stockat all times and for fleets there are conse-quences in terms of the fulfilment of tyre poli-cies,” Crinson added. “Unless drivers giveadvance warning, they jeopardise their chan-

ces of getting their first choice tyre. Of coursethere will be times when drivers need emer-gency assistance if a tyre is damaged orpunctured, but for general replacementspeople should plan ahead and book appoint-ments.”

Michelin reports the most popular tyre forfleet and retail customers at the moment asbeing 205/55 R 16 – a size where it has tenderivatives plus vehicle manufacturer-specificfitments.

Kwik-Fit’s fleet sales director, PeterLambert, agrees with Crinson, recommendingcustomers phone ahead: “We have 800 cen-tres and stock between 1,200 and 1,500 tyresper centre, but gone are the days where youcan turn up at a centre and almost guaranteethey will have the specific tyre you need. Wealways have the most popular sizes in stock,however if your vehicle’s tyre size is less com-mon or you want a specific brand, that’s whenit is a good idea to phone in advance.

“Some people do phone in advance;today it’s predominantly retail customers,”Lambert continued. “We would encourage allcustomers – retail and fleet – who have busyschedules and want to minimise time spent inthe centre to phone first, check we have theirtyres in stock and identify a good time forthem to come in and have them fitted.”

At ATS Euromaster, the team is looking to

set up an online booking system for tyreappointments for the leasing industry. “We arecurrently working on a project to offer leasevehicle customers the ability to book a tyre fit-ting appointment in our centres online,” com-mented group sales director Peter Fairlie. “It isstill early days, but we hope to add this to ourrange of available services later this year.

“Our colleagues at Euromaster inHolland and France already offer e-book -ings and the take-up from drivers is high. InHolland alone, they receive in the region of150,000 online bookings every year,” Fairlieadded. “Being able to offer pre-bookedappointments is about making the processhassle free for customers, and ensuring weare always ready with the right quantity,brand, size and speed rating of tyres, in theright location, at the right time.”

To help fleet drivers plan ahead,Michelin has developed an online tool thattracks tyre wear and predicts when replace-ment tyres will be needed. Tyre Managercan be found at www.mymichelin.co.uk/tyre-manager. “This tool could be particularlyuseful for fleets as it will help them budgetmore effectively and plan ahead for main-tenance work,” said Dave Crinson. “Thatcould mean unexpected and lengthy dis-ruptions will be avoided, which is importantfor any business.” sg

Booking ahead essential for optimal tyre serviceIt seems being spoiled for choice may alsospoil our chances of receiving the tyre servicewe want, when we want it. Michelin’s head ofFleet, Dave Crinson, opines that a wholesaleshift in the way drivers view tyre appoint-ments needs to occur due to the number oftyres now available on the market. This diver-sity means drivers who arrive unannouncedat fast-fit suppliers may end up with a secondor third choice tyre, or may be required toreturn at a later date.

The large number of individual sizes available makes it hard for fast-fitters to stockevery possible option

F

AWWW.TYREPRESS.COM32 TYRES & ACCESSORIES 5/2013

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Figures from the poll show that the average labour cost is slightlyover £40 for independent garages, the lowest being £32 in NorthernIreland and the highest being £48 in the south and south east. Incontrast, the most recent Warranty Direct annual Labour Rates sur-vey demonstrates that average labour rates for franchise garagesstand at a national average of £95.94 with some franchised dealerscharging a hefty £55.94 an hour more than independents.

Location plays a part

From over 2000 garage respondents, only two independent garagesin the UK were charging a fee close to £90 per hour with the vastmajority charging less than £50 per hour. Location also plays a partin the figures and when reviewing labour rates by county, the fivelowest prices were recorded as £34 in Cambridgeshire, £35 in

Herefordshire, £36 in Staffordshire and Leicestershire and £37 inCumbria. The five highest labour rates by county were recorded inLondon, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and Kentbut all these garages still recorded average labour figures below £60.

Stuart James, Director of the RMI’s Independent GarageAssociation commented: “With the costs associated with owning avehicle continually rising, it is fantastic to see that independent gar -ages are continuing to offer motorists outstanding value for money.

“We set up Trust My Garage with the motorist in mind, to ensurethat consumers were continually receiving the very best levels oftechnical and customer service from their local independent garageat a very effective price. The results from this survey prove that inde-pendent garages offer the most cost effective deal to motorists andwe will continue to work with consumers through Trust My Garage toensure that it remains this way.“ pg

While many of us may have thought that price is themost important determining factor when it is time tovisit a garage, the latest research from HalfordsAutocentres suggests it is actually more about trust. Thestudy among UK motorists found that, despite fuel andinsurance prices driving up the cost of motoring, thevast majority of owners (62 per cent) value trust aboveall else.

An ability to trust the integrity of a garage to deliver against theirpromises is significantly more important than a convenient loca-tion – which was ranked the second most influential factor by 36per cent of drivers – relegating price to third with 32 per cent.

Rory Carlin from Halfords Autocentres said: “There’s no easyway of establishing trust, it is earned and maintained in a widevariety of ways over time. From the efficiency of our booking inprocess and the expertise of our technicians, to the quality ofworkmanship, parts and backing of minimum 12 month warran-ty - we establish trust by offering access to a reputable brandthat delivers main dealer quality at a more affordable price.”

Trust is almost equally important to both men (63 per cent) andwomen (61 per cent). However, age is a factor in determining buy-ing behaviour - with the proportion of drivers citing trust as theirprimary influence increasing the older they are.

Of those drivers aged over 65, 66 per cent placed trust num-ber one, followed by 63 per cent of 35-44 year olds and 62 percent of 55-64 year olds. However, only 35 per cent of drivers aged18-24 said trust plays a part in their decision making - suggestingthat experience plays a role in how highly trust is valued.

The study found there to be good reason why trust has beco-me so important with over half (51 per cent) of respondentsreporting instances of work being recommended for routine worksuch as an annual MOT that they felt was unnecessary at somepoint.

Rory Carlin added: “Trust is a vital commodity that is hard ear-ned and can be eroded all too easily. We go to great lengths to eli-minate the jargon used by mechanics when speaking to motoristsand constantly evaluate our overall performance using an onlinecustomer experience survey, which ultimately enables us tobuild even greater trust in our service and our brand.” cja

“Independent garages offer better value“ poll shows

Halfords: Trust most important factor in garage choice

According to recent information released by the Independent Garage Association (IGA), cash-strapped motoristswill be delighted to hear that visiting an independent garage could cost them on average £40 an hour less thanif they visited a franchise dealer. The IGA polled over 2000 of its members on their labour rates and has conclu-ded, that independent garages ‘continue to offer motorists the very best value for money.’ Enabling all UK motor -ists to find a ‘trusted’ local independent garage was one of the key reasons why the IGA launched its UK-wideTrust My Garage scheme.


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W

Are after-sale services going online?

What’s interesting for the wider tyre and fast fit business is thatthese car service portals do not only offer new possib-ilities to car drivers, but also to industry, garages and parts who-lesalers. German auto centre chains appear to have dominated the research. But, as far as out-and-out tyre busines-ses are concerned, it is interested to note that Delticom andTyre24 tied with 10 per cent of those questioned recog nisingthese sites.

Wolk’s view is that the further the online service marketdevelops, the further does its transparency. According to thestudy this does not only hold true for pricing policy, but also forthe rating of the quality of parts and services offered by thesegarages, the type of garage, their appointment availability, andtheir location.

Car drivers’ general online expenditures to rise by 11 per cent

The study is based on the responses of a total of 1,062 cardrivers questioned in August 2012. The car drivers, which are responsible for the maintenance of their vehicles, were questioned with regard to their future-use of car service online

portals, their preferential booking methods, and the mostimportant criteria when it comes to selecting a workshop. Theresults underline the strong growth potential of car servicemarket places in the internet. According to the study, today,internet-oriented car drivers spend an average of 830 euros per

year for products and services (not onlyautomotive) and almost two workingdays per week on the world wide web. In the future, this online spending isexpected to rise by 11 per cent. Further-more the study shows that 35 per centcollect information on service range andqualification of workshops from the inter-net already today.

Another central result of the researchis that 60 to 70 per cent of the interview-ed car drivers can imagine booking carservices online in the nearer future.

Wolk has a team of 40 specialistsand, as a company, offers 30 years ofexperience in this field. The firm focuseson car service, car parts, tyres, car glass,chemicals and equipment. cja

Even though car service portals are being accepted only hesitantly, they still have aremarkable effect already today and the online booking of auto-services is begin-ning to enter the imagination of motorists across Europe. According to Germanresearch firm Wolk Aftersales, the concept has now “become imaginable” to manycar drivers and the finding forms the basis for a new study named “After Sales GoesOnline“, conducted by the automotive consultancy.

TThis year’s awards were given to nineinternational companies – of which fivewere from the Asia-Pacific region – cho-sen by Pirelli on the basis of seven crite-ria: sustainability, quality, level of service,speed, innovation, as well as cost andglobal presence. According to the tyremanufacturer, the “quality” of the com-panies which supply goods and servicesis an essential factor in the pursuit ofPirelli’s premium strategy.

At present there are about 12,000companies around the world that workwith Pirelli, they are managed by 135 pur-chasing specialists and chosen on thebasis of parameters indicated by Pirelli inthe areas of safety, capacity for innovati-on, quality of materials, sustainability,level of risk, and efficiency of supplychain, with an analysis that does not onlylook at them directly, but also at the sup-pliers of the suppliers, through a self-appraisement by the contractor. Tyres &Accessories spoke with Luigi Staccoli,Pirelli’s chief purchasing officer (CPO), tofind out more.

First, Luigi Staccoli offered his apprai-sal of the awards event itself: “It was avery successful presentation of theawards with an event demonstrating theperformance of Pirelli products running inparallel.” The parallel event is said to haveoffered representatives of the winningsuppliers the opportunity to drive someof the most exciting vehicles available,such as the Ferrari California and

Lamborghini Galliardo, on a test tracknear . And why not? “The companieswhich won the award are those seen asbeing above the level of mere conformity,transforming themselves into true part-ners in quality and innovation,” Staccoliexplained, adding: “and so also achievinga competitive advantage on internationalmarkets”.

With this in mind, T&A asked whatkind of a difference leading suppliersmake when it comes to the production ofpremium and UHP products. Accordingto Staccoli it makes all the difference:“You can only make premium productsfrom premium suppliers.” And for thisreason Pirelli has what are described as

“very strict assessment processes madeby a cross-functional team.”

Of course there are differences in theapproach taken by companies such asPirelli and that taken by the even largerpremium manufacturers, such asMichelin and Bridgestone. In this casethe advantages of size are clear, butPirelli doesn’t need relationships withevery supplier – says Staccoli – but ratherwith the right suppliers. In order to be theright partner in Pirelli’s eyes, suppliershave to go through a procedure not dissi-milar to the OE homologation processthat Pirelli itself has to pass in order toenter relationships with some of theworld’s leading car manufacturers. This


COMPANY NEWS

Pirelli names 2013 Supplier Awards winnersChief purchasing officer talks to T&A

WITH PIRELLI GROUP spending around 4 billion euros acquiring goods andservices in 2012, you can understand why the company wants to invest inits long term relationships and honour its best suppliers. That’s why Pirellinamed the winners of its 2013 Supplier Awards on 10 April. According tothe company, the awards are offered in recognition of the suppliers whohave “contributed in a significant way to Pirelli’s Premium strategy throug-hout the world.”

Luigi Staccoli, Pirelli’s chief purchasing officer


COMPANY NEWS

means research and development questi-ons, safety audits, supply consistencyassessments, risk assessments as wellas laboratory, factory and tyre tests be-fore volume trials. All in all the procedurecan last over a year. According toStaccoli, this means it is very difficult toget on board and rather easier to get off.

Some suppliers – and perhaps we arereferring to Pirelli’s rubber and carbonblack requirements here – are describedas being “the Pirellis of their industries”,demonstrating a mutual respect whichonly serves to strengthen relationships.However, the fact that Pirelli is not buyingin the quantities of some other manu-facturers means it is at some degree at adisadvantage as far as economies ofscale are concerned. “Price is only oneparameter,” Staccoli countered. What isimportant is the overall value supplierpartners create for Pirelli. And to this endtotal cost of ownership is becoming moreimportant than simple costs per se. Inaddition, Pirelli appears to be able tosidestep the disadvantage of its size rela-tive to the top one or two by offering sup-pliers a bigger piece of their pie – so tospeak. But isn’t there an inherent riskwith such a strategy? And isn’t this anissue associated with commodities ingeneral?

Staccoli acknowledged the fact thatwhile there will always be risks, theobject is to negate risks wherever possi-ble. This is done by virtue of some hed-ging, either directly or through suppliers.In addition, risk can be insulated throughjoint activities with suppliers such asimproving efficiencies and offering sup-port with know-how and the supply chain.In a further demonstration of this pro-cess, Pirelli’s award winning suppliers aresaid to be exhibiting a trend towards crea-ting tailor-made products and sharingexpertise with customers like Pirelli. Thisresults in original and patentable techno-logy, which helps premium firms like theItalian tyre maker continue to differentia-te its products despite the enormous pro-liferation of brands available on the mar-ket. This is especially said to be the casein Pirelli’s area of speciality – top endtyres for high performance markets.

Getting greener

The company is also increasingly verify-ing levels of green materials in its sour-cing processes. Materials already usedinclude versalis, guayule, rice husk ash

and recycled rubber in new tyres. And thecompany’s suppliers are also said to beworking towards offering increasingly“green” components in the ingredientsthey provide. Nevertheless, while theproportion of green materials is increa-sing this still represents a relatively smallpart of Pirelli’s overall purchasing spend.Currently green materials representaround eight per cent of this budget. Butwhen you compare this to the situationjust five years ago – when virtually not-hing bearing such characteristics weresourced – this is clearly a vast improve-ment.

Corporate restructuring?

In what was either great politeness orsomething of an understatement, Staccolicharacterised the current tyre volumeslump in as meaning the market is “notexactly booming”. However, he also poin-ted out that the premium sector in whichPirelli specialises is growing. Nevertheless,premium competitors Goodyear andMichelin have both recently either maderestructuring efforts or announced theirplans to reduce European tyre productioncapacity in a bid to better match outputwith demand. In Goodyear’s case thismeans closing the plant and exiting the

agricultural tyre production business in . InMichelin’s case the plans are more wide-ranging, with truck tyre output seen as closest to the chop.

However, while Staccoli said he didn’thave a great deal to add on the subject

following Pirelli’s decision to delay publica-tion of its industrial plan, he did say thatthis may mean covering the output require-ments of fast growing regions with pro-ducts manufactured in relatively underutili-sed European factories. This is of course incontrast in what some may have expected– namely reducing or closing European pro-duction in favour of Eastern European,South American or Asian production.

While not suggesting the two subjectsare linked, Staccoli also observed that theglobal spread of the company’s supplychain is moving east, a trend that has beco-me increasingly noticeable in the last fiveor so years. However, with production faci-lities on every continent, Pirelli is said to be“pretty well balanced” and has a supplierin every major region too. In this respectPirelli does not subscribe to a local for localpolicy, instead looking to leverage globalvalue. And value is described as the balan-ce of quality with price, deliverability andrisk. The increasing quality of Asian sup-pliers (a number of which are honoured inthis year’s suppliers awards) is of particularimportance, with quality standards havingsignificantly increased over the years –especially since around 2007. And thistrend doesn’t show any signs of abating.

[email protected]

SUPPLIER AWARD 2013 WINNERS

Company Country Activity Area

Asahi Corporation Japan Synthetic rubber Raw materialsEvonik Industries Germany Silane and silica Raw materialsJHSi China Silane Raw materialsKiswire Korea Beadwire Raw materialsSynthos Poland Synthetic rubber Raw materialsVon Bundit Thailand Synthetic rubber Raw materialsSAE HWA Korea Moulds, machinery ComponentsSAP Germany IT solutions ServicesHH Global Italy Printing Services

Source: Pirelli

I


COMPANY NEWS

Premium manufacturers review Europeansupply/demand balance

In its most recent report on market trends, Pirelli’sfigures showed car and light commercial vehiclevolumes in Europe to be down 13 per cent year-to-date in the OE segment and 10 per cent in thereplacement business. While separate informationfor premium tyres was not given, on 5 April Pirellistated that in response to the economic crisis inEurope and its impact on demand for premiumtyres, it is “carrying out a significant review of itscommercial structures” in the European market.The Italian tyre maker says this review entails,among other things, more closely integrating itshigh-end tyre production capacity in Europe withthose markets where demand for premium pro-ducts in highest. These markets are presumably

the US and rapidly developing markets – areaswhere Pirelli says demand is growing approximate-ly three times faster than overall global demand forpassenger car tyres.

Pirelli doesn’t precisely set out what it has inmind regarding integrating capacity with demand,and although an industry source told Reuters(“Pirelli studying plan to offset weakeningEuropean demand”, published 7 April) that thecompany intends to ship European-produced pre-mium tyres to markets where demand is growingand absorb the extra transport costs through lowermargins, the same Reuters article shared com-ments made by a second person familiar with thematter, who is reported as saying “Pirelli had no

plans to cut production orclose factories outside ofEurope.” This comment,by means of deduction,leaves the option of cut-ting production or closingplants within Europecompletely open.

But as we have seen,Pirelli is not the only tyremaker to re-evaluate itsEuropean business. AsTyrepress.com reportedon 26 March, Frenchnewspaper Les Echosquoted Michelin’s pas-senger car and light truckproducts division directorFlorent Menegaux as say-ing the tyre maker “doesnot exclude anything” inits response to recentmarket evolution. Headded that Michelin is

WITH GOODYEAR closing its Amiens off-road tyre plant earlier in the yearand with Michelin and Pirelli both pointing to slow market demand as rea-son to reassess their production positions, it looks like change in theWestern European manufacturing positioning of the premium players isin a state of flux.

Pirelli’s presence onseveral big-nameGeneva launches, suchas the LaFerrari, comesat a time when premi-um sales in Europe aretaking a hit


COMPANY NEWS

experiencing overcapacity in Europe, andit appears the French manufacturer metwith union representatives in early Marchto discuss the future of factories in itshomeland. Earlier in the year, analysts atDeutsche Bank also named Goodyear asa company considered likely to restruct-ure its EMEA region business during2013. Indeed, upon releasing its fourthquarter 2012 results (which containedpoor EMEA sales), Goodyear said it wastaking further steps to “return its busi-ness to historical margin levels” withinEMEA. In January, the tyre maker com-mitted itself to exiting the agriculturalbusiness within the region.

Pirelli’s comments on reviewing itsEuropean commercial structures weremade in the context of the announcedpostponement of its 2013-2017 Industrial

Plan presentation. This was originallyscheduled for 8 May but will now takeplace in November. “The decision wastaken to provide better visibility on thecontext of reference and enable the pre-paration of coherent medium-to-longterm forecasts, taking into account thatthe macro-economic and business con-text in which Pirelli operates is in signifi-cant and continuous evolution, more mar-kedly so in recent times,” stated theItalian manufacturer. It added that its2013 targets, announced on 11 March,remain unchanged.

Michelin European plant utilisationunder scrutiny

As T&A reported last month, a similarperiod of reflection is taking place at

Michelin. In response to questioningabout low plant utilisation in Europe,Michelin CFO Marc Henry told partici-pants in the company’s first quarter 2013earnings call that the tyre maker will con-sider its options in the coming months.Michelin’s European passenger car plantsare currently running at 75 to 80 per centof capacity and its truck plants at 65 to 70per cent, he shared.

While this might be seen as badnews, Henry pointed out that the comp-any’s first quarter results are the best ithas ever achieved with such volumes.“So that means that there is no difficulty,financially speaking. But of course thereis no point to stay very long with 65 percent to 70 per cent of utilisation in truckin Europe. So that’s certainly somethingthat we will consider during our strategicexercise that is being done between Apriluntil July this year.”

In its latest market trends update,Michelin reports that European on-roadtyre markets were mostly down inMarch. Original equipment and replace-ment market passenger car tyre sales inEurope (including the Turkish and growingRussian markets) were respectivelydown 15 and 11 per cent year-on-yearduring March 2013. The year to date decli-ne is 11 per cent for original equipmentand nine per cent for the replacementmarket.

Original equipment heavy truck radialsales in Europe (Turkey and Russia inclu-ded) decreased four per cent year-on-yearin March, while replacement sales wereup three per cent. Year to date, originalequipment heavy truck radial sales aredown three per cent while the replace-ment market has increased five per centyear-on-year. sg/cja

Michelin Q1 sales down 8.1%

Summing up its first quarter 2013 experience in a single sentence, Michelin statesthat in the three months to 31 March the “market environment was weak inEurope in passenger car and light truck tyres, disappointing in North America andexpanding in the new markets.”

Total net sales for the quarter came to 4.877 billion euros, 8.1 per cent lowerthan in the first quarter of 2012. Net sales from passenger and light truck tyres(and their related distribution) were 2.582 billion, down 6.5 per cent year-on-year,while sales volumes retreated by 2.8 per cent as gains in the new markets failedto fully offset the fall-off in mature markets. The price-mix effect reflected the care-fully managed price repositionings and the favorable mix effect, led by the 17-inchand larger segment. Truck tyre (and related distribution) net sales amounted to1.477 billion euros, 7.9 per cent less than a year earlier, while sales volumes, whichwere down 5.6 per cent year-on-year but showed a slight upturn quarter-on-quar-ter, reflected the focus on turning around the truck tyre business and restoring itto profit. Specialty business net sales, at 818 million euros, were 13.0 per centdown year-on-year, this decline primarily reflected the 6.9 per cent fall-off in volu-mes caused by weaker demand in the infrastructure and the OE Earthmover andagricultural segments, as well as the early-year contractual price adjustments inthe mining segment and the OE business.

Michelin observes that its volume performance reflected two fewer businessdays in the quarter, a difference in market trends between the mature and growthregions, and a decline in original equipment demand, notably in the earthmoversegment. Volume performance also reflected a negative price-mix, due to theimpact of indexation clauses as raw materials costs decline and carefully managedprice repositioning, targeted on certain tyre sizes. sg


COMPANY NEWS

Nokian 1Q sales down 13%, operatingprofit down 20%Finnish manufacturer defends Russian approach

DESPITE SIGNIFICANT DROPS in firstquarter sales and profitability,Nokian used the publication of itslatest financial results as an oppor-tunity to rebuff negativity relating toits exposure to the Russian market.In the first quarter of 2013 NokianTyres Group’s net sales decreasedby 13.3 per cent to 333.1 millioneuros (1Q 2012: 384.3 million euros).Operating profit fell even moresharply, dropping 27 per cent to 76.3million (1Q 2012: 105 million euros).

The tyre manufacturer blamed historicallylow levels of tyre demand in Europe, but

also presented the case that demand forreplacement car tyres in 2013 will be onprevious year’s level in Nordic countrieseven if it does remain weak in Europe. InRussia, demand is estimated to showgrowth in winter tyres but be flat for sum-mer tyres. And while company represen-tatives concede that the 2013 pricingenvironment is challenging across all seg-ments, Nokian’s strategy will reportedlybe supported by easing of raw materialcosts (€/kg) by approximately six per centin 2013. But this doesn’t fix the demandproblem. And to this end Nokian admittedsales are expected to show “flat to somegrowth during 2013.” Sales in Russia andNorth America are, however, expected

to grow. But sales in Nordic countries andCentral Europe are expected to be flat as well.

All this adds up to some 2013“growth in net sales and operating profitcompared to 2012” although on the backof the first quarter results, first half netsales and operating profit are still going tobe weaker than in 2012. The danger forNokian is that the less than spectacularresults gives ground for the company tobe more reliant on its Russia strategy, butwith Bridgestone (itself a 15 per centshare holder in Nokian) announcing plansfor its own Russian factory during thefirst quarter, this is a strategy that hascome under intense scrutiny. The ans-

wer? A restatement ofthe Russian strategy inthe present market con-text from Nokian presi-dent and CEO, Kim Gran:

“Our strong marketleader position in the coremarkets in Russia andNordic countries is intactand helped us to bookreasonable first quarterresults. Head wind washeavy with the Europeanecon omy, car sales andreplacement tyre marketdemand being clearlydown. We do not foreseeany major improvement inthe market for 2013 buttarget to grow and excelon the back of our rene-wed winter tyre range,expanding distributionand our strong industrialstructure.

“In the first quarterour strongest card was,

PRODUCTION PLANTSProduction capacity in 2013: 18 million tyres Potential to increase output by 50% by 2014


COMPANY NEWS

once again, Russia. A significant increasein winter tyre sales and market sharebrought us most of our profits. Weexpect the good performance to continuewith our new winter tyres spearheadedby Hakkapeliitta 8 coming on stream fromthe second quarter onwards. The Russiantyre market is growing modestly in 2013but offer still further growth opportunitiesin replacement winter tyres. The CentralEuropean market was as bad as expectedin the first quarter with a clear drop indemand. Sales in all Europe sufferedfrom a prolonged winter, which for bothNokian and Vianor caused most of theconsumer summer tyre sales and profitto shift to the second quarter.”

Russia ‘still going strong’

Despite questions from market analystsfollowing the Bridgestone announce-ment, Nokian has maintained its positionin relation to the Russian market. Thecompany’s thesis is that GDP growth inthe first quarter was approximately oneper cent in Russia with full year growthestimated at 2.7 per cent. And while thisis nothing to write home about taken inisolation, compared with Nordic coun-tries, where full year 2013 GDP growth isestimated to be one per cent and largeparts of Europe that remain in recession

or close to it, this is a good prospect.The argument is supported by exter-

nal signs of improvement such as newcar sales. In the first quarter of 2013Russian new car sales totalled 616,700units, the same level as the comparableperiod last year. However, while new carsales are estimated to be flat in the firsthalf of 2013, Nokian expects the stagnati-on to turn to growth in the second halfwith full-year sales of 3.1 million, up 2-5per cent versus 2012. As a result of thisand growing consumer confidence, 2013demand for tyres is expected to exceed40 million units and to grow 2-5 per cent,with the majority of growth being gener -ated by winter tyre sales. Russia tyre pri-cing has reportedly remained stableacross all segments. Compare this withEurope where in the first quarter of 2013new cars sales dropped by 9.8 per centand replacement car tyre sales decrea-sed 13 per cent (although the UK is nota-ble exception here), with winter tyre sell-in tumbling 33 per cent.

The signs are said to be even clearerin the Russian truck tyre segment. InEurope demand for premium truck tyreswas down one per cent and it was down17 per cent in the Nordic countries but inRussia demand increased by 25 per cent.At the same time, new truck winter tyrelegislation in Sweden came into effect in

the beginning of 2013, which increasedthe public awareness throughout Europeon tyres and winter safety.

First quarter miss

While Nokian focused its efforts on sta-ting the case for Russia, financial ana-lysts were somewhat more sceptical,with Morgan Stanley for example askingif the first quarter 2013 results were “pre-lude to a year of falling consensus?” Theanalysts’ conclusions appear to havebeen coloured by the fact that the dropsin Nokian’s first quarter sales and profit -ability meant the firm missed consensusexpectations by nine per cent. Drops of 5per cent had been expected, but the rea-lity was closer to triple this. Pre-tax pro-fits (EBIT) were described as “relativelymore resilient” inasmuch as they werejust seven per cent lighter than consen-sus, but the rancour could have stemmedfrom the fact that they were a 20 per centfirst quarter miss compared with MorganStanley’s own estimates.

On the subject of Russia, the ana-lysts’ line was that there are still questi-ons to ask about Russian pricing and ans-wers needed about why the decentRussian car markets didn’t help Nokian todeliver any surprises in its first quarterfinancials. So, while Nokian is pointing toRussia as its saving grace and while theRussian and CIS consolidated sales grew3.2 per cent, the fact that they formed51.8 per cent (1Q 2013: 44 per cent) ofthe group’s total sales could also be seenas the company’s Achilles heel. And withthe goal to increase production output 50per cent by 2014, discerning which way itwill go is central to the company’s futuresuccess. [email protected]

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 1-3/2013Gross sales by market area


COMPANY NEWS

Falling cost of sea freight is good newsfor tyre trade

IT’S OFFICIAL – the UK has avoided enteringinto a triple-dip recession. Figures publishedby the Office for National Statistics showthat, following the 0.3 per cent contractionthat was witnessed in the last three monthsof 2012, the UK economy expanded by 0.3per cent in the opening quarter of this year.At the start of May, Rob Shelley, founder ofSuffolk-based freight forwarding specialistMaritime Cargo Services, spoke with Tyres &Accessories about this development andother issues influencing the cost of shippingtyres across the ocean.

Quite how this first quarter growth will impact thetyre industry in 2013 has yet to be played out.“With regard to the UK’s ongoing economic strug-gles, I think we can all be forgiven for grasping thesmallest chink of light at the end of a very long,

dark tunnel,” Shelleycomments. “So thenews that the threatof a triple-dip reces-sion is over, at leastfor the time being,has almost put aspring-like step intothe shoes of manybusiness analysts.Indeed, economistsfrom GoldmanSachs are forecast -ing that the secondof the two recessi-ons Britain experi-enced after the 2008crash is likely to berevised away in duecourse, suggestingthe UK’s post-crashperformance hasbeen less dismalthan previouslybelieved.”

Shelley alsonotes that the cost

of moving tyres and wheels between Asia andmajor European markets such as the UK continuesto vary on a shipment by shipment basis. In termsof tyre transportation to the UK, the biggest costcomes from the General Rate Increases (GRI’s),namely the adjustment of sea freight charges byshipping companies. “This rate fluctuates all thetime; for a 40’ container it can cost anything fromUS$1000 to over $5000,” he shares. “However, atthe time of going to press it was $1750 for baseports, which is lower than it has been for over ayear.” Plans were afoot to increase this; Shelleypoints out that most shipping lines intended tobring in a GRI increase of around US$500 per 20’container in April, following similar sized upwardadjustments levied in mid-March; “however, dueto delivery of enormous new vessels with more onthe way and stagnant growth in the container mar-ket, they simply lost their nerve. This is bad newsfor the carriers, but good if you’re shipping tyresand wheels to the UK.”

Other cost factors

Another variable that tyre importers must contendwith is the cost of quay rent and demurrage. Quayrent is the charge made when containers are nottaken off quay on time, therefore incurring costs tothe port for a parking space (quay rent): “The knockon effect of this is that there is then a further char-ge from the shipping line for overdue rental of thecontainer (demurrage). This is quite often the ele-phant in the room adding, sometimes, consider -able and unexpected costs.”

Finally, the scrapping in March of September’splanned 3p fuel duty increase has obviously beenwelcomed by freight forwarding agents such asMaritime Cargo Services. “This is good news fortyre wholesalers as it will have a knock on effect,both on the transportation costs of importing con-tainers, and on distribution costs,” Shelley obser-ves. “Our trade association, the BritishInternational Freight Association, has long beenpressing the Government to eliminate rises for therest of this parliament, and we are hopeful that thislatest fillip is a sign that there won’t be any moreincreases.” sg

GRIs are at their lowestpoint in over a year


COMPANY NEWS

Trelleborg Q1results showeffect of weakermarketIN ITS INTERIM report covering January –March 2013, Sweden’s Trelleborg “noteda strong first quarter despite weaker mar-ket conditions”, or in other words, its figu-res are down on a year earlier but show arespectable performance given the cur-rent market. The company anticipates itsperformance in the second quarter willbe on a par with the first quarter.

Net sales for the first quarter of 2013declined 5.8 per cent to SEK 5.4 billion(£533.1 million); organic sales decreasedby five per cent. Operating profit for thequarter, excluding items affecting compa-rability and the participation inTrelleborgVibracoustic, declined 4.1 percent to SEK 639 million (£63.2 million),equivalent to an operating margin of 11.8per cent, up from 11.6 per cent a year ear-lier. Net profit amounted to SEK 491 mil-lion (£48.5 million), a year-on-year decrea-se of 2.0 per cent.

The business area of interest to us isof course Trelleborg Wheel Systems.Sales here amounted to SEK 1.1 billion(£109.6 million), a decrease of 1.7 percent on the first quarter of 2012.Operating profit fell 7.7 per cent to SEK144 million (£14.2 million) and operatingmargin decreased from 13.8 per cent to13.0 per cent. “Adjusted for acquisitionsand exchange-rate effects, organic salesdeclined by seven per cent,” the compa-ny states. “Sales of tyres fitted on mate-rials handling vehicles in Europe declinedsignificantly compared with the corres-ponding period in 2012. Sales of agricul-tural tyres fell slightly less and performedin line with the underlying market. Thequarter was the second best to date interms of agricultural tyres, despite a sub-stantially weaker market climate.”

The impact of lower sales onTrelleborg Wheel Systems’ operating pro-fit was in part offset by reduced costsexcluding exchange-rate effects. sg

KKR confirms AllianceTire Group purchaseKOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERT (common-ly known as KKR) has confirmed reportsthat it is acquiring a controlling stake inAlliance Tire Group (ATG) from an affilia-te of Warburg Pincus. KKR also confir-med that Yogesh Mahansaria, founder ofATG, will continue to maintain anownership stake in the company andpartner with KKR to continue to growthe business. Terms of the transactionwere not disclosed and so details of cur-rent shareholdings and therefore thebalance of power are not yet clear. Asusual, the transaction is subject to cus-tomary closing conditions, includingreceipt of regulatory and third-party con-sents.

“We would be delighted to haveKKR as our new incoming partner. Ourteam is impressed by KKR’s franchiseand its strong track record. KKR’s invest-ment will enable us to continue toexpand into new markets, make strate-gic acquisitions, and help scale our glo-bal presence” said Yogesh Mahansaria.“We would also like to thank WarburgPincus for its support during the past sixyears as it helped create and build ATGinto the global industry leader that it istoday.”

“ATG is a leader in an attractiveindustry with strong underlying growthdrivers. We are thrilled to be partneredwith Yogesh and his management teamand look forward to leveraging our glo-bal network to support their continuedgrowth,” said Sanjay Nayar, Member ofKKR and Head of KKR India.

“From funding the initial acquisitionof Israel-based Alliance Tire Company tothe development of a global player inthe off-highway tyre sector, our partner-ship with Yogesh and the entire ATGmanagement team has been an extre-mely successful one. We are confidentthat ATG’s success will continue with itsnew partners,” said Vishal Mahadevia,

managing director and co-head ofWarburg Pincus India.

Report: KKR buying 90% of AllianceTire Group

While details have not been officially con-firmed, India’s Economic Times reportsthat private equity firm Kohlberg KravisRoberts (KKR) has agreed to buy a 90 percent stake in Alliance Tire Group. Thedeal, for a reported US$650 million, inclu-des an estimated $125 million in debt.

The news suggests brings speculati-on of such a sale, to a company such asKKR – which has been seen as the frontrunner for some time – to a conclusion.However both the size and the value ofthe purchase may come as a surprise tosome. With the new owner once againbeing private equity and therefore mid-term return driven it is also likely to raisequestions about the tyre company’smedium term strategy.

The report said that Warburg Pincusbought an 80 per cent stake in the then-Hadera, Israel-based Alliance Tire Co. in2007 for some $150 million.Mahansaria, former CEO of BalkrishnaTyres, bought the remaining 20 percent, and assumed operational manage-ment of the company.

Under the new deal with KKR, thereport said, Warburg Pincus is selling itsentire stake, while Mahansaria will sellhalf of his stake to KKR.

What is clear is that KKR’s invest-ment in ATG is being made through itsinvestment funds and will be supportedby a financing tranche led by CrescentMezzanine with additional participationby the Ivy High Income Fund. CreditSuisse served as the financial advisor toATG and Nine Rivers Capital advised theFounders. Barclays Bank PLC and JPMorgan served as advisors to KKR forthis transaction. cja


Ian Veitch is newFTA president

STEWART OADES has handed over thepresidency of the Freight TransportAssociation to Ian Veitch, ManagingDirector of Yusen Logistics UK, followingFTA’s National Council meeting in Londonon 23 April.

Stewart Oades steps down aftercompleting a four year term as FTAPresident.

After studying biology at University inLeicester, Veitch spent 15 years at BritishRoad Services, which ultimately becameExel Logistics, followed by two years as adirector at Christian Salvesen Distributionbefore joining NYK in 1994 as managingdirector of subsidiary company UCILogistics. He became chief executive ofNYK’s merged UK logistics businesses in2005 and in 2007 was appointed to theBoard of Corporate Officers of NYKGroup in Japan, the first European to doso.

His responsibilities increased anddiversified in 2011 with the merger ofYusen Air & Sea and NYK Logistics, for-ming the new Yusen Logistics UK. He hasbeen a member of the FTA Board since2008 and is a Fellow of the CharteredInstitute of Logistics and Transport.

Stewart Oades said:“It has been an enormous privilege to

have been President of FTA for the lastfour years. My thanks to the FTA leader-ship and staff, fellow Board members andthe enthusiastic regional committeeswho have made it a very enjoyable expe-rience. My best wishes go to Ian Veitch,who I know has all the necessary skills toensure FTA continues its excellent workon behalf of our membership.“

Ian Veitch commented:“Stewart leaves behind him an out-

standing legacy within FTA for which I amdeeply indebted to him. I am looking for-ward to working with my Board collea-gues and the Executive team in pursuingthe best interests of our members andpromoting our industry as a vital part ofour society and our economy.“ pg

ATS Euromaster names new group MDIAN STUART is to retire at the end of May2013 after seven years as group managingdirector of ATS Euromaster, the UK’s lar-gest comprehensive tyre specialist. He willbe replaced by Peter Allen, who is current-ly commercial director of Michelin Canada.

After joining Euromaster in 1993,Stuart spent three years as managingdirector of WS Tyremasters, at the timeone of the UK’s largest tyre wholesalers,followed by three years as a regionaldirector in France. He then becamemanaging director of Euromaster in NorthEurope with responsibility for Hollandand the Nordic countries prior to theappointment in his current role inBirmingham.

During the last three years, he hasoverseen a £14 million investment in theATS Euromaster network, modernisingfacilities and extending the company’sexpertise into new areas of service,maintenance and repair. At the sametime, he has reinforced the company’sposition as the country’s largest commer-cial vehicle tyre specialist.

Stuart now plans to pursue a numberof consultancy projects both within andoutside the tyre industry. Commentingon his successor, Stuart says: “Withmore than 30 years in the tyre industry,Peter’s wealth of knowledge and experti-se makes him ideally suited to lead ATSEuromaster into the next phase of itsdevelopment.”

Peter Allen, 50, was originally fromthe UK and will join the company in earlyMay; he takes over as group managingdirector on 1 June 2013. His career in thetyre industry began in the early 1980s atEbley Tyre Services, after which he emi-grated to the USA in 1984, joiningGoodyear as a retail management traineeat a company-owned store in SouthCarolina. After returning to the UK for fouryears, he then joined Michelin in 1990 ascommercial territory sales representativein Georgia, USA.

He went on to hold several sales andmarketing positions in the USA, beforetaking on the role of product line mana-ger (Oceania) in 1999. After two years inAustralia, he returned to the USA in 2001as director sales planning, before beingpromoted into roles including generalbusiness director and distribution devel -opment manager. Allen left the USA forCanada in 2008, where he has been in hiscurrent post for five years – including twoterms as Chairman of the RubberAssociation of Canada.

Commenting on his move to ATSEuromaster, Allen says: “I have been for-tunate to have lived and worked in threebeautiful overseas countries, yet assomeone who was born in Cambridgeand went to school in the Cotswolds, Iam looking forward to an exciting newopportunity back home.” pg

Peter Allen (l) takes over from Ian Stuart on 1 June


SEMA has appointed Mike Spagnola into the newlycreated position of vice president, OEM and productdevelopment programs. The move, which is effectiveimmediately, see Spagnola bring with him 40 years ofspecialty auto parts experience, including more than 20years of product development and project vehicle work.

“We’re excited to have Mike join SEMA in develo-ping services that help members with product develop-ment and OEM initiatives,” said Chris Kersting, SEMApresident and CEO. “SEMA’s vehicle technology and

OEM programs, led by John Waraniak and Bill Wolf,have proven to be extremely beneficial over the years.Mike will work with our existing team to enhance andadd to the services SEMA makes available to our mem-bers.”

Spagnola’s track record includes retail, distrib-utionand manufacturing experience. Most recently, he ser-ved as president for Street Scene Equipment where hemanaged the company’s day-to-day business for 16years. cja

SEMA appoints Spagnola as vice president

Noji named new Yokohama North America bossYOKOHAMA RUBBER has announcedthree personnel changes that tookeffect on 1 May.

Hikomitsu Noji has been appointed CEOof the tyre maker’s US operation,Yokohama Tire Corporation, and CEO ofYokohama Corporation of North America.Noji retains the title of president andrepresentative director of parent comp -any Yokohama Rubber. Noji is expected totravel to the United States regularly in hisnew role but will remain based atYokohama Rubber’s headquarters inTokyo.

Yasushi Tanaka, who was previouslyCEO of Yokohama Tire Corporation, CEOof Yokohama Corporation of America andCEO of Yokohama Corporation of NorthAmerica, will begin on 1 May as assistantto the president of Yokohama’s TireBusiness Group. In his new capacity,Tanaka will oversee Yokohama Rubber’sglobal plans on new plant constructionsas well as expansions on existing plants.

Takayuki Hamaya will be in charge ofYokohama Tire Corporation’s day-to-dayoperations including strategy develop-ment, corporate planning and drivingYokohama Tire Corporation’s businessperformance. Hamaya will retain his titleof chief operating officer.

“Yokohama is fully committed toinvesting resources in the NorthAmerican marketplace,” said Tadanobu

Nagumo, chairman and CEO ofYokohama Rubber. “And we are confidentthat this vital market will be served mosteffectively with the key managementstructure we have put in place.”

Three further promotions withinYokohama Tire Corporation took place on1 April.

Fred Koplin’s role of director, market -ing communications was supersized tothat of senior director, consumer sales,while Rick Phillips has been promotedfrom director, commercial sales to seniordirector, commercial and OTR sales. TimEaster, director, OTR sales and market -ing, reports to Phillips.

Andrew Briggs, previously director,product planning and motorsports, isnow director, marketing communicationsand product planning. Briggs’ responsibi-lities include marketing communications,consumer and commercial product plan-ning. He will also continue to overseemotorsports. Lawrence Kull has beenpromoted from national sales manager,consumer division to director, tyre busi-ness planning. Kull will oversee consu-mer and commercial sales planning, mar-ket analysis, sales strategy developmentand business performance measure-ment. He will continue as the nationalaccount manager for Discount Tire.

Koplin, Phillips, Briggs and Kull allreport to Hamaya. “Yokohama hasaggressive growth goals,” the chief oper -ating officer commented. “And the only

way to achieve those is to keep growingour dealers’ business the way we havebeen. Our customers remain our topprior ity and we are confident that thesales management structure we haveassembled makes us an even moreeffective business partner to them. Welook forward to a mutually strong profi-table future together.”

After a career with Yokohama TireCorporation spanning almost 25 years,Dan King, senior vice-president of salesand marketing, left the company of 5April. King has taken on the position ofpresident at California-based wholesalerTire’s Warehouse. sg

Hikomitsu Noji

Project2_Page 47 07/05/2013 17:36 Page 1


D

CHANGESTOTHE MANAGEMENT structu-re of Pirelli Deutschland’s sales and mar-keting team took effect on 1 April.Amongst these tweaks is an extension ofSascha Kemper’s area of responsibility. Inaddition to his current position asGermany-wide sales manager for theorig inal equipment truck business andNorthern Germany sales manager for thereplacement market truck business,

Kemper has taken over as head of thereplacement truck business in SouthernGermany from Sascha Ihrig.

In his new role as key accountmanag er for car dealerships, Sascha Ihrighas transferred over to Pirelli Deutsch -land’s car business area. Ihrig has beenemployed by Pirelli since 2002, when hewas hired as a local sales manager.

Pirelli Deutschland has created a new

business unit, Business DevelopmentTruck, and placed Levent Elgün in charge.In this capacity he will coordinate theacquisition of new customers and alsosupport Alain Versace, marketing mana-ger Truck - Central Europe, in coordinatingthe marketing of the Pirelli Cyber FleetTMS system in the German market. Priorto taking on this position, Elgün wasemployed for three months as sales andmarketing operation manager for Pirelli’sGerman truck business, and the recentgraduate also completed an internship inthe truck business during 2010 and 2011.

In their new roles, Sascha Kemperund Levent Elgün report directly toManfred Zoni, who heads up the truckbusiness at Pirelli Deutschland GmbHand is responsible for the German,Austrian, Swiss, Belgian and Dutch mar-kets. sg

Heuver names new marketing managerDutch wholesaler Heuver Tyrewholesalehas appointed Dewy Mulder its new mar-keting manager. She succeeds MaureenVoortman in this role followingVoortman’s promotion within the comp -any. In her new role, Mulder takes onmarketing responsibility for bothHeuver’s wholesale business and thecompany’s Profile Tyrecenter retail out-lets.

Heuver Tyrewholesale’s plan for thecoming year involves more intensive cus-tomer contact. Marketing, communicati-on and a focus on the customer are allareas where Heuver wished to make adifference. “In order to be successful, wemust also optimise our internal set-up,”comments director Bertus Heuver. “Thatis why we have fine-tuned our organisati-on. One of the main principles is more

intensive customer contact, via specificcountry teams And Maureen Voortmanwill play an important role in this. On theother hand, we also want to undertakeexternal initiatives; for the wholesalebranch and for our Profile Tyrecenters.With Dewy Mulder as our new marketingmanager, we will be able to give boththese areas our full attention. Dewy willoffer us versatile marketing knowledge inthe field of B2B and B2C. This will help usto take the next step in terms of visibilityand representation, at regional, nationaland international level.”

“Heuver’s aim of placing greateremphasis on customer focus was one ofthe reasons why I accepted my new posi-tion. “That, and the fact that Heuver isestablishing a strong CSR policy and is awarm and transparent family business

with short lines of communication. Mynew role comes with many challenges,but I will first build on things that havebeen successful in the past. The combi-nation between international wholesaleand regional Profile Tyrecenters adds agreat deal of variety to the role. And thatis where my B2B and B2C knowledgewill be very useful. In the comingmonths, I want to meet as many peopleas possible and identify new opportuni-ties to make Heuver more effective thanever.”

Mulder studied international marke-ting and strategic management & corpo-rate development in Sweden, specialisingin sustainability and corporate socialresponsibility. Heuver says she will bene-fit the automotive sector with her exten-sive retail and FMCG experience. sg

Pirelli announces German management changes

Sascha Kemper (l) and Levent Elgün

Bridgestone’s eye-cat-cher: Weighing 5.2 ton-nes and with an diame-ter of 4.02 metres, the59/80R63 VRF is aBauma highlight andis, according its manu-facturer, the world’s lar-gest OTR tyre

I

OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

TYRES & ACCESSORIES 5/201348 WWW.TYREPRESS.COM

“The fortunate isles“ Bauma 2013: OTR segment companies anticipate sound growth

It came as no surprise to find numerous globalmarket leaders amongst the 3,420 Bauma exhibi-tors. This applied equally to the tyre makers pre-sent at the show – mostly, at least. The absence ofMichelin at this year’s exhibition raised a few eye-brows. According to the French manufacturer, itsdecision not to exhibit is no big deal; although aBauma fixture at past shows, Michelin says it iscurrently overhauling how it will go about present -ing its OTR tyres at future trade shows.Bridgestone and Goodyear, who together withMichelin are considered global leaders in the OTR

business, returned in 2013 however and used thisyear’s Bauma as a platform to introduce their latestproducts to the 530,000 trade visitors attendingthe show.

Bridgestone – which describes itself as “glo-bal OTR tyre leader” – presented its new ‘TotalTyre Care’ concept. “The aim behind Total Tyre Careis to help customers keep tight control on tyre-rela-ted costs through maximising the life of theirtyres,” explains Bridgestone Europe communicati-ons manager Andy Dingley. “The programme istherefore built around three tyre management pil-

lars: Total Tyre Life (includingretreadability and retreading),Total Tyre Services and Total TyreSystems.”

Bridgestone’s Europeanmanagement in Brussels countOTR tyre maintenance and ser-vicing under the ‘Total TyreServices’ banner; Bridgestoneexplains it as including “every-thing a fleet needs, from fleettyre inspections to professionaltechnical advice on keepingtyres in top condition, for maxi-mising their total tyre life.” OTRtyre dealers who offer the high -est quality service will carry the‘OTR Elite’ label, a designationthat will function as “the gua-rantee that Bridgestone custo-mers are served by audited tyrespecialists with the expertise

EVERY THREE YEARS BAUMA, the international trade fair for construction machinery, miningmachinery, construction vehicles and equipment, takes place in the German city of Munich.The show also serves as a focal point for tyre makers, wholesalers and equipment sup-pliers serving the off-road segment. And although many within Europe’s tyre industry arenot experiencing the best of times at the moment, most Bauma exhibitors were never -theless in very high spirits and saw themselves, as companies active within the OTR tyresector, as an “island of the blessed” surrounded by a highly contrasting situation in thepassenger car and truck tyre markets. Many exhibitors expressed hope of once againexper iencing sound growth within their market segments in 2013, yet one thing was clear:Everyone in the market realises that, in the long-term, real growth will only take place out-side of Europe.

OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

TYRES & ACCESSORIES 5/2013 49WWW.TYREPRESS.COM

and equipment to provide the best adviceand after-sales support, in order to optimi-se the performance and life ofBridgestone OTR tyres.” Currently some300 OTR Elite dealers have been auditedin France, Germany, Austria, Spain andSwitzerland.

‘Total Tyre Systems’ covers tyre track -ing and monitoring technology – specifi-cally, Bridgestone’s ‘B-TAG’real-time tyre pressure moni-toring system for giant tyres.Bridgestone states that B-TAG can provide “accurateand reliable reports on theentire performance history ofthe tyres at a glance.”

Alongside other new addi-tions to the Bridgestone OTRportfolio, the Japanese manu-facturer introduced the 20.5R25 VDSR pattern at Bauma(see separate text for further

details). The presence ofworld’s largest OTR tyrealso ensured Bridge -stone’s show stand wasa well-photographed one.The 5.2 tonne, 4.02metre 59/80R63 VRF tyreis intended for high ‘Ton-Kilometre per Hour’ oper -ations and was develop -ed to fit rigid dump trucksup to 400-tons, such asthose working in coal-andcopper mines.

The Goodyear standalso displayed product-related services alongsi-de new tyres. A mainfocus was the‘FleetOnlineSolutionsMobile TechnicalEvaluation’ (FOS Mte). AGoodyear representative

told our sister publication NeueReifenzeitung, who represented Tyres &Accessories at Bauma, that FOS Mte hasbeen available to OTR segment custo-mers since the start of this year. Theargument behind introducing the serviceis that while tyre quality and performanceplay an irreplaceable role in maximisingthe productivity of the machinery they’re

fitted to, incorrect fitment and mainten-ance leads to shorter tyre life, poor per-formance and therefore higher cost perhour. The tyre maker’s latest support pro-grammes are aimed at ensuring its custo-mers, irrespective of where they operate,receive the backup and advice essentialfor the maximum return on investmentfrom their tyres.

“OTR tyres are a significant invest-ment but without correct maintenancethey will not give the expected perform -ance and will not last long either,”explains Octavian Velcan, managingdirector of Goodyear OTR Tyres in theEMEA region. “OTR vehicles and equip-ment, by their nature, frequently operatenot only in hostile conditions but also along way from tyre service workshops.For this reason we offer our two program-mes: ‘Goodyear at your Service’ andFleetOnlineSolutions Mobile. Somethingas basic as tyre pressures can make ahuge difference to operating costs andwe are able to show a customer justwhat those cost variations are.”

Goodyear at your Service providesadditional expert support when purcha-sing and operating Goodyear OTR tyres.It is available to all off-road equipmentoperators in Europe and registration facil -itates communication with a local OTR

Frank Löb, OTR tyre sales manager at Goodyear Dunlop TiresGermany, anticipates an upswing in OTR tyre markets this year,at least in certain segments. He is pictured here with the RD-5Dwheel loader tyre

Czech Republic-based Mitasshowed its relatively young butgrowing OTR radial portfolio atBauma; in the foreground is thenew Mitas ERL-50 in size 20.5R25

_Page 47 07/05/2013 17:38 Page 1


OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

tyre specialist or prompt supply of requi-red information. “The nature of the indus-try we serve means that often our cust -omers are in remote places, such as inmines or quarries. For this reason, it isnot always possible for a tyre technicianto make regular visits to advise somecustomers,” Velcan adds. “Our programsmean that a customer can get essentialadvice on the fitment, care and mainten-ance of tyres quickly and accurately –even in the most remote location.”

New Goodyear products on show atBauma included the EV-4C straddle car-rier tyre and the RT-5D wheel loader tyre– further details can be found later in thissection and in our specialty tyres feature.

Czech Republic-based manufacturerMitas and its three European tyre brandsis an agricultural segment market leader,however the company is also building upits OTR tyre business. Last year, almost aquarter of the firm’s turnover was genera-ted through MPT, OTR or industrial tyres,and the company’s manufacturing pre-sence in its homeland, in Serbia and theUS offers further growth potential. Andalthough many European market seg-ments are already heavily radialised,during the Bauma show Mitas represen-tatives shared that in future the companyintends to also offer cross-ply tyres in

markets where demand for these exists.Such a product is the new cut and wear,which will be released globally in July.

At present Mitas offers OTR radials insizes up to 25-inches in diameter, how -ever the portfolio will gradually beextend ed to include 35-inch or potentiallylarger fitments. The company producedits first OTR radials four years ago andduring the course of this year will releaseits first radial port tyres. “In future weintend to play an important role withinthis segment,” a company representativetold Tyres & Accessories’ sister publicati-on.

Indian manufacturer BalkrishnaIndustries – whose brand name BKTstands for Balkrishna Tyres – didn’t justshow off its growing earthmover and off-road ranges at Bauma. It also continuedwith the advertising campaign introducedat the SIMA show in Paris earlier in theyear; weary-footed Bauma visitors wereferried from one end of the Munich TradeFair Centre site in a fleet of 20 BKT-spon-sored rickshaws that sported advertise-ments from the new ‘WOW’ campaign.

In terms of products, BKT displayedan all-new addition to its portfolio, theAiromax AM27. This is a high-speed cranetyre intended for both on and off-roaduse. It is currently available in size 445/95

R25 and the manufacturer says it offers“maximum robustness even with heavyloads” plus “excellent traction qualities”and cut and heat resistance. Other pro-ducts on the BKT stand at Bauma inclu-ded the Earthmax all-steel radial dumperand wheel loader range, which is current-ly available in ten 25, 33 and 35-inchsizes, the new size 18.00-25 ContainerKing port tyre, the Loader Special andMaglift solid tyre.

As of 1 January, Continental opera-tes its industrial tyre business under thename “Commercial Specialty Tires” andthe business unit has voiced its aim ofstrengthening its presence in off-roadsegments. To-date, Continental’s pre-sence in the off-road business has main-ly centred on industrial, solid and MPTtyres, which have been sold under theContinental and Simex (Malaysia, predo-minantly port tyres), and at Bauma thecompany presented a range of under-ground mining tyres; these are producedin South Africa and marketed under theGeneral brand name (see separate textfor more details).

As representatives at Continental’sBauma stand shared, the OTR tyre mar-ket is a growth area. At the end of 2006the company sold its OTR tyre plant inBryan (Ohio, US) to Titan Internationaland aligned its strategic focus moretowards its car, light commercial andtruck tyre businesses. Some half a dec -ade later, the talk at Bauma was that ofonce more establishing a “larger marketpresence” in the OTR and earthmovertyre business.

China’s Aeolus Tyres, together withHeuver Tyrewholesale (who exclusivelydistributes the brand in eight Europeanmarkets), used Bauma to report the latestcompany news and show its current port-folio. “We offer our trade partners reliab-le products and services at very competi-tive conditions, along with comprehensi-ve, rapid service. We want to emphasisethis during the show,” comments compa-ny director Bertus Heuver.

Another Dutch tyre firm at the Munichshow was earthmover and industrial tyrespecialist Magna Tyres, who was pre-sent at Bauma with its new German stra-

BKT showed its current OTR line-up at the show, including the all-steel Earthmax radial range

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tegic partner, Inter-Pneu. Although the Dutch com-pany has manufactured and distributed rubbercompounds and related components for more thanthree decades, in recent years it has also built up astrong industrial and OTR tyre business. Thesetyres are manufactured in China under the Magnaname and represent a substantially growing busi-ness for Magna. In summer, the company will startwork on a new warehouse in Waalwijk, TheNetherlands (see separate text).

Gripen Wheels was a first-time exhibitor atBauma. The Swedish company’s core business isits earthmover tyre business. For this segment,Gripen used to offer two main brands – Hilo andTriangle. These days the company also offers OTRtyres from market leaders Michelin and Goodyear,along with products from other manufacturers.

The 606 and 608 MPT lines represent anexpansion of the Alliance off-road portfolio; thecompany now offers a complete range of 18 to 24-inch tyres for small and medium-sized loaders.These new products were shown at Bauma toget-her with Alliance’s German distributor,Bohnenkamp. The company also showed itsextra-wide Dualmaster 506 and 528 tyres, whichare designed for use on dual-wheel mobile excava-tors. The 22.5 inch size tyre has no spacer ring and

therefore the dual tyres provide a large, flush con-tact area. This helps prevent stones or otherobjects becoming stuck between the tyres andcausing damage. The 506 is designed for use onfirm ground and the 528 for use on soft ground.

For Munich-based Rema Tip Top, the Baumashow could be viewed as a ‘home game’. The com-pany’s main focus there in regards to OTR tyreswas to promote means of extending the workinglife of valuable OTR and EM tyres and repairingdamaged tyres so they can re-enter service. Ondisplay were tyre repair materials, vulcanisationmachinery, mounting and de-mounting tools –everything needed for successful tyre service inthis market segment.

Tyre repair is an area that has profited from aweaker new tyre market, shares Helena Sabo,sales manager at Rema Tip Top Automotive. Ratherthan purchasing new tyres, OTR vehicle operatorsspend more on tyre repair and maintenance thanduring boom times; the repair business effectivelyoperates anti-cyclically. Sabo adds that eventhough it is too early to make a detailed prognosisabout the coming years, Rema Tip Top is confidentthat the market will develop positively – at least inthe area of tyre repair.

[email protected]/sg

OTR tyres don’t comecheap and therefore quali-ty repair is an essentialpart of maximising wor-king life. In this photo isRema Tip Top’s“Thermopress EM II” vul-canisation unit for repair -ing OTR tyres up to 51-inches

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M

Michelin’s solutions for a changingmining sectorGUESTS AT LAST SEPTEMBER’SMichelin-MINExpo 2012 round tableagreed that the mining sector willundergo significant transformationin the coming decade. RashpalBhatti, vice-president of strategicsupply at BHP Billiton, opined that“truck and shovel mining as weknow it today is going to change”,while John McGagh, head of inno-vation at the Rio Tinto Group, statedthat we’ll see “massive mines run-ning with the same level of processcontrol as a large, integrated carfactory.”

Michelin foresees mine operators depen-ding increasingly on remote systems andsensors, and during the show Frenchmanufacturer released its latest TPMS pro-duct, the Michelin EarthmoverManagement System, or MEMS,Evolution 2. The original MEMS was thefirst commercially-available electronic sys-tem for measuring temperature and pres-sure offered by an earthmover tyre manu-facturer. Evolution 2 is more high-perform -ance, connected, efficient version of theoriginal MEMS system, and providesdirect access to data regardless of wherethe vehicle is located inthe mine, greater flexibi-lity for the operator’sinformation service,wireless, more powerfulsoftware and communi-cation system,real-time tyre monitor -ing for an entire vehiclefleet. MEMS Evolution 2records all data from asingle vehicle in real-time and remains in con-tinuous contact with thestockroom to ensureoptimised management.

Michelin XTXL

Although systems such as MEMS canoptimise a mining vehicle’s productivity,the tyre itself plays an even greater role.Michelin’s latest tyre for the rapidly grow -ing underground mining sector – a sectorthat requires the smallest possible tyre tocarry the largest possible load at thegreatest possible speed in order to keepup productivity – is the XTXL. This is theindustry’s first 4 star load capacity tyreand features a tread with massive lugsand a cut resistant continuous centre aswell as angled grooves for traction. Thetyre has sidewall protection ribs to resistsidewall impacts and abrasion. Under thetread lurks a reinforced steel crown belt

package that, according toMichelin, gives 20 per centgreater resistance to punct -ures, while the reinforc edcasing ply affords 20 percent increased load capacitycompared to predecessortyre the XLD D1.

The XTXL was launchedin the second half of 2012and is initially available in size35/65 R 33. Michelin says a29.5 R 25 fitment will bereleased in the near future.

Michelin XADN+

Initially available in 29.5 R 25 for 40 tonarticulated dump trucks, the summer2012-released XADN+ is the successorto the XADN in the E3T segment. Thenew tyre offers 8 to 15 per cent increasedwear life in comparison with its predeces-sor thanks to a new, wear resistant treadcompound. In addition, a new profile inthe sidewall increases damage resist -ance whilst being lighter (14 kilogrammesper tyre less than the 29.5 R 25 XADN).Later in the year, 26.5 R 25 and 23.5 R 25versions will be available. sg

Tweel hits North American market

At the start of the year, Michelin began distributing its X-Tweel SSL in the US and Canada. This firstcommercially available product to result from the Tweel project, which began in 2005, is a non-pneu-matic tyre/wheel unit for skid steer loaders such as those used in the landscaping, construction, con-tracting, refuse/recycling and agricultural industries. The size 12N16.5 SSL hub design is universaland can be fitted on most skid steer loaders.

The Tweel uses traditional radial technology but requires no air, thereby eliminating the downtimeassociated with flat tyres. Michelin says the Tweel’s single unit tyre and wheel assembly replaces the23 components of a typical radial.

In late April, the X-Tweel SSL was honoured at the Edison Awards. Upon receiving a silver awardin the transportation category, Tim Fulton, head of Michelin Tweel Technologies, said Michelin contin -ues “to be surprised and encouraged at the extent to which the innovation is generating excitementacross many vehicle segments; the receptivity has been very strong and positive.“ sg

The X-Tweel SSL


OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

Magna investing in further warehouse spaceTHE PRESENCE OF DUTCH off-road tyrecompany Magna Tyres Group atApril’s Bauma 2013 show inGermany was appropriate, giventhe attention Magna has paid thecountry – and Europe as a region –over the last six months or so. OurGerman affiliate publication NeueReifenzeitung was present at theshow and spoke with Magna’s mar-keting and sales director, BertoBeulenkamp, who outlined the com-pany’s latest activities.

“Magna Tyres is investing heavily in theEuropean market and expanding stocklevels,” shares Beulenkamp. “In 2013 wewill invest 20 million euros in our newEuropean warehouse at our headquarterssite in Waalwijk, The Netherlands. Wehave purchased several companies adja-cent to our current office. The projectbegins in May with the demolition ofthese office buildings. Our schedule is tostart building the new 24,000 squaremetre warehouse in August.”

Although a Dutch company, MagnaTyres only launched a division in its homemarket last October. Magna Tyres theNetherlands was set up to focus on theDutch OTR and industrial markets. Thecompany says it is working with a num-ber of strategic partners to establish anetwork of dealers and a customer basethroughout the country.

Beulenkamp comments that MagnaTyres’ partners rely upon short deliverytimes for OTR tyres as the products arecapital intensive, and this is a key reasonbehind the decision to build the newwarehouse in Waalwijk. Another decisivefactor was the growth in OEM custom -ers; the marketing and sales director saysthe number of European OEM partnerscommitting themselves to Magna Tyres is“increasing beyond expectation”.

The ‘ideal partner’ in Germany

Earlier this year, Magna Tyres alsoannounced details of a strategic relations-hip with German wholesaler Interpneu.The agreement took effect in April 2013and is described as “an important step”in introducing and building the Magnabrand in Germany. Magna Tyres says ithas found “the ideal partner” inInterpneu, with both companies contribu-ting experience of international tyre salesand distribution to their cooperation. Thepartnership allows the Magna brand toaccess end users through Interpneu’sPneuhage Reifendienste network. Theaim of the deal is create a nationwide ser-vice network for Magna OTR tyres.

Magna’s product range

At Bauma the company displayed its OTRand industrial range, including its largest57-inch fitment. This towering tyre, the40.00R57 MA06, is intended for fitmentson rigid dump trucks and is designed foruse on rocky, gravel or packed surfaces.Magna Tyres says the MA06 offers excel-

lent traction and outstanding stability dueto its improved pattern. The companyadds that operating costs are minimisedthrough lowered rolling resistance andcooler operating temperatures. TheMA06 is available in three compounds: A(cut-resistant), B (heat-resistant) and S(standard).

The 57-inch MA06 appeared alongsi-de a new addition to the Magna Tyresportfolio, the Magna M-Straddle tyre, a16.00R25 radial intended for use onstraddle carriers in ports. The new tyrefeatures a double rib pattern and heavyduty sidewalls; Magna Tyres says the M-Straddle provides “outstanding shockabsorption and maximum driver comfort”along with “excellent resistance to dama-ge and impacts”.

Magna began its move towards com-plete tyre production with the addition offorklift truck tyres to its portfolio, establis-hing a full range of solid, pneumatic, press-on and skid steer products. Radial OTR pro-duction started in 2006 and the companyhas previously indicated that OTR sizes upto 63-inch are planned. The company sellsits products to more than 80 countries.

sg

Magna’s 57-inch MA06 fitted to a dumper operating in a Chilean copper mine

T


OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

Kirkby Tyres – ‘Moving the earth for you’KIRKBY TYRES has been at the fore-front of tyre and wheel wholesalingand distribution for over 60 yearsand has established itself as one ofthe largest tyre and wheel ‘full linewholesalers and distributors’ inEurope. With a head office andwarehouse on a six acre site next toJohn Lennon airport in Liverpooland offices in Scotland, Ireland andChina the company says it can sup-ply a tyre or wheel for any applicati-on. This of course, includes OTRtyres, and Kirkby Tyres says it has acomprehensive range of tyres andwheels for this sector, includingfrom leading manufacturers such asAlliance, BKT, Double Coin andBelshina.

The company is the sole UK and Irelandagent for the Double Coin brand andoffers an extensive and well provenrange of OTR tyres – some ofthe latest additions include27.00R49 REM9 and the51 and 57-inch REM11radials designed to goon rigid dumpers.These new fitmentscomplement theexisting range,which includes theREM10 (E3) 26.5 &29.5R25 tyres forarticulated dum-pers and scrapersand REM2 (E3/L3)17.5R25 through to26.5R25 and REM18 (L5) 35/65R33for use on loaders,dozers and graders.Also new to this rangeare the 26.5R25 and29.5R25 L5’s in theREM19 pattern. TheDouble Coin range is

completed with the REM8 High Speedcrane tyre, which Kirkby says continuesto be a very popular tyre due to its dura-bility and competitive pricing.

In addition to representing DoubleCoin, Kirkby Tyres is also the sole UK andIreland agent for the extensive Alliancerange of agricultural, earthmover andOTR tyres. The Alliance OTR range inclu-des a new wide-based radial in the 650pattern for use on loaders, dozers andgraders. The 650, says Kirkby, has beendesigned with a compound that hasexceptional wear characteristics and anall-steel casing for superior durability andpuncture resistance. The new radial isavailable in sizes from 15.5R25 up to andincluding 26.5R25. A new range ofport/mining tyres are also now availablein the 311, 314 and 315 designs. The 311is available in 14.00-24 and 14.00-25sizes, ideal for rigid dump trucks, port andmining applications, the 311 has beendesigned with extra thick sidewalls for

added protection. Thenew 314 is available

in a 12.00-24 L5slick designedfor undergroundmining applica-tions, the ultradeep L5 treadensure longerwear resis-tance onhighly abrasi-ve surfaces.Finally thenew 315 E4.5c o n t a i n e rhandling tyrehas the hig-

hest treaddepth in its seg-

ment, this cou-pled with a speci-

al heat reducing

compound ensures extended lifeexpectancy. Completing the new line-upof Alliance OTR tyres is the 630 highspeed crane 16.00R25 tyre with a speci-al rubber compound with low heat build-up, the new design also allows multi-tread ing.

Kirkby Tyres also serves as UK agentfor BKT tyres. A large stock of BKT agri-cultural, forestry, construction, Industrial,ATV, lawn & garden and OTR tyres arealways available, including the latest‘Earthmover’ range. The BKT Earthmoverline-up has made its mark in this nichesegment of the market with an extensiverange covering the dumper, grader andquarrying markets. Some of the latesttyres to enter the market include the12.00R24 through to 24.00R35. Anotherrelatively new introduction is the 26.5R25BKT SR50 L5 TL rock grip tyre. With anextra deep ‘non directional’ sturdy lugpattern it is ideal for mining, quarryingand rock extraction. The ‘Grader’ tyremarket is amply catered for by BKT whichincludes the 17.5x25 GR288 Grader L2 – awide based, self cleaning tyre with flattread contours and a large contact area. Ithas an open spaced traction patternwhich gives good grip in heavy dirt andextreme mud conditions, and a cut andchip resistant compound. A brand newrelease is the 18.00R25 BKT ContainerKing E4; Kirkby says this is due in soon.

Finally, Kirkby Tyres is the officialBelshina agent for the UK and Ireland,and as such offers the Belshina 35 and49-inch radials for dump trucks.

Kirkby Tyres also offers a full range ofEarthmoving wheels available from stockand fabricated to OE specification, sup-plied in the customer’s colour of choice;these can be manufactured in small batchruns or in high volumes to suit customerrequirements. sg

Double Coin’s REM-11, designed for fit-ment on rigid dumpers


OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

European intro ductionfor Infinity’s provenOTR range

Infinity Tyres is nowrecognised around theworld for its growing OTRtyre range. Followingextensive trials in deman-ding conditions acrossAustralia, Africa and Asia,Infinity’s speciality heavy-duty mining tyres are nowfirst choice fitmentsacross a range of fleetsoperating in the mostextreme environments.

Recently, China’s lar-gest privately-owned coalmining company selected Infinity to run on itsunderground mining equipment, and other majorservice contracts also testify to the quality of theInfinity OTR range, including an agreement withChonquing Dima to fit Infinity to its productionline of speciality armoured security vehicles. Inaddition, Infinity OTR tyres, such as the LB01N,are now fitted as preferred standard by severalmajor companies and government authoritiesacross the Middle East.

Infinity is now proud to introduce its triedand tested range to the European market. Theline-up features the latest developments in heatand wear resistant compounds specially desig-ned for dump trucks travelling with heavy loadsover long distances, and Infinity has also develo-ped cut resistant compounds for vehicles suchas front-end loaders which operate over difficultand rough terrain. All Infinity OTR tyres featureoptimised lug patterns for superior traction andstability which, together with a strengthened car-cass, are said to offer an excellent combinationof reliable performance and long service life.

Besides offering all major wide-based radialOTR tyres, Infinity reports significant successwith its range of size 1800x25 and 1800x33 porthandling equipment tyres. These are used onreach stackers and container handling equipmentand have gained original equipment fitment reco-gnition with Italian company, CVS Ferrari s.r.l. TheInfinity range has also been recently selected byJakarta’s Port Authority to be used in both Kalmarand Linde reach stakers. sg

OTR Shearography up to 63”with Steinbichler Intact 4300STEINBICHLER OPTOTECHNIK is a worldwide leading supplier of opticalmeasuring and sensor technology. The ‘Intact’ tyre shearographic inspecti-on systems by Steinbichler are used at numerous major names within theindustry for the non-destructive testing of passenger car, truck, aircraft, OTRas well as Formula 1 racing tyres, and have proven their functionality aroundthe world.

The Intact OTR series is designed for easy loading and unloading with aregular forklift – the tyre is mounted vertically into the unit, which meansboth sidewalls can be inspected without flipping the tyre. The new Intact4300 for larger OTR sizes enables the shearographic inspection of giant OTRtyres with an internal diameter between 45 and 63-inches, a width of 550 -1550 mm and a maximum weight of 7,500 kg. In addition to its vertical posi-tioning, a key benefit of the machine is its short test cycle of approximately20 minutes, with three cameras operating simultaneously.

Once the tyre is loaded, the measuring heads inside the chamber simul-taneously take images of each sidewall and the tread, without air pressure.Further images are then acquired while the tyre is under 50 millibars ofunder-pressure. These measurements are compared and displayed on acomputer screen, allowing the identification of various non-visible defectsincluding belt edge separations and bead turn-up failures.

Togliatti, Russia-based firm Povolzhskaya Shinnaya Kompaniya, alsoknown as PSK, has entered the OTR tyre retreading business and nowclaims to be the only OTR tyre retreader in Russia capable of retreadingtyres up to 57 inches using the mould cure process. To assure highest pro-duct quality of these giant tires, PSK inspects them before and after retrea-ding using the Steinbichler Intact 4300 and benefits from the clear andimmediate information the unit provides about each tyre’s integrity.

sg

Infinity’s LB01N

Tyres are loaded vertically into the Intact unit, enabling both sidewalls to be inspectedin one go


Bridgestone offerswide range and focuson OTR segmentBRIDGESTONE’S POSITION as a globalleader in the off-the-road tyre mar-ket was underlined at the recentBauma 2013 international trade fairin Munich. The brand presented astrong line-up of OTR tyres andshowed off its 20.5 R25 VSDR pat-tern – a new premium tyre withextra deep treads for loaders anddozers – for the first time.

“The VSDR is the number one pattern forworking in harsh conditions such asrecycling and mining,” the tyre makercomments. “Compared to predecessortyre the VSDL, the VSDR is said to offersignificant improvement in cut resistanceand tyre life, resulting in better cost perhour performance.

The complete Bridgestone OTR rangecovers approximately 50 different pat-terns in both radial and cross-ply con-structions, designed for every kind ofoperation from the lightest to the toug-hest. Each tyre benefits fromBridgestone’s latest technology in orderto produce the most suitable products forall operations, including the largest radialtyre in the world, the 59/80R63 VRF.

With a weight of 5.2 tonnes and dia-meter of 4.02 metres, the 59/80R63 VRFis one of the most formidable tyresanywhere on the market. Bridgestonenotes that the VRF is especially recom-mended for high ‘ton-kilometre per hour’operations. The outsize model is desig-ned to fit rigid dump trucks up to 400-tonworking in coal-and copper mines and oilsands.

OTR tyre development

Bridgestone has been designing andmanufacturing off-the-road tyres for morethan 70 years now, and its OTR divisionhas been run as a separate unit from thepassenger car and truck-bus activitiessince 1989. The Japanese tyre makerbelieves placing the business in its ownunit has enabled it to focus more stronglyon the OTR market segment than mostother manufacturers and helped it deve-lop diversified products for specific requi-rements, meeting customer demand forconsistent high-quality tyres all over theworld.

Today’s specialised software hasenabled Bridgestone to develop tyres in adifferent way, with simulations of how atyre behaves in various situations helpingto produce extremely durable tyres. Thisapproach also simplifies tyre develop-ment processes and shortens develop-ment times.

At the same time, Bridgestone says ithas continued to accumulate knowledgeof tyres at the molecular level, helping tooptimise the mixture ratio and reactionbetween carbon, silica and rubber. Thisscience has not only led to the develop-ment of more environment-friendly tyres– notably Bridgestone’s Ecopia tyres forpassenger cars and commercial vehicles– but has also successfully extendedtread life for off-the-road tyres. With itslatest technologies and capability to opti-mise compound mixes, Bridgestone isable to develop different tyre specificati-ons to suit specific ton-kilometre per hourrequirements.

The company also continues to investsubstantially in OTR tyre research anddevelopment in order to improve productquality and performance. For example,Bridgestone plants employ sophisticatedtechnologies such as X-Ray and superso-nic inspection devices to assure tyre qua-lity.

Production of OTR tyres mining tyresincreasing

Bridgestone OTR tyres are manufacturedat the company’s Shimonoseki, Hofu andKitakyushu plants in Japan. Increasedglobal industrial production, particularly inAsia in recent years, has led to increaseddemand for mined and quarried minerals,with a consequent increase in demandfor mining vehicles. Super-large heavy-payload trucks of up to 400 tons have pro-liferated. Kitakyushu, opened in 2009,was constructed to respond to this gro-wing world demand for large and ultra-large OTR tyres which Shimonoseki,already the world’s largest OTR tyreplant, could no longer meet.

Similarly, the new Aiken County plantcurrently under construction in the USwill help meet increased demand forlarge and ultra-large OTR tyres frommining and quarrying industries in theAmericas. Moving forward, Bridgestonesays it will build a production system thatcan continually respond rapidly tochanges in market demand trends andsupply customers with world-class quali-ty products on a timely basis. sg

The world’s largesttyre arriving in Europe

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OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

One of the greatest challenges in theunderground mining business is to keepthe machines running. In these harsh envir-onments, the performance of the tyresplays an important role in limiting down-times. According to Continental, the PowerSlick and Semi Slick reduce overall costsfor customers operating in the under-ground mining business while increasingdurability and safety.

The two product lines are said to prov-ide excellent tread depth and maximumresistance against impact damages andcuts. Both the Power Slick and Semi Slickare specifically designed for undergroundmining machines operating in harsh miningconditions. The rubber compounds provide

maximum resistance to rock cutting and to penetrations. Continental’s dedicatedcarcass construction is a combination of multiple crossed textile layers, providinghigh loading capabilities and impact resist-ance.

Power Slick tyres, as the name sug-gests, have a smooth pattern without anytread blocks, providing excellent traction inhard rock applications. Smooth and widetread provides excellent traction in hardrock mining. The carcass construction andthe used rubber compounds realise maxi-mum resistance against cut and impactsdamages.

Semi Slick tyres have tread blocks forcustomers operating in soft rock applicat-

ions such as underground coal mining.Tread provides excellent traction character-istics in soft rock mining. Reinforced side-walls and the tread compound used prov-ide maximum protection against rockpenetrations, tearing or cutting.

Continental says it is developing newsizes to meet the requirements of newmachinery with higher load capacity; itscurrent underground mining portfoliocovers 15 to 25-inch rim diameters. sg

Power Slick tyres in use in an undergroundmine

KINGS ROAD TYRES, or KRT, offers twoexclusive tyre brands for the OTR marketwith its Aeolus and Kingstone ranges. Thefast-growing Aeolus brand was establishedin 1965 and is one of the largest tyre pro-ducers in China. Its extensive OTR rangereflects the huge domestic demand for off-road and construction machinery experi-enced in China and other emerging mar-kets in recent years.

In the UK, Aeolus supplies tyres for useon earth-moving machinery and highspeed cranes, in addition to its extensiveTBR offer with fitments for on/off road andmixed service applications. A consistentlycompetitive price/quality ratio is a key salesfactor and is backed by a commitment toon-going research and development in bringing new fitments and patterns into themarket.

KRT operates a dedicated Aeolus web-site to improve awareness and know-ledge of the company’s extensive range ofspecialist tyre applications. www.aelousty-res.co.uk includes size, application andtechnical details for all Aeolus products

including its OTR line-up, which includesthe following patterns: A2207 E4; A2208E4; A2230 G2; A2233 L5; A2236 L3/E3;A2237 L3D/E3D; A2238 E4; A2239 L5;A2257 L3/E3;A2259 L3/E3; A2366 IND4;and A2200 L5S. Complementing its exten-sive earthmover range, Aeolus also offersthree sizes of high speed crane tyres withits A2235 E2 pattern.

Another high speed crane tyre optionsupplied by KRT is the Kingstone housebrand, which covers three popular sizes –KSV01 385/95R24, 385/95R25 &445/95R25. The Kingstone brand name hasbeen owned by KRT since 1987 and itshigh speed crane tyres are developedin Europe and manufactured inChina.

According to Tim Bader,KRT’s purchasing and marke-ting manager, the UK OTRmarket has proved to be resi-lient in recent years, despite aflat economy and reducedactivity in the private con-struction and civil engineering

markets. “Because OTR is such a specialistmarket, tyres are less of a commodity thanthey are in the passenger car sector, forexample,” he shared. “There has certainlybeen pressure on price, which has encou-raged sales of lower cost brands, but ulti-mately these products have to deliver con-sistent performance in demanding applica-tions where reliability is crucial.

“Our strategy has been based on offer-ing end users a choice of value-for-moneybrands and a full range of popular sizeswith Aeolus and Kingstone. That approachhas allowed KRT to outperform the overallmarket in recent years and we are commit-

ted to building on that positionwith the back-up of excellentstockholding and deliverytogether with new pro-ducts that anticipate mar-ket demand.” sg

Kingstone’s KSV01

Aeolus and Kingstone spearhead KRT’s OTR sector presence

Conti building up underground portfolioCONTINENTAL’S UNDERGROUND mining products are engineered at the comp-any’s Research and Development Center in Hanover, Germany and pro-duction is based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa – close to many customers’gold, copper, and platinum mines. Two key products in this segment are theGeneral Tire brand Power Slick and Semi Slick.

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OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

Primarily Dr Maertens explains the strategicthinking behind CST: “First of all, the newname ‘Commercial Specialty Tires’ is a clearstatement to the market. Our renaming andrestructuring of our business unit to CST isthe foundation for future growth in the seg-ment of commercial tyres. Secondly, it is thebeginning of a change process to extend andenlarge our business and open up to newmarket segments. Thirdly, the renaming ispart of our company’s Global Strategy 2025aiming to intensify our competition with thetop global players over the next decade, aswell as fortifying our market-leading positionin Europe and other regions of the world.”

Dr Maertens tells Tyres & Accessories thatCST will “significantly extend and enlarge itsproduct range and customer service portfo-lio” in the coming months. It seems Conti willseek to utilise its technology divisions indoing this, too: “Interdisciplinary execution ofprojects for various industry sectors will be-come a core competency that will help toextend our portfolio.” The focus for Conti, DrMaertens explains, will be on “industrial

material handling, OTR material handling andunderground mining,” three segments inwhich Conti expects to increase sales.

Dr Maertens explains that the restructu-red unit will make Conti “enter large businessfields,” broadening the range of tyres it produ-ces. “Before, Industrial Tires was mainly lin-ked to material handling,” he says. Now it willinclude all tyres but truck, passenger and two-wheel vehicles.

This strategy is designed to deliver anincreasingly specialised experience for cust-omers too, with products “designed to meet[customers’] particular needs. For our teamsand employees the new strategy means new,exciting ways of interdisciplinary cooperation.Sales and customer service will work closelywith product development to optimise portfo-lios. A different way of working and growthmeans personal growth of our people.”

While Dr Maertens clarifies that Conti is “not opening up a new Business Unit,” and is rather “implementing some structuralchanges,” he says that the Business Unit’sincreased focus on developing “several spec-

Continental Speciality Tires ‘a clear statementto the market’Conti renaming, restructuring part of Global Strategy 2025 designed to “intensify” global player competition

CONTINENTAL’S INCREASED SPECIALISATION in the commercial tyresegment was discussed at the launch of its latest “third gener-ation” coach and bus tyres, but this reorganisation, begun from1 January, has wider implications for applications beyond TBRproducts. The managing director of Continental CommercialSpecialty Tires (CST), Dr Michael Maertens explained that themanufacturer’s new business strategy, indicated by therestructuring of this business unit, contains initiatives for futuregrowth with particular focus on industrial and off the road mater-ial handling, underground mining and tyres for a specialisedapplication you may not have expected to have swift growthpotential.

Dr Michael Maertens, ContinentalCommercial Specialty Tires MD


OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

ialised markets” will include a process of “searching andcapitalising synergies with all other Continental divisions.”

Globally, especially in key markets such as the USA,China and Germany, Conti has increased its sales team head-count. “Thus, the growth of our Business Unit will be sup-ported strongly by our corporate structure, by Continentals’global footprint and especially by its R&D engineering andproduction capabilities.”

Port business growth

Conti is expecting some significant growth in a surprisingspecialist sector, Dr Maertens continues: “Remarkably, overthe next 12 years, the global harbour business will double itscapacity. According to estimates, it will increase from 600Million TEU to 1.2 billion TEU in 2024.” (TEU are twenty-footequivalent units, a standard unit for describing a ship’s cargocarrying capacity.

Conti believes it can provide significant cost savings to itsspecialist port sector customers: “At TOC Europe,Continental is about to launch a revolutionary technologyespecially developed for port operators offering better dura-bility and faster loading times. Our new portfolio of tyres andits technology offer three key advantages: 1) Reduced rollingresistance, leading to increased speed with higher loadingvolume; 2) Protection against damage, resulting in less main-tenance costs; 3) Minimised risk after minor damages (nocorrosion).”

In general though, CST is focused on product portfolioextensions and enlargements and providing specialised pro-duct packages for future business areas and opportunities.“Next up will be a new version of the underground miningproduct portfolio,” Dr Maertens continues, “increasing dura-bility and safety while reducing overall costs for customersoperating in the underground mining business.

“We are also very active in offering our customers effic-ient and environmentally friendly tyres such as ourContinental LifeCycle, putting us in prime position to meettoday’s markets’ and customers’ requirements. By reusingselected tyre casings the amount of energy and raw materi-als used in the tyre manufacturing process are reduced –which also lowers the price of the product. With customers’help this large-scale recycling initiative will help to bringdown the number of scrap tyres needing disposal as well asthe emission of climate-changing CO2 – Continental’sLifeCycle protects nature and offers cost savings.”

Continental Commercial Speciality Tires’ presentation ofits General Tire underground mining product portfolio atBauma 2013 can be found in the previous section.

[email protected]

GOODYEAR HAS RELEASED DETAILS of two new special-ity tyre products, the EV-4C, and the RT-5D – designed tobe used in port and industrial applications respectively –at Bauma (covered earlier in this issue). The EV-4C isdesigned to be used mainly on straddle carriers. Featuringan innovative tread to reduce lug-induced vibration thetyre increases operator comfort and promotes even treadwear. It has a nylon sidewall reinforcement to reduce therisk of impact damage, while the breakers and carcassare stronger for greater stability and productivity. Thetubeless tyre is available in sizes 16.00R25 and480/95R25.

“The robustness of this tyre, as well as its greater sta-bility and productivity, will make it very attractive to oper-ators,” said Octavian Velcan, managing director ofGoodyear OTR Tyres in EMEA. “Handling containers, par-ticularly when loading or unloading ships, often involvesvery tight schedules. Speed and reliability are the twomost important factors in container handling. This tyrehelps deliver both of those.”

The RT-5D features Hi-Stability Carcass Technology,which combines reinforcements in the bead area, on thecarcass breakers and at the ply turn-up, resulting inenhanced productivity performance, greater protectionand minimised deflection. It features an additional 25 percent load-carrying capacity per cycle, meaning increasedproductivity and therefore profitability. akb

Goodyear straddle carrier, wheel loader tyre details

AWWW.TYREPRESS.COM64 TYRES & ACCESSORIES 5/2013

OTR/SPECIALTY TYRES

A radial tyre for road cranes, the X-Crane+ has received a speedrating of F, meaning that each tyre can carry a payload of6,700kg at speeds of up to 80km/h. Today’s cranes are high-tech machines, capable of lifting loads of 35 to 1,200 tonnes,with anywhere from two to twelve axles.

The tyre’s versatility is shown in the variety of surfaces onwhich it can be driven; it handles roads and highways in additi-

on to the harsh terrain of construction sites. The tyre lasts 15per cent longer than its predecessor as a result of its new treadrubber compound. Designed to wear evenly, the X-Crane+slows uneven wear associated with use on harsh surfaceswhile enhancing comfort for crane drivers and users, which inturn improves safety. akb

Michelin + version X-Crane extends versatility MICHELIN INTRODUCED THE LATEST VERSION of its road crane tyre range, the X-Crane+, at Intermat in spring 2012,with the product available since last summer. The tyre provides users with three important advantages:increased longevity, operator comfort and safety, and easy mounting to maximise uptime. The previous generation crane tyre, named sans +, was described as the market standard setter, but the new tyre, avail-able in the segment’s best-selling 445/95R25 size, extends these properties, according to the French giant.

The Tusker range is Starco’s premium pro-duct for this segment and is designed forthree-shift operations. The Unicorn isintended for single-shift operations.Starco’s forklift tyre portfolio covers thestandard 8 to 15-inch sizes and groupmarketing manager Brian Lorentzen tellsT&A that more dimensions will be devel-oped in the near future.

Airless technology

An entry into industrial tyre production in2012 and a recent focus on the agricultu-ral segment doesn’t mean Starco has tur-ned its back on specialty tyres, however.Lorentzen says that “Starco is active inbig tyres but still developing its originalcore business.” An example of this is theFlex range, first introduced some fiveyears ago and manufactured here in theUK by Starco DML in Crewe. Followingon from the original Flex Pro airless tyreand the Flex Lite, Starco has furtherdeveloped the line-up with the introducti-on of a Flex wheel for sack trucks and

small trolleys that replaces pneumatictrolleys.

“Anything that is normally run onsmall wheels and pneumatic tyres in nor-mal conditions can be replaced withthese wheels, and performance is com-parable,” Lorentzen comments. “Thetread is quite wide – while pneumatictyres are shaped like a balloon and thecontact patch becomes wider with heav-ier loads, a product like this needs to bewide from the beginning. It’s still flexible,and when you hit a stone it will drive overit comfortably – unlike the cheap imitationsolid tyres that can be found on the mar-ket.”

These Flex tyres are now available onboth plastic and steel wheels. “What isspecial about the Flex range is that thehub and centre is identical for both steeland plastic versions, therefore you cancover the needs of most internal trans-portation with a few products,” Lorentzenadds. “You can create any hub fitting forany internal transportation product withjust a handful of parts.”

Developing the technology further

Lorentzen states that Starco intendsto use the Flex technology and theknowledge behind for other areas: “Wewill develop it further into our other seg-ments. We expect to see different kindsof business coming from this base. Theknow-how we have will be used to devel-op products that do not currently exist inthe market. This will be in mechanisedsegments.” He adds that a number ofproducts developed over the last year arenow being tested; the feedback Starcohas received is “very promising” and thecompany may release the new productsas soon as this summer.

[email protected]

Starco developing industrial, specialty rangesStarco’s industrial tyre plant in Sri Lanka is now producing 80,000 pieces a year. The solid tyre rangesproduced by Starco Lanka Ltd, the Tusker and Unicorn, are said to fulfill a large proportion of the mar-ket demand the company receives for these products, and output from the Sri Lanka plant supportsStarco’s growth into South Africa and Russia. Further details about Starco Lanka can be found onpages 84-85 of our January 2013 magazine.

The Flex rangewill soon beadapted toother marketsegments

www.bridgestone.co.uk

Saving fuel ... kilometre by kilometre ...

Up to 5 % fuel saving* over current Ecopia tyres.The new generation Ecopia tyres save even more fuel and help to reduce CO2 emissions even further. A breakthrough in eco performance! From Bridgestone, your partner in acting more responsibly towards the environment.

(*) based on TÜV SÜD test results and internal testing comparing the old range with the new.

BGS_ecopia_uk_adv A4.indd 1 11/04/13 15:55

BRIDGESTONE UK LTDAthena Drive - Tachbrook Park - Warwick CV34 6UX United Kingdom


MOTORSPORTMOTORSPORT

Hankook’s president &chief marketingofficer/chief corporatemanagement officer,Hyun Bum Cho signsthe early extension toits supply deal withDTM

Hankook extends DTM tyre partnership

Hyun Bum Cho stated: “Good, stable regulations,professionalism, and an experienced, reliablemanagement have always been the basis for suc-cessful motorsport series. The DTM is one of themost popular and well organised racing seriesaround the world and as such has provided an idealplatform to demonstrate Hankook’s advanced andfuturistic race tyre technology from the very begin-ning of our engagement. The early extension of ourengagement as the exclusive tyre supplier to theDTM therefore was never questioned.”

Hans Werner Aufrecht, chairman of the boardof DTM rights holder and promoter ITR said: “Thecooperation with Hankook during the first twoyears of our partnership has absolutely convincedus of the high level of performance they deliver.This is why we wanted to continue our successfulcooperation beyond 2013. The early extension ofthe contract is a logical consequence.“

Hankook’s option tyres meet a new regulationexpected to increase excitement in DTM’s 2013season. Drivers will be able to use both the Ventus

base line of motorsports tyres and the new“ultra-grip” Ventus option tyres during eachrace. Similar to Dunlop’s extended range oftyres for the British Touring CarChampionship, this move is designed tocreate an additional variety in race strategy.

“With our new DTM exclusive optiontyre we can once more demonstrate theperformance of our advanced products in aunique environment - fitted on the vehiclesof DTM participating premium manufactu-rers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz,” Choadded.

“We are excited to see how the newoption tyres will perform this season. Bybringing two different tyre compounds intoaction during the races we surely will see

more action on the track and more possibilities forovertaking. A big ‘Thank You’ to the Hankook engin -eers who have perfectly met the challenging taskto develop a tyre according to our wishes – a tyrethat allows for faster lap times over a limited periodand then deteriorates quickly,“ Aufrecht concluded.

DTM attracts many hundreds of thousands ofviewers on-site every year, and is broadcast inmore than 175 countries around the world. Theseries is a good fit for Hankook, a brand consider -ed by many to belong in the company of traditionalpremium players. It believes the series is helpingto solidify its brand value in the global automotivemarket. The company is no newcomer to the glo-bal motorsport arena, having taken an active part inmotorsport events since 1992. In addition to DTM,Hankook supplies tyres to the Italian SuperstarsSeries, the Swedish TTA Racing Elite League, theFIA Formula 3 European Championship, the LeMans and Nuerburgring 24-hour endurance races,and the FIA Junior WRC.

akb

HANKOOK AND EUROPEAN TOURING CAR racing series DTM have signed an exten-sion to their official tyre supplier deal, extending the partnership until at least2016. DTM’s organisers have been sufficiently satisfied by the development ofHankook’s Ventus line of motorsport tyres to sign the deal ahead of schedule,while the Korean tyre manufacturer is keen to sustain the brand value and pre-mium brand status it derives in part from this deal. Hankook added an all newoption tyre specification this season, which it president & chief marketingofficer/chief corporate management officer at believes allows the company todemonstrate the brand’s performance on premium brand vehicles.


MOTORSPORT

Falken Motorsports unveilsupgraded VLN Porsche

Falken Motorsports shares that it will field itsPorsche 997 GT3 R in this year’s VLN EnduranceChampionship Nürburgring and Nürburgring 24Hours events. It says a raft of performance upgra-des for its Porsche have been carried out and, cou-pled with an unchanged driver line up of SebastianAsch, Peter Dumbreck, Wolf Henzler and MartinRagginger, Falken Motorsports says it holds the“clear aim of a top ten finish in the 24 Hour event.”

The Porsche has been upgraded with a newaero package that includes wider wings, new split-ter and double canards at the front with a largerrear wing to increase downforce. Enlarged cool -ing vents around both the front and rear archeshas also been enhanced and the car is now able torun 12-inch wide rims at the front, half an inchwider than last year. Crucial for the 24 Hour race,the 997 now sports four front headlamps.

In addition to the vehicle upgrades, Falken’sengineers in Japan have developed a range of newtyres for this season, with first track testing of thenew covers set for the 16 March at the annual VLNSet-Up day.

As mentioned, Falken Motorsports is retainingits driver line-up from last year. “After a really exci-ting 2012 season under our belts, it makes us allthe keener to get start the 2013 season underwayin a few weeks,” commented Austrian racer MartinRagginger. “We are gearing up to give it every-thing we’ve got for the fans and aiming for a topten place in 24-Hour Race.”

In addition to the VLN set up day, FalkenMotorsport will compete in seven of the ten VLNrounds this year. sg

Avon becomes Time Attackseries tyre partnerAVON MOTORSPORT has takenits place alongside Pirelli as one oftwo tyre companies sponsoringthe Time Attack series in 2013. Atthe first event of the year atCadwell Park Avon tyres wereused to claim the overall fastestlap, a new Time Attack lap recordin qualifying, and second placeoverall in the intensely close ProClass final, thanks to theMitsubishi Evo of Gareth Lloyd.Time Attack organiser, AndyBarnes praised Avon for recogni-sing the potential of the champion-ship, and the good fit with thebrand’s products provided by theseries.

Originating in Japan and intro-duced to the UK in 2005, TimeAttack is geared towards car modi-fication. During the series pro-duction-based cars with no poweror upgrade limitations are sub-jected to finely detailed tuning toproduce the fastest lap time. Theseries runs at top circuits acrossthe UK and originally used a singletyre supplier before opening up tocompetition in 2012. As an officialtyre partner to the championship

for 2013, Avon will showcase itsZZR and competition rubber atevents across the UK, with Avontechnical teams supporting com-petitors at events.

Barnes is keen to welcomeAvon into the fold for 2013: “Weare very pleased to welcome AvonTyres to Time Attack for the veryfirst time. Our nonexclusivechamp ionship regulations withtyre brands allow all MSA List 1a,1b and full competition tyres to beused depending on class and Avonhas been quick off the mark torecognise the potential to infiltrateour grid with a range of productsthat is perfectly suited to TimeAttack.”

Within the series, there arefour competition classes: Street,Club Challenge, Club Pro and Pro,catering for all power levels anddrive lines. Categories are separa-ted into sessions on track with theleading times from qualifying pro-gressing to the final where thepoints and positions are decided.

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Avon begins its tyre supply toTime Attack for the first time atCadwell Park (photo: Rich Sams)

With its upgraded Porsche 997 GT3 R, Falken Motorsportsholds the “clear aim of a top ten finish in the 24 Hour event”


PRODUCT INFORMATION

In the two years that followed the 2011introduction of the Pilot Road 3 sport tou-ring tyre, the French manufacturer has enti-rely renewed its motorcycle tyre portfolio.Michelin describes the latest arrivals as sixtyres that are each dedicated to a specificpurpose while all sharing one thing in com-mon – being designed to “deliver the mostcomplete performance combination.”Unlike the two members of the ‘Power’ pro-duct family introduced last year, the track-only Power Slick and the 95 per cent track-oriented Power Cup, the newest membersof the ‘Pilot’ range are either exclusively (asin the case of the Pilot Road 3) or primarilyintended for use on normal roads.

Pierre Fraisse, Michelin’s director oftwo-wheel development, shares that thenew Pilot Power 3 was designed with 85per cent road use in mind. He adds that thenew tyre shares no common features withits predecessor; every detail in its con-struction has been changed. The borderarea between design for race and road useis occupied by the Pilot Super Sport, whichMichelin has designed for 50 per cent trackand 50 per cent road use. The 50/50 ratioalso applies to the Anakee Wild, however inthis case the tyre is designed for 50 percent road use and 50 per cent off-road. TheAnakee Wild was introduced to counter aswerve towards on-road behaviour with thelatest generation Anakee III, which Michelindesigned as a 90 per cent road tyre.Rounding out the sextet of new tyres arethe Pilot Street and Pilot Street radial, whichMichelin says are intended for small utilitybikes of around 250 to 300cc.

Strong contribution to brand image

The French tyre maker presented the sixnew tyres to international media in late

March, and during the proceedings HubertHannezo, the man in charge of two-wheeltyres at Michelin for the past nine years,described the tyre maker as “the brand thatunderstands what riders want.” Fraisseadds that this applies to all segments of themotorcycle market, and therefore it is nosurprise that Michelin has extended its‘Total Performance’ concept to the motorcy-cle segment and claims the optimisation offactors such as safety, handling mileage andriding enjoyment without compromising inother areas. A commitment to TotalPerformance in the two-wheel business isimportant – Hannezo points out that eventhough only around 1,000 people within theMichelin group are employed in the motor-cycle business and it represents just a smallpart of the company’s entire business,motorcycle tyres nevertheless deliver a“strong contribution to brand image.”

This is why the manufacturer alwayspoints out, even in the case of sport-orient-ed rubber such as the Power Super Sportand Pilot Power 3, that mileage and safetyremain firmly in view during product deve-lopment. Some rear sizes in both rangesfeature 2CT+, the latest generation two-compound technology: this employs a softcompound on the shoulders and a harderrubber on the tread as well as another hardcompound under the soft rubber on theshoulders. The result is greater rigiditywhen leaning and enhanced stability atangles, especially when accelerating shar-ply. Other qualities remain as before: Thesofter compound is responsible for gripwhen cornering while the harder is there towithstand sudden acceleration and brakingand to extend mileage.

In reference to the Power Super Sport,Christophe Duc, Michelin’s global marketingdirector for motorcycle and scooter tyres,

Riding a new courseMichelin unveils moto innovations

This year Michelin is releasing no less than six new motor-cycle tyre lines: The Power SuperSport, Pilot Power 3, Anakee III and Anakee Wild, plus the Pilot Street and Pilot Street Radial.The last two of these are of particular interest due to the strategic approach they represent.


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also shares that this particular tyre’scasing is approximately 12 per cent morerigid than that used in the Pilot Power 3;this means air pressure can be reducedfrom 2.1 bar to 1.7 bar (without tyre war-mers) or 1.5 bar (with tyre warmers) inorder to allow for fast track laps.Reducing air pressure markedly increa-ses the contact patch and ultimately pro-vides greater stability when acceleratingout of corners. Other key benefits thePower Super Sport offers can be seen inthe results of Michelin-commissionedDekra tests in which the tyre was put upagainst key competitors. Despite achie-ving the same lap times as the PirelliDiablo Rosso Corsa and MetzelerRacetec Interact K3, the Power SuperSport gave around double the mileage asthe other tyres.

On the topic of mileage, Michelin pro-mises a 20 per cent improvement overthe previous generation tyre with thePilot Power 3, as well as delivering inother key areas such as improved hand-ling, cornering stability and wet braking.The use of 2CT+ technology in the reartyre gives a higher silica component in

the centre tread and more carbon black inthe shoulders, while the tyre has beengiven a new profile. According to productdeveloper Tommy Maussin, this last qua-lity is characterised by a 15 per cent groo-ve ratio at a lean angle of 30 degrees.Maussin describes the tyre’s void ratio of10 per cent as “average” – void ratio forthe Power Super Sport is 7.5 per cent intotal and 12 per cent at a 30 degree leanangle.

The reason behind this is that with anaverage groove ratio on wet roads thepriority is to disperse water from the con-tact patch and thus enhance safety. Andwhile on the subject of wet performance,Dekra tests pitting the new Pilot Power 3against Bridgestone’s Battlax HypersportS20, Pirelli’s Diablo Rosso 2 and Dunlop’sSportSmart show that during wet brakingfrom 50km/h to a standstill, the Michelintyre stopped between almost two andclose to three metres sooner than itsrivals.

Performance measurements againstmain competitors were also carried outfor the Anakee III – in this case, in regardsto mileage. Jean-Francois Roziere, who is

charge of trail tyre product developmentat Michelin, shares that in comparisonwith Bridgestone’s Battle Wing, Dunlop’sTrail Max TR91 and Metzeler’s TouraceEXP, the Anakee III wins out in this areaby between 10 and 25 per cent.“Admittedly though, our main develop-ment goal was to fulfill BMW’s originalequipment requirements for the R 1200GS,” adds Roziere’s colleague StéphaneBrihat, who oversees trail tyre marketing.“And first and foremost that meant stabi-lity.” Incidentally, it is safe to say thatMichelin succeeded in pleasing its OEMcustomer, as it reports that 80 per cent ofbikes in this model series produced thisyear will be factory fitted with theMichelin tyre.

Hope for the future

Each of the recently presented tyreswere developed with Michelin’s ‘TotalPerformance’ concept in mind and alongwith the Anakee Wild, which will bereleased later this year, two furthermodels were previewed – and the strate-gic approach accompanying the pair is

Hubert Hannezo has ledMichelin’s global two-wheelbusiness for the last nineyears

According to Pierre Fraise,director of two-wheel deve-lopment, the new PilotPower 3 shares no featureswith its predecessor

The French tyre maker refers to the PilotPower 3 as a “key product” in its motor-cycle portfolio

Christophe Duc is in charge of global market-ing forMichelin’s motorcycle tyres

Product developer TommyMaussin gives the PilotPower 3 void ratio as 10% –the Pilot Power Sport is7.5%


PRODUCT INFORMATION

very interesting. The two tyres, the cross-ply Pilot Street and the Pilot Street Radial,are intended for smaller bikes of around250 to 300cc. This all sounds like prettystandard stuff, but the concept behindthe two tyres is a little less so. They areprimarily aimed at newly-mobile custo-mers in emerging markets; tyre purcha-sers that have traded up from a bicycle toa moped, and further down the track willlook to purchasing a larger motorcycle orpossibly even a car. Fitted with Michelintyres, of course.

Hubert Hannezo shares that thisdevelopment has been observed in coun-tries like Brazil, where new registrationswithin the 250/300cc segment have tre-bled over the past ten years. Hannezo

says the same also applies to this seg-ment in Asian markets such as Indonesiaor China. For him, these “new markets”represent “hope for the industry’s futu-re,” Hannezo told Tyres & Accessories.Even though Michelin must “do battle”with local Asian manufacturers within thistarget segment, Hannezo has faith in thecharisma a global brand such as Michelinoffers, and he also notes that local sup-pliers there “don’t yet realise the advan-tages that can be gained through motor-cycle radials.” Demand in these countriesis certain to increase in hand with impro-vements in transport infrastructure, it isonly a question of time before this hap-pens. “And perhaps in ten years’ time it’sall be about 600cc bikes,” he opines.

In contrast, he anticipates little in theway of major growth impulse within theestablished European motorcycle tyremarkets. On the contrary: The averageage of motorcyclists is increasing and theyounger generation mostly have otherthings on their minds – smartphones andgaming consoles have a much higher pullfactor than the stigmatised as dangerousmotorcycle. Therefore, while the low sel-lout of replacement market motorcycletyres in Europe during March 2013 proba-bly had more to do with the weather thanlong-term market developments, whatMichelin aims to achieve through its PilotStreet and Pilot Street Radial is neverthe-less logical. [email protected]/sg

The Power Super Sport is designed for 50% trackand 50% road use

Michelin says 80 per cent of BMW R 1200 GS models produced thisyear will be fitted with its Anakee III as original equipment

With a range of just three sizes,Michelin says the Pilot Street andPilot Street Radial covers close to90 per cent of all bikes up to250/300cc.

One glance at the tread on theAnakee Wild and you know the tyreis at home off-road


PRODUCT INFORMATION

F

Angel GT outstrips rivals’ mileage, says PirelliTHE LATEST SPORT TOURING tyre fromPirelli, the Angel GT, has hit thestreets – and the Italian tyre makerclaims it is number one for mileagewithin its segment. This weightystatement is based upon testingcarried out by Motorrad TestCenterin Germany. Tyres & Accessorieshas yet to read the test report,however Pirelli indicates that theAngel GT was certified by MotorradTestCenter as delivering bettermileage than the Michelin PilotRoad 3, Dunlop SportmaxRoadsmart II, Bridgestone BattlaxBT 023, Continental RoadAttack2and Metzeler Roadtec Z8 InteractM/O.

For the test, held in Spain from 27November to 14 December 2012, a set of120/70 ZR17 and 180/55 ZR17 tyres wereused as the standard and six SuzukiBandit 1250 ABS bikes were used. Thetest was conducted on fast roads bet-ween Málaga, Algeciras, Jerez, Seville,Cordoba and Antequerra at an averagespeed of 120km/h and on country andmountain roads with speed limits bet-ween 90 and 110km/h between Marbella,Ronda, Algodonales, Ardales, Alora andMálaga.

The test sessions were held in dryweather conditions with rather low tem-peratures, but consistent throughout theperiod. As the route travelled through awide range of altitudes (from 10 metresto 1,100 metres above sea level) the airtemperature varied from 5 to 18 degreesCelsius, while the asphalt temperatureranged from 18 to 23 degrees Celsius.“At the end of the test the Angel GT wasfound to be the tyre with the highestmileage compared to the competitors inthe sport touring segment,” states Pirelli.

30% better mileage than predecessor

Pirelli calls the Angel GT the “crowningjewel” of its sport touring range and the“natural descendent” of the Angel ST.Compared with its predecessor, theAngel GT is said to offer 30 per centimproved mileage, one metre shorter bra-king distance from a speed of 75km/h,improved wet grip and handling, and –something Pirelli considers even moreimportant – the ability to maintain thesecharacteristics at a high level over thetyre’s life cycle. This is a property Pirellirefers to as “Performance Mileage”.

And the ‘GT’ designation in the newsport touring tyre’s name? Pirelli says itadopted the letters as the Angel GT is“100 per cent Italian Gran Turismo”, an“ideal tyre for those riders who travellong distances with a passenger and thebike fully loaded, or who simply take aride in the country, but also for those whouse their bikes all year round, both forrecreation and commuting.” The tyremaker says this applies no matter whatbike is used, whether a touring bike, astreet enduro, naked or sport bike. sg

The Angel GT is nowavailable in the following sizes:

Front120/60 ZR 17 M/C (55W) TL120/70 ZR 17 M/C (58W) TL110/80 ZR 18 M/C (58W) TL120/70 ZR 18 M/C (59W) TL

Rear150/70 ZR 17 M/C (69W) TL160/60 ZR 17 M/C (69W) TL170/60 ZR 17 M/C (72W) TL180/55 ZR 17 M/C (73W) TL180/55 ZR 17 M/C (73W) TL 190/50 ZR 17 M/C (73W) TL190/50 ZR 17 M/C (73W) TL 190/55 ZR 17 M/C (75W) TL190/55 ZR 17 M/C (75W) TL 190/55 ZR 17 M/C (75W) TL 160/60 ZR 18 M/C (70W) TL

Italian Superbike World Champion Max Biaggi with an Angel GT shod Kawasaki Z100SX Tourer

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AVON TYRES has launched its new Storm3D X-M sports-touring bike tyre, manufactu-red in Britain for the hypersport motorcyclemarket. The tyre aims to combine the per-formance of the Storm 3D Ultra tyre withthe increased longevity demanded by ridersusing their bikes more regularly. The tyrewill be available from UK dealers in April.

The Avon Storm 3D X-M is a new deri-vative of the popular Avon Storm Ultrasports-touring tyre. The tyre features inter-locking three-dimensional points hidden inthe tyre’s smallest grooves. Avon says thatthese improve stability, grip and warm-uptimes, while limiting tread flex. The high-performance single and multi-compoundsilica-rich tread enhances wet grip.

Avon recommends the Storm 3D X-Mfor such hyperbikes as the SuzukiGSX1300R Hayabusa, Kawasaki GTR1400and Kawasaki ZZR1400, given its stabilityand handling characteristics. Older bikessuch as BMW’s K1300 series and Honda’sSuper Blackbird are also the intended tar-get.

Doug Ross, head of global motorcycletyre sales for Avon Tyres, said: “With the

Storm 3D X-M we’ve taken what wasalready a great tyre and built in around 15-20 per cent of extra longevity throughincreased tread life. While we expect thisto be most popular in the US - wheremotorcycle mileage tends to be higher –there’s an increasing number of bikers in

Europe clocking up higher mileages whiletouring or commuting, who want a tyrethat lasts without sacrificing performance.”

The Avon Storm 3D X-M is available insizes 120/70-ZR17 (front) and 180/55-ZR17and 190/50-ZR17 (rear). akb


PRODUCT INFORMATION

Conti reintroduces TKV11 & TKV12 moto patterns

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MARKET isgrowing and interest in bikes from the1980s is strong, and therefore Continentalconsiders now an opportune time to rein-troduce two former patterns, the TKV11front and TKV12 rear sports tyres. The pairare suited for mounting on classic 1970sand 1980s bikes and fit machines as diver-se as Yamaha XJ600’s and FJ1100,Kawasaki’s GPZ600R and GPZ1000RX,Suzuki’s GSX1100E and 1100 Katana,BMW’s K75 and K100, Honda’s XBR500and Ducati’s Pantah range.

In order to improve grip on dry and wetroads, the tread compounds used in theTKV11 and TKV12 have undergone refine-ments, utilising developments made inContinental’s newer tyre designs.Therefore, classic bike owners can nowtake advantage of the TKV11 and TKV12’s1980s tread patterns for that period look,

but with updated tyreperform ance.

With regards to thetread designs, the TKV11front tyre’s distinctivedirectional tread pattern isdesigned to cut throughwater for safer riding inrainy conditions and itsslick shoulders are said togive good handling feedbackat maxi-mum leana n g l e s .The TKV12 rear has a tread design that opti-mises the land/sea ratio (the ratio of treadin contact with the road to the groove area)for increased corner grip at full lean andexcellent traction levels when acceleratingout of the corner. Both tyres’ profiles areintended to deliver a light steering feel for

responsive handling on A and Broads.

All TKV11 and TKV12 tyrescan be fitted with an inner tubewhen used on tube typewheel rims.

“Although discontinued afew years ago, because wehad launched newer tyredesigns, with the growing inter -

est in classic bikes the time wasright to reintroduce the TKV11 and

TKV12 with their ‘80s tread pat-terns,” shared Continental motorcyclebrand manager, Graham Matcham. “And itseems our decision was correct. There hasbeen significant interest since the tyreswere part of our display at the Staffordshow in October.”

The TKV11 and TKV12 are available fromCambrian Tyres. sg

Avon launches Storm 3D X-M sports-touring bike tyre

Avon welcomes delayed start to bike season with offer

Avon is offering motorcycle customers £15 off the fitting of Avon 3D tyres purchasedfrom selected dealers between 1 April and 30 June. The 3D Ultra Sport, Supersport,Xtreme or the new Storm 3D X-M tyres purchased from selected Avon Tyres stockistswill qualify for £15 towards the fitting of each new tyre. Customers will be asked tocomplete a form and the discount will be applied at the time and point of purchase.

Launched in 2012, the 3D Ultra family is the latest line of Avon sports tyres and isavailable in three versions: Sport, Supersport, Xtreme and is now joined by the newStorm 3D X-M.

The 3D Ultra Sport is aimed at modern, road-going sports machines, whileSupersport is the option for those who want to use the same tyre on road and track.Meanwhile, the 3D Ultra Xtreme meets the market for trackday-only tyres.

Gary Bretherton, UK motorcycle sales manager for Avon Tyres, said of the offer,“We’ve had some terrible biking weather for the start of the season and we wantedto give something back to British riders, whether they’re fair weather riders who’llonly push their bikes to the limit on track, or those who want a tyre that’ll keep themgoing through the kind of wet weather we usually get in a British summer.” akb

The TVK11 and TVK12 offer classicdesign and new compounds


PRODUCT INFORMATION

A

Kenda launches green tyresKENDA HAS LAUNCHED a new passen-ger car tyre designed with a strongfocus on decreasing fuel consump-tion. Hosted by Varga Trading Co. in, Kenda director James Lo unveil-ed the newly developed eco tyres ina presentation that also showed the new tyre’s low noise pattern design. Other speakers included DrHongder Chang, Kenda’s generalmanager, who outlined the comp -any’s goal of generating sales ofUS$2 billion, and dealers Mohamm-ad Shahid, from Pakistan andNassib Daher from Lebanon. The KR30 is manufactured in Taiwan.

“Our tyre has reduced CO2 emission byas much as 20g/km with its uniquemater ial technology to help protect theenvironment,” said Lo. “It stands for atotal reduction of six tons of CO2 throug-hout the car’s lifecycle, equivalent to theCO2 absorption of 500 trees a year,” headded.

Kenda’s engineers have brought innew technology for the tyre’s sidewallthat reduces rolling resistance and wetbraking performance, Kenda stated. Thetyre’s “even compound” decreases fricti-on between carbon molecules, Kenda

explains, reducing heat production andtherefore fuel consumption and rollingresistance. The manufacturer estimatesthat the tyres can reduce fuel consumpti-on by “up to three per cent”.

The noise reduction groove in the treadhas helped the KR 30 reduce noise compa-red to Kenda’s previous product KR 26. Thecompany states that the tyres were testedusing the R117 tyre rolling noise test.

In addition to its Middle Easternlaunch, the KR 30 has been unveiled inthe with an alternate name: theVezdaEco. The VezdaEco is offered in 25sizes between 15 and 20 inches.

“We’re really excited about all thenew technology the tire contains and ourcustomers who have already purchasedthe tyre have also seen the benefits,“Eric Yang, automotive marketing mana-ger said. “The size range and higherspeed rating separates the VezdaEcofrom our competitor’s lower rolling resis-tance tyres. With all the features we havedevel oped, we feel the VezdaEco is oneof the best values in the market.

“Not only will the end consumerssave money at the pump with the greentechnology, the tyre also carries a 60,000mile limited warranty,” mentions Yangabout the Vezda Eco. “It’s a win-win com-bination for drivers and mother nature.”All 25 sizes are currently available for pur-chase in the .

The tyre is presently unavailable in asthe current formulation is not REACHcompliant. Yang tells Tyres & Accessoriesthat, while the tyre is “predominantlysold in the ” at the moment, this doesnot mean that the manufacturer won’tdevelop a variant of the product for salewithin in the future. akb

Dr Hongder Chang, Kenda’s general manager intro-duces the manufacturer’s newest product

New CV inner liner cuts air leakage by 30%, says YokohamaAs of this month, Yokohama rubber’s tyrefactories in Japan will begin using a newlydeveloped inner liner technology that issaid to “substantially” improve the retenti-on of air pressure in truck and bus tyres.The tyre maker says it can reduce naturalair leakage by approximately 30 per centcompared with conventional liners. Notonly does this help maintain air pressure,Yokohama says it also permits the designand manufacture of lighter tyres. Followingthe technology’s adoption in Japan,Yokohama Rubber will gradually introduce

it at truck tyre factories in other parts of theworld.

The new inner liner uses “flat talc” –particulate talc in planar shapes, a key cha-racteristic of the mineral talc – imbedded inthe rubber in multiple layers. According tothe tyre maker, the flat talc blocks the per-meation of air through the rubber, substan-tially cutting the volume of air naturallyescaping from the tyre. Yokohama alreadyutilises air leakage reduction technologyfor passenger car tyres; its “AirtexAdvanced Liner” was released in 2009. sg

Microphotograph of “flat talc“, magnified 10,000times


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BBridgestone has used theNanoPro-Tech compound toreduce energy loss. The tyrealso features a waved belt,which increases casing stabilityand durability allowing for high-er load capability and casingretreadability. Com pared to the new tyre’s predecessor,the R109 Ecopia, the H-Trailer001 provides substantiallylower rolling resistance and enhanced grip and brakingresponse in wet-weather con-ditions, Bridgestone says.

Independent road testsconducted in July 2011 by TÜVSÜD showed that the rest ofthe current truck tyre range,the Ecopia H-Steer 001 and H-Drive 001 provide 18.9 and26.5 per cent lower rollingresistance respectively thanthe previous Ecopia series, leading to a reduction of fuelconsumption of 4.4 per cent.Together with the new trailertyre, Bridgestone estimatesthat highway operators cansave up to five per cent fuelwith the latest Ecopia combina-tion compared to the previousseries.

“Thanks to an optimumbalance between rolling resis-tance and mileage durabilitythe new Ecopia tyres are theanswer for fleets that want toreduce their operating costs,both in fuel cost reduction andfor lowering the cost per kilometre” says Harald VanOoteghem, senior managermarketing planning, Commerc-ial Business Unit, BridgestoneEurope. akb

Bridgestone launches first dedicated Ecopia trailer tyre

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Bridgestone’s fuel economy focused Ecopia truck tyre range has added a dedicated trailer pro-duct to its ranks for the first time: the new Ecopia H-Trailer 001. Bridgestone says the tyre hasbeen designed to achieve increased fuel saving in highway operations, courtesy of improvedrolling-resistance and wet grip performance. The manufacturer adds that the Ecopia H-Trailer001 has strong mileage and durability characteristics.

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BBridgestone has used the NanoPro-Tech compound to reduce energy loss.The tyre also features a waved belt, which increases casing stability and dura-bility allowing for high-er load capabilityand casing retreadability. Com pared to the new tyre’s predecessor, the R109Ecopia, the H-Trailer 001 provides sub-stantially lower rolling resistance and enhanced grip and braking response inwet-weather conditions, Bridgestonesays.

Independent road tests conducted inJuly 2011 by TÜV SÜD showed that therest of the current truck tyre range, the Ecopia H-Steer 001 and H-Drive 001 provide 18.9 and 26.5 per cent lower rolling resistance respectively than theprevious Ecopia series, leading to areduction of fuel consumption of 4.4 percent. Together with the new trailer tyre,Bridgestone estimates that highway operators can save up to five per cent fuel with the latest Ecopia combination

compared to the previous series.“Thanks to an optimum balance bet-

ween rolling resistance and mileage durability the new Ecopia tyres are theanswer for fleets that want to reduce their operating costs, both in fuel costreduction and for lowering the cost perkilometre” says Harald Van Ooteghem,senior manager marketing planning,Commerc-ial Business Unit, BridgestoneEurope. akb

Bridgestone launches first dedicated Ecopia trailer tyreBridgestone’s fuel economy focused Ecopia truck tyre range has added a dedicated trailerproduct to its ranks for the first time: the new Ecopia H-Trailer 001. Bridgestone says the tyrehas been designed to achieve increased fuel saving in highway operations, courtesy ofimproved rolling-resistance and wet grip performance. The manufacturer adds that theEcopia H-Trailer 001 has strong mileage and durability characteristics.


CV Show 2013 exceeds expectationsTyre manufacturers, service providers rub shoulders with the big names in logistics

Continental has much to talk about having recent-ly begun a series of planned third generation com-mercial tyre launches with three coach and bustyres. The third generation is being marked by anincreased level of application specialisation in thecommercial segment, the details of which can befound on pp. 52-53 of April’s Tyres & Accessories.The Conti Coach, for long distance travel, the ContiCityPlus, for regional, or intercity use, and theConti Urban, which has been optimised for typicalcity-based usage. All three tyres are groupedunder the more traditionally Conti-style productnumber, HA3, though increased branding is one ofthe focal points for Conti’s third generation.

Conti says handling with reliable long-distancesuitability and the lowest possible rolling resist -ance were at the forefront of its developmentalgoals, but each model has emphasised differentfeatures, depending on the application. The newlong distance tyre is lighter due to an improvedtread, designed to reduce fuel consumption andmaterials used in production. It also aims forincreased comfort and reduced noise, with a spec -ial sipe tread design. The regional coach tyre ismore of an all-rounder, combining better economy– with higher mileage, better retreading andregrooving capabilities and optimised rolling resist -ance – with increased safety. The city bus tyre is

APRIL’S ANNUAL GATHERING OF THE UK LOGISTICS INDUSTRY, The Commercial Vehicle Show atBirmingham’s NEC represents a fine opportunity for those in the tyre industry to connectwith this side of their business. The 2013 iteration boasted the best exhibitor turnout since2009, and the show itself seemed to have exceeded many expectations for visitor num-bers, which usually number around 16,000 over its three days, the organisers say. CertainlyTyres & Accessories witnessed busy stands visiting the show on day two. The opportunityto share exhibition space with the largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, as well ascommunicate the latest tyre business developments – contributing to the efficiency, safetyand reliability of these vehicles – to this customer base is an offer worth the effort for thelikes of Continental, Bridgestone, Hankook and GT Radial, all of whom had imposing HallFive booths close to show defining Mercedes-Benz, Ford and Volvo Trucks booths. SimonTattersill, head of national truck, ATS Euromaster mentioned that the show’s first day was“above expectations”, and this optimistic impression of the show was clearly shared bymany participants.

Continental’sContiPressureChecksystem


CV SHOW

designed to be more robust than theothers, due to the alternating accelerati-on, braking and kerb contact in bus bays.Additionally, a winter option is availablein the form of the Coach HSW 2Scandinavia.

Conti was also on-message for one ofthe vehicle manufacturers’ most impor-tant CV Show topics. The manufacturersays the third generation bus and coachtyres will play an even more importantrole in the reduction of fuel consumptionand noise emissions once the Euro 6emission standard comes into force atthe start of next year.

At the lightest end of the CV Show’srange, Conti also introduced its new vantyre line, launching on the UK market thisyear. The ContiVanContact 100 is thecompany’s all-rounder, designed to copewith the UK’s infamous poor road surfa-ces and heavy loads, while still providinggood mileage capabilities. It has a speci-ally reinforced carcass and sturdy side-wall with strong scuff protection strip aswell as a stone-deflecting tread design.The tyre’s rolling resistance has beenreduced by 10 per cent in comparison toits predecessor, the Vanco2. It is beinglaunched initially in 14 sizes, with diame-ters ranging from 14 to 16 inches andload-bearing capabilities up to a load

index of 115 (1,215 kg per tyre). The ContiVanContact 200 has a van

optimised full silica compound, whichreduces rolling resistance further (15 percent down on its predecessor) and helpsto improve wet braking. Its macro blockprofile and sturdy tread centre also givedrivers more handling precision underheavy loads. It will be available in tensizes suitable for 15 to 16 inch rims andapproved for speeds of up to 130 mph.Conti expects the 16” van tyre segmentfor panel vans to continue its increase inimportance – it covers 65 per cent of vantyre demand, according to the company.

Peter Robb, brand manager atContinental Tyre Group Ltd said: “Ournew van range offers the latest technolo-gy for van drivers. With the two newtyres, the ContiVanContact 100 andContiVanContact 200, the range leadsthe competition in terms of safety, dura-bility and tyre life.”

Conti is also introducing its new tyrepressure monitoring system,ContiPressureCheck, to the UK in 2013,and this was also featured on its stand;ContiPressureCheck measures the pres-sure and temperature of each individualtyre every few seconds and delivers theresults to the driver information display.The measuring device is a single module

with integrated sensors, dataprocessor and communicationsystem, housed in a rubber con-tainer that is glued to the innersurface of the tyre tread. Themanufacturer says it is the onlyTPMS to generate its pressureand temperature data by using asensor mounted inside the tyre,protecting it from impact, andmeasuring temperature datadirectly in the tyre withoutobstructing tyre fitting. Batterylife is estimated to be around sixyears or roughly 372,500 miles.

Bridgestone was displayingits new R-Steer and R-Driveregional truck tyres, along withthe latest addition to its fuelsaving range, the Ecopia H-Trailer. The manufacturer statesthat its high profile presence at

the Commercial Vehicle Show hasattracted scores of fleet managers andindustry professionals following up inte-rest after visiting its stand. It estimatesthat hundreds of people learned moreabout the brand and its portfolio of pro-ducts at the NEC,

Bridgestone’s product and marketingmanager Andy Mathias said: “Not onlydid our stand underline our status as atrue premium player, but it also allowedus to showcase some exciting new pro-ducts to a captive audience. The feedbackwe received was extremely positive andfollowing on from the show, we havebeen receiving calls and emails from anumber of professionals who visited usduring the three days.”

Bridgestone ran a series of seminarsduring each day, where key Bridgestonespeakers guided visitors through thebrand’s history and innovations, includingits tyre pressure monitoring system.

Mathias added: “The opportunity totalk to people about our history and thepedigree that underpins eachBridgestone tyre was invaluable. Ourheritage plays a big part in our overall phi-losophy and we had a story to tell thatsome people might not have appreciated.

“Overall, the show was a success ona number of levels. It is now up to us to

Bridgestone’s stand


make the most of the interest that wasgenerated over the three days. The earlysigns are that this is already happening,which is great news for everyone invol-ved.”

Hankook also unveiled several newcommercial tyres at the CV Show, inclu-ding the bead to bead retread truck tyrethe Alphatread. Additionally Hankook’slatest truck tyres, which aim to fill a gap itidentifies between medium and long haultransportation, were displayed, while thebrand raised interest in its stand throughits sporting sponsorships. Tom May andPhil Dowson, players from NorthamptonSaints RFC visited the stand, whileHankook also ran a competition to winVIP tickets to football’s Europa Leaguesemi-final, a partnership that wasannounced at last year’s show.

“Hankook maintain a very close relati-onship with our customers, which enab-les us to develop innovative tyre soluti-ons,” promised managing director ofHankook Tyre UK, Tony Lee before theshow, and the presence of the Smartflex,

Hankook’s new all season range providedevidence of this approach.

The Smartflex line-up has beendesign ed for medium to long haul purpo-ses and consists of sizes for the steerand drive-axle position. With its adoptednew technologies it aims to meet custo-mer demands focussing on safety andeconomically conscious customers. Thetyre range is designed to be smart andflexible – hence the name – consisting ofthree main sizes for steer and drive axlesThe range hopes to fulfil today’s demandfor increased load capacities too.

The Smartflex AH31 is a five-rib steeraxle tyre for medium to long haul, avail -able in sizes 295/80R22.5, 315/80R22.5and 315/70R22.5. It is equipped withHankook’s Spiral Coil Technology – awinded steel belt between the traditionalhigh-tensile steel cord belts, which isdesigned to improve belt durability. Thenew technology increases tyre life andload capacity, while stabilising footprintshape for better steering and rolling cha-racteristics. A ‘Tread Wear Equaliser

Stepper’ – small support blocks at theoutside of ribs two and four works to pre-vent one-side irregular wear.

The Hankook Smartflex DH31, againavailable in sizes 295/80R22.5,315/80R22.5 or 315/70R22.5 are the cor-responding drive axle tyre for medium tolong haul purposes. Its six-rib treaddesign has tread blocks in six-angle shapefor improved grip, higher mileage andreduced irregular wear. Hankook’s patent-ed “self-regenerating” kerfs in the centreof each block prevent tearing at blockedges thus providing good tractionthroughout the tyre’s life. All Smartflextyres come with a newly adapted three-dimensional full depth kerf solution.

“The transportation business can beseen as the veins of the industrial socie-ty with just in time deliveries for nearlyevery product as today’s standard”,explains Hee-Se Ahn, vice president formarketing & sales at Hankook Tire inEurope. “So it is our duty to provide pro-ducts that make our fleet customers ableto keep their promises as flexible as pos-sible and regardless of weather conditi-ons, road or vehicle requirements. Thishas led us to develop our all newSmartflex range of all-season truck tyresthat provides a smart and safe solutioncombined with the highest flexibility.”

The tyres will be available in Europefrom the second quarter in 2013, with the295-sizes available from the 4th quarter2013.

The Alphatread bead to bead retreadtruck tyre range is designed for mediumhaul purposes with drive and trailer axlesizes. Hankook says it aims to meet cus-tomer demands for reducing fleets run-ning costs by providing a ‘cradle to grave’tyre solution.

The Alphatread R-DH05 is a drive axletyre for medium haul, available in sizes295/80R22.5 and 315/80R22.5. It has awide outline and compound to improvewet and dry traction as well as longerwear. While the extra wide tread anddeep grooves improve mileage, the opti-mised block shape provides increasedrigidity under heavy loads. The AlphatreadR-TH22 sized 385/65R22.5 is the corres-ponding trailer tyre. It has a five-rib tread

Hankook’s new bead-to-bead retread line, Alphatread, was introduced at the CV Show


CV SHOW

design and a so called “cool running compound”,alongside optimised zigzag grooves for stoneejection and crack prevention. Hankook says thewide, solid shoulder area provides a higher mile -age and helps to prevent belt separation. Its ker-fless centre rib enhances free-rolling on axle,increasing the trailer’s riding stability.

“Hankook invest constantly in research anddevelopment to provide our customers with envir -onment-friendly products”, said Hee-Se Ahn. Abovethat our new Alphatread range aims to reduce run-ning costs thus meeting the demands of our cus-tomers.” The tyres are produced by Bandvulc andwill be available in the UK from the second quarterin 2013.

GT Radial debuted its first city bus tyre in addi-tion to displaying its GT Assist programme at theCV Show. The GAU861 has an extra reinforcedsidewall protector to ensure maximum resistanceto curbing and impact damage, while its tread pat-tern comes with a new depth of 20.2mm to impro-ve mileage performance. Available initially in275/70R22.5, the tyre can be used in both steerand drive positions on both 4x2 and 6x2 configura-tions and is M+S marked indicating excellenttraction in mud and snow conditions.

GT Assist launched in January to create whatthe brand calls the first full fleet requirementpackage of product, price and service from a mid-tier tyre manufacturer. Operating throughout theUK and Republic of Ireland and working in collabo-ration with the 180 sites in the dealer network, GTAssist offers continual roadside assistance within aspecified response time.

The programme is managed by RACCommercial Assistance (RACCA), who will takethe initial breakdown call and find the nearestdealer who has both the correct product and capa-bility to attend the scene within the strict time -scale, and Infleet, who will handle all back officefunctions.

Also on GT Radial’s stand were the recentlylaunched GAR820 and GDR619 regional steer anddrive tyres. Both initially available in size215/75R17.5, four other main sizes in the 17.5 seg-ment will come to market during 2013 including205/75R17.5 and 225/75R17.5. The GAR820 andGDR619 also carry the M+S marking.

Chinese TBR manufacturer, Aeolus says itsfirst appearance as an exhibitor at the CV Show,made with its UK distributor Kings Road Tyres,resulted in product sales and strong visitor feed-back. The fast-growing brand is trying to increaseawareness in the UK, and amongst its range were

two new patterns: the ASR69 and ADR69 trucktyres which are now available in popular sizes295/80R22.5, 315/70R22.5 and 315/80R22.5.

Tim Bader, KRT’s purchasing and marketingmanager, commented: “Aeolus is creating a namefor itself in the commercial tyre sector and it wasreally encouraging to receive a great deal of inte-rest at the CV Show.

“With an increasing number of Chinese manu-factured tyres in the sector our focus is to create adistinct price and quality position for Aeolus. Wewere able to do that by demonstrating that thebrand offers excellent all-round value to fleetowners and operators, especially as it can beretreaded and regroooved, which offers end usersgreater flexibility and life cycle value compared tomany other Chinese brands.”

Wholesaler RH Claydon exhibited a number ofexclusive brands, including the new Basoon range.John Parker, business development and purcha-sing director, showed a sample selection of therange, attracting a lot of attention, especially fromvisitors looking for a value for money TBR product.

“The Basoon range is expertly manufactured inChina under the direction of SD-Internationalimplementing innovative European design engin -eering techniques with all tyres being rigorouslytested and approved for all quality control legislati-on. The range consists of ten pattern optionscover ing all truck and trailer applications.”

Tyre service providers

Manufacturers were not the only representativesof the tyre industry, with specialist fleet suppliersalso present. ATS Euromaster invited truck fleetoperators to view its Inflation Report 2013, a freeguide produced exclusively for the show. ATS-Esaid the guide was designed to show why fleets in2013 should pay closer attention to their tyres thanever before.

The report compares prices today with a dec -ade ago – spoiler alert: they’re considerably higher– and demonstrated how the rising cost of tyresand fuel mean sub-optimum tyre set-ups can costfleets. Its eight parts, including sections on under -inflation and wheel misalignment, are designed toprove to fleet operators the value of increasing theattention they pay to tyre maintenance.

Peter Fairlie, the Group sales director, says:“Maximising tyre performance should have been onevery fleet manager’s radar a decade ago; but in2013, with costs spiralling, if your tyres aren’t beingexpertly managed then it should be ringing alarm


bells. No business can afford to be thro-wing money away if it wants to be compe-titive and profitable.

“For example, the annual cost [basedon a 4x2 tractor unit with a tri-axle trailer,fuel consumption at 8.7mpg over120,000km] of 20 per cent under-inflationin 2003 for a 4x2 artic was £482. But in2013 the penalty for the same vehicle hasjumped to £888, which is an enormousamount of money to be wasting. By sim-ply making sure a comprehensive tyremanagement procedure is in place, fleetswill be able to save and potentially makea significant improvement to their bottomline.” The report is still available from ATS-E account managers.

Kwik-Fit showed its new range oflight commercial vehicle fleet initiatives,highlighting its mobile fleet’s LCV tyrerepair and placement capability; itsexpanded range of premium, mid-rangeand budget tyres; a plan to expand avail -ability of MoTs on Class 7 vans; and anew Kwik Fit Drive card, for LCV and carfleets, with supermarket fuel and vehiclebreakdown and recovery benefits, as wellas Kwik-Fit charge reductions.

The network told T&A of its plans toexpand its LCV business at last year’sshow, aimed primarily at van fleets, smallbusiness, sole traders and the retail mar-ket. This year, Kwik-Fit Mobile will contin -ue to renew its 200-strong fleet, repla-cing up to a further 50 vans, having intro-duced 53 new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter316 CDI 3.5 tonne medium wheelbaseunits last year. It has also recruited 10new relief technicians.

Kwik-Fit also planned to open a newpurpose-built centre in Basildon withClass 7 MoT capabilities to complementcentres in Hitchin, Norwich and Telfordthat already offer the service (Hitchin andNorwich are branded STS Tyre Pros,which is also owned by ItochuCorporation). Luton, Sale and Bath Road,Slough are also mooted for conversion.

TruckForce, Goodyear Dunlop’s dedi-cated mobile service and breakdown net-work, is taking delivery of 60 additionalMercedes-Benz Sprinter 313 CDIs at arate of one per day from Birminghamdealer Midlands Truck & Van. The newfleet was the focus of its activities at theCV Show.

Based across TruckForce’s 15 opera-ting centres, “hubs” for its satellite loca-tions across England and Wales, they arebeing used by technicians who repair,replace and service customers’ tyres attheir premises or at the roadside. TheSprinters are fitted with engine-drivenPTOs which power on-board compres-sors, as well as Hope Safe-T-bar rearsafety bumpers and roof-mounted flash -ing beacons.

TruckForce invested in its first 20Sprinters two years ago. The reliability ofthose vans, allied to first-class back-upfrom the manufacturer’s commercialvehicle dealer network, were key reasonsfor the decision to place this latest orderwith Mercedes-Benz.

Marc Preedy, Goodyear Dunlop’sdirector, commercial tyres, said: “Havingoperated Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vansfor a couple of years we are confident oftheir reliability and recognise that theyprovide us with a premium service, as wedo to our own customers. So we had nohesitation in ordering a further 60 vansand we’re now in the process of integra-ting these latest units into our fleet.”

West Midlands basedTruck Tyre Solutions (TTS)returned to the show havingmade its debut at the eventlast year. TTS said its mainobjective was to showcase itsservices in a fully responsiveroadside service facility fortruck tyres and promote thecompany’s extensive range ofquality commercial tyrescovering all market sectors. Itemphasised the Firenzarange; Carl Falconer – salesdirector at TTS opined that itis a good mid-range tyrewhich offers a comprehensivesize and pattern option formost trucks and trailers.

“Feedback from our haul -ier customers is consistentlypositive with most being plea-se with the brand and consi-der the tyres to be manu-factured to a good qualitystandard and long last onSupertracker’s new prototype wheel aligner


CV SHOW

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wear. At the same time TTS has carried outits own testing schedules on Firenza tyreswhich has proved positive and return edimpressive mileage performance.” TTS canprovide a wide selection of Firenza pat-terns to suit most applications.

TTS also presented its Zeta truck tyrerange. Falconer explains that the comp -any has a firm partnership with Shanghaibased contract tyre manufacturer, SDInternational, which produces the Zeta

brand: “Zeta has proved to be a goodquality budget brand amidst a lot of com-petition within this market sector whoprovide a extensive pattern option for ourhaulier customers. In fact the Zeta rangeis a popular choice with our customerswho are looking for an attractive lookingbudget pattern at a competitive price.”

TTS recently relocated its headquar-ters to Pershore in Worcestershire as partof its expansion programme.

Wheel alignment specialistSupertracker unveiled the pro-totype of its new STR210R ali-gner this year. The fully compu-terised laser wheel aligner willbe introduced into the market inthe near future, and was on dis-play for inspection and discussi-on with a member ofSupertracker’s national salesteam.

Trevor Lovesy, managingdirector of Supertracker states:“Our latest aligner attracted alot of interest on the stand… Itis anticipated that the STR210Rwill become available in thenext couple of months.”

Finally, Autogem was dis-playing its new i-sensor TPMSsystem, featured in theFebruary issue of T&A. The pro-grammable system allowsworkshops to configure anddiagnose blank and programm -ed sensors through a contact-

less scan with the i-sensor Tool. The i-sen-sor Blank is a universal sensor that can beprogrammed effectively to become anyone of more than 90 per cent of currentoriginal equipment sensors by the tool.

[email protected]

The Firenza brand was the main focus of the TTS stand

U


INTERNATIONAL TYRE MARKET

The end of the Russian supply/demandimbalanceBridgestone invests in Russia PCR factory

Under the agreement, Bridgestone and Mitsubishiwill respectively hold 90 and 10 per cent equityownership in a new tyre manufacturing company,Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing C.I.S. LLC(BMCIS). The Russia/CIS market incorporatesaround 300 million people and new vehicle saleshave grown significantly in the region. Demand for tyres is also projected to increase, and

Bridgestone reports that its plans to meet this growing demand with local production from itsUlyanovsk Oblast, Russia factory.

Both companies’ total investment in the projectto build Bridgestone’s first tyre plant in theRussia/CIS region will amount to approximately37.5 billion yen (£248.2 million). Production at theplant, which will be located around 560 miles

BRIDGESTONE CONCLUDED an investment contract with MitsubishiCorporation, the Ulyanovsk Oblast government and the Ulyanovsk RegionDevelopment Corporation on 12 April. But as well as strategically position-ing Bridgestone to capitalise on the growth of this emerging market, themove also spells the end of the Russian supply/demand imbalance andraises questions about the implications for all competitors.

The Bridgestone/Mitsubishi signing ceremony: (l to r)Mitsubishi division COO Akira Murakoshi, Bridgestonevice-president Asia Pacific, China, Russia, Middle Eastand Africa Tyre Operations Kunitoshi Takeda, UlyanovskOblast governor Sergey Morozov, general director ofthe Ulyanovsk region Development Corporation DmitryRyabo



(900km) southeast of Moscow in theZavolzhye Industrial Zone, is scheduled tobegin in the first half of 2016 and will pri-marily focus on winter tyres for the localmarket. Plant capacity is projected toreach around 12,000 tyres a day by thesecond half of 2018.

Alongside the establishment of a tyremanufacturing company, MitsubishiCorporation will take a 20 per cent equityposition in Bridgestone C.I.S. LLC(BSCIS), Bridgestone’s Moscow-basedsales company. As a result, BSCIS willhave a capital of 600.6 million roubles(£12.6 million). Bridgestone establishedBSCIS in 1998 and will retain an 80 percent equity holding following Mitsubishi’sinvestment.

More competition in general and forNokian in particular

Bridgestone’s decision to open a tyremanufacturing plant in Russia is likely toresult in more intense competition bet-ween the non-domestic tyre makers ingeneral as well as Russian car tyre mar-ket leader Nokian in particular. The newsalso appeared to dash hopes thatBridgestone (Nokian’s biggest single shareholder) might buy it out at somepoint (see below).

Now that Bridgestone has shareddetails of its plan to build a passenger cartyre factory and be ready to producetyres in 2016, the race is on to assess theimpact of the move on the current marketsituations. Indigenous tyre makers suchas Nizhnekamskshina aside, there aretwo reasons why this announcementmeans more intense competition thanever between the likes of Pirelli,Yokohama, Continental, and especiallyNokian (for which Russia is a key profitcentre) and now Bridgestone.

This is firstly because there aredoubts about the future outlook for theRussian market. According to financial

analysts at Morgan Stanley, the Russianmarket is “deteriorating as we speak”,driven down by decelerating car salesand slowing economic growth. At thesame time, the fact that European tyremarkets are – as the ETRMA, third partydata providers and analysts say –“structurally and cyclically challenged”,there are very limited options of where tosell when a competitor gains share andwhen the distribution chain says its inven-tories are “definitely not low”. This in turnputs pressure on prices and again in turnon the margins of those competing forthe same share. This factor is particularlymarked for Nokian, which generatesgreater than 40 per cent and perhaps asmuch as 50 per cent of its margins inRussia.

As the Morgan Stanley analystswrote in their investors’ note dated 15April 2013, this may not be a short termissue for Nokian. While a few yearsremains before Bridgestone’s Russiancapacity comes on stream, the companyis facing clear risks both in the short andmedium-term. Nokian’s saving grace isthe fact that it has a strong distributionnetwork in Russia and former sovietstates.

The facts that Continental’s regionaloperation is expected to start local pro-duction at the end of 2013 and thatimport tariffs are being phased out asRussia joins the World Trade Organisation(WTO) only add to the competitiveness ofthe environment. Nevertheless, as theanalysts observed, this thesis could bewrong if “Nokian leverages its distributi-on network in Russia beyond…expectati-ons and maintains its share and pricingpower”.

Offering quite a different perspective,Deutsche Bank took the opportunity tosituate the news in the context of widerdomestic market development and indoing so came out with a more optimist-ic medium to long term view of the

situation. According to these analysts, 22million A+B segment (premium andupper medium) tyres were sold in Russiain 2012. Their view is that the marketshould reach 34 million in 2015. By thispoint production capacity in the countryis expected to reach 35 million units compared with 17 million in 2012, endingan era of unbalance between supply anddemand.

Nokian shares fall following news ofRussian plant

Of course the proof of any financial thesisis in the eating. According to financialnews sources, Nokian shares fell 3.8 percent when Bridgestone announced theRussian factory news. However, this islikely to have been due to the fact thatBridgestone is Nokian’s largest singleshareholder rather than the complexitiesof tyre market positioning. Indeed, itappears that some of those hoping thatBridgestone was angling for a Nokianbuy-out at some point have become disil-lusioned and exited their positions.However, it has to be said that the decli-ne in share value can also – to someextent – be explained by shorting recom-mendations from some market watchers.

"Some investors had hoped thatBridgestone would at some point buyNokian Renkaat out. But now as theychose to make its own greenfield invest-ment in Russia, that scenario has beco-me very unlikely," Reuters quoted analystSauli Vilen from Inderes Equity Researchas saying, adding: "Another negativething for the stock is of course the increa-sed competition in the future."

Having said that, Bridgestone current-ly continues to own 15 per cent stake inNokian. And with a 32 per cent share inRussia, Nokian remains the domesticmarket leader in the passenger car tyresector. cja/sg

N



US tyre shipments unchanged in 2012,says RMAACCORDING TO FIGURES published bythe Rubber Manufacturers Asso c-iation, or RMA, US tyre shipmentsin 2012 amounted to 284 millionunits. This is unchanged from theprevious year – the RMA says a tenper cent increase in original equip-ment shipments offset a nearly twoper cent decrease in replacementshipments, and it states this absen-ce of overall growth can primarilybe attributed to a “cautious consu-mer as well as economic uncertain-ties in both the commercial andconsumer sectors of the replace-ment market.”

Nonetheless, the RMA believes thatpositive signs, including rising vehiclesales and vehicle miles travelled, willresult in a 1.5 per cent rise in tyre ship-ments this year. The association estim-ates approximately 288 million tyre ship-ments for 2013.

Original equipment tyre shipmentsfor both the light vehicle and commercialtruck sectors increased ten per cent lastyear due to increased demand for lightvehicles and commercial trucks. Growthof almost six per cent is forecast for 2013as new vehicle demand is expected toincrease light vehicle sales to more than15 million. Replacement tyre shipmentsdeclined in 2012 to approximately 235million total units, a decrease of nearly 5million units. For 2013, a modest increaseof 1 million units is anticipated as smallgrowth is expected in the GrossDomestic Product and the IndustrialProduction Index for both the consumerand commercial sectors.

The RMA’s Tire Market AnalysisCommittee report for key categories andtheir respective segments for 2012 andits forecast for 2013 include:

Original equipment passenger tyres:Passenger OE tyre shipments increasedby 12.1 per cent to 40 million units in2012, a 4.3 million unit improvement. Thisreflects the 1.7 million unit increase inlight vehicle sales for 2012, reachingapproximately 14.4 million light vehicles.For 2013, light vehicle sales are anticipa-ted to increase another 4.2 per cent andcrest the 15 million unit mark. As such,2013 OE passenger shipments areexpected to increase more than six percent or approximately 2.7 million units.

Original equipment light truck tyres:Light truck OE tyres increased 1.5 percent in 2012 to 4.3 million units asdomestic vehicle production using LTtyres experienced a marginal increasedue to soft economic conditions in thissector. This category is forecast to growby nearly 100,000 units in 2013, or appro-ximately three per cent.

Original equipment medium/wide-base/heavy on-high way commercial

truck tyres: An increasein demand for commer-cial trucks and trailers in2012 boosted commer-cial OE tyre shipmentsby 2.6 per cent, rea-ching approximately 5.1million units. However,demand for new trucksis expected to level offin 2013 and little or nochange in the total OEtyre units is anticipated.

Replacement pas-senger tyres: 2012 ship-ments decreased by 3.5million units, or 1.8 percent, to 190.9 millionunits as anticipateddemand failed to mate-rialise due to continuedsoft economic conditi-ons and cautious consu-

mers. For 2013, improving economic con-ditions, positive signs of jobs added, andgrowth in vehicle miles travelled will betempered by spending pressure on con-sumers. As a result passenger replace-ment shipments are forecast to increaseby a modest 1 million units.

Replacement light truck tyres: Total2012 light truck replacement shipmentswere 28.1 million units, a decrease ofapproximately 500,000 units, or 1.9 percent. A nearly one per cent growth isforecast for 2013 given the slowly impro-ving economy and signs of improvementin the housing market.

Replacement medium/wide-base/heavy on-highway commercial trucktyres: For 2012, this market declined byfour per cent, or 700,000 units, to 15.8million units as fleets opted for newequipment and the economy remainedsluggish. No increase is forecast for 2013owing to a sluggish commercial sector.

sg

Replacement pcr shipments declined by nearly 3.5 million units in 2012



Signing ceremony held for Yokohama’s US plantON 29 APRIL, Yokohama Rubber offi-cialised its plans to erect a green-field truck and bus tyre factory inthe US State of Mississippi. At aceremony held at the West PointRitz, near the site of the future WestPoint plant, some 150 miles (240kilometres from state capitalJackson, Yokohama Rubber presi-dent and representative directorHikomitsu Noji and MississippiGovernor Phil Bryant signed thedocuments that give the green lightfor work to begin on the plant.

“This is a historic day for Yokohama,” saidNoji. “Since our entry into the US marketover 40 years ago, along with the subse-quent acquisition of our plant in Salem,Virginia in the 1980s, Yokohama has beenon a [course of] continual growth. Nowwe will build a factory in the UnitedStates for the first time (the tyre maker’sSalem, Virginia plant was acquired whenYokohama acquired Mohawk Rubber in1989). It reaffirms our commitment to theNorth American market and to the contin -ued mutual success of Yokohama and itsbusiness partner - our dealers. I’d like tothank Governor Phil Bryant and the Stateof Mississippi for their dedication inbring ing this to fruition. I’d like to thankMississippi as well for a very warm wel-come.”

“I am honoured Yokohama hasselected our state for its second US tyremanufacturing facility,“ said GovernorBryant. “This new plant will have a tre-mendous impact on the Golden Triangleregion (the area within the ‘triangle’ for-med by the towns of West Point,Columbus and Starkville) and on our stateas a whole, and I welcome this highly-respected company to Mississippi andlook forward to our partnership in theyears to come.“

Yokohama currently supplies tyres tothe North American market via GTY TireCompany, a US joint venture companyspecialised in manufacturing truck and

bus tyres, and through export from Japanand Thailand. The company says it never-theless “considered it necessary” tobuild a new plant so as to accommodateincreasingly growing demand for theYokohama brand and to further strength -en its aim of facilitating “local productionfor local consumption”.

“We have a big demand. We cannotsupply enough,” added Noji. “So that isthe reason we need to make the tyreshere and deliver to the US. Made in theUS. Delivered to the US.”

The West Point plant will be built on

over 500-acres (202 hectares) of land,with groundbreaking planned for Juneand construction expected to begin inSeptember. The plant should be comple-ted in September or October 2015. Thefacility, which is expected to produce onemillion tyres starting in 2015, will have aninitial capital investment of US$300 milli-on and will result in 500 new jobs duringthe project’s first phase. Yokohama sayspotential plant expansions could quadru-ple these original employment andinvestment levels.

Tanaka overseeing plant projects

Yasushi Tanaka, previously CEO ofYokohama Tire Corporation, CEO ofYokohama Corporation of America andCEO of Yokohama Corporation of NorthAmerica, took on a new role as of 1 May.He now serves as assistant to the presi-dent of Yokohama’s Tire Business Group.In his new capacity, Tanaka will overseeYokohama Rubber’s global plans inregards to new plant constructions, inclu-ding the West Point plant, as well asexpansion work at existing plants. sg

Yokohama to build second trucktyre plant in ThailandPhase two work on Yokohama Rubber’s truck and bus tyre factory in Thailand is sche-duled to begin in July. This second stage of the Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand)Co., Ltd. project involves the erection of a second plant on a 2.6 section of land adja-cent to the existing truck and bus tyre factory in Rayong Province. Yokohama Rubber’stotal investment in this second plant amounts to 8 billion yen (£53.6 million). The expan-sion will double the Thailand subsidiary’s truck and bus tyre capacity to 700,000 piecesper annum; plans are to bring the second plant into production in April 2015 and full-fledged operation the following December.

Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) was established in January 2004 and pro-duced its first truck and bus tyres in April 2005. Most plant output is sold in the NorthAmerican and European replacement markets. The decision to build a second plant inRayong Province was made to ensure Yokohama Rubber can speedily follow any salesincrease resulting from its plan to increase global truck and bus tyre sales.

The Rayong Province site also houses a passenger car and light truck tyre plant,which started operation in November 2006. Following the completion of phase threeexpansion work, this facility has an annual production capacity of four million tyres. sg

Hikomitsu Noji (second from left) and Phil Bryant(left) at the signing ceremony



T

Pirelli signs Russian retail MoU ACCORDING TO A FORECAST published by IHSGlobal Insight in April, Russia’s premiumcar segment is expected to grow 5.2 percent this year and 8.5 per cent in 2014. Pirellifocuses its strategy on this segment andtherefore views Russia as a key market.Following the signing of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding with Russian oil and gascompany Rosneft, the Italian tyre maker willsoon begin construction work on its firstflagship ‘PZero Platinum’ tyre shop withinthe country.

The inaugural PZero Platinum outlet is being builtin Sochi, the Black Sea town that will host the2014 Winter Olympics, and will be located withina new flagship filling station built by WinterOlympics partner Rosneft. The shop is expectedto be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

Pirelli says the MoU, signed by Rosneft chairman andManagement Board chairman Igor Sechin and Marco TronchettiProvera, Pirelli’s chairman and CEO, pushes forward the strate-gic marketing and commercial agreement signed by the partieson 20 December 2012. The MoU also paves the way for theestablishment of further points of sales at selected Rosneft fill -ing stations and the implementation of “Safe&Go” tyre check-ups. Pirelli says it and Rosneft will initially focus on theKrasnodar region around Sochi to take advantage of the expo-sure provided by the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Commenting on the signing, Igor Sechin said: “The MoUsigned today underscores the parties’ commitment to longterm cooperation. We are delighted to develop our retail net-

work in partnership with Pirelli – one of the world’s leaders intyre production. We believe implementation of Pirelli’s producti-on and services will make Rosneft filling stations even moreappealing to customers and thus will make the partnershipbeneficial for both Rosneft and Pirelli.”

“For Pirelli, Russia is a key growth market and having a localpartner as prestigious as Rosneft will enable us to reach, withtheir guidance and support, every valuable corner of the coun-try effectively and relatively quickly,” added Marco TronchettiProvera.

Pirelli has been present in Russia since 2008. Today theItalian tyre maker operates two factories there – in Kirov andVoronezh – together with joint-venture partner RussianTechnologies. sg

Pirelli’s PZero Platinum outlets will be housed within Rosneft service stations

BF s.r.l.



Conti planning significant retailgrowth in ChinaDuring the course of 2012, Continentalexpanded its retail network in Chinaby some two-thirds, and this year itlooks to grow by a further 40 per cent.Beijing-based publication China Dailyreports Jay Dhillon, general managerof Continental Tires China, as calling2012 the company’s “most successfulyear” in terms of its retail operation.He shared that 1,000 new authorisedfranchised shops were added toContinental’s network, giving it a totalof 2,500.

“We will open another 1,000 aut-horised stores in 2013, three a day. Aswell as deepen our footprint into moresecond and third-tier cities, and main-tain that speed over the next threeyears,” he told China Daily. “In 2012,Continental entered the second phaseof our development in China, afterestablishing a stable foothold here.But we need to go much faster. Wespent 80 per cent of our marketingbudget on opening shops and doub-ling our sales team in 2012.”

In addition to its franchised outlets,Continental operates its flagshipBestDrive centres. The first of theseopened in Guangzhou in August 2010,and by February 2013 the companyhad established 12 outlets. BestDriveoffers more comprehensive servicethan other outlets and centres aredesigned according to internationalstandards. Dhillon told China Daily thatthis year Continental will double thenumber of BestDrive centres it oper -ates and then open ten to 15 new out-lets a year for the next three to fiveyears. “Establishing BestDrive storesis a key initiative to propel our rapidgrowth in China, as well as a majorstep in building our presence in thelocal retail market, especially in theservice sector,” he said. sg

Conti to boost pcr production byalmost 50% in SlovakiaON 10 APRIL, the head of Continental’sTire division, Nikolai Setzer, and SlovakPrime Minister Robert Fico signed aMemorandum of Understanding concer-ning Continental’s consumer tyre factoryin Púchov. The signing of the MoU atContinental’s headquarters in Hannover,Germany paves the way for an expansionproject that will see passenger and lighttruck tyre capacity in Púchov rising bymore than 5 million pieces a year.

Continental is yet to confirm theMoU’s fine print, however the SlovakRepublic’s official website states that theGerman company intends to invest 250million euros in Slovakia and createaround 600 new jobs there. In return, theSlovak Republic says it has offeredContinental some 20 million euros in taxconcessions. The government websiteindicates that a large portion of thisinvestment will be made over the nextyear and lead to 163 new jobs in Púchov.

At present the Púchov site manu-factures 11 million passenger car andlight truck tyres annually, and nearly all

Continental’s tyre brands are producedthere, including Continental, General Tire,Gislaved, Semperit, Uniroyal, Viking,Barum, Matador and Mabor. The comp -any’s truck tyre plant in Púchov,Continental Matador Truck Tires s.r.o.,produced 2.2 million tyres last year and isContinental’s second largest truck tyrefactory worldwide. In terms of tonnagefor both consumer and truck tyres,Púchov is on its way to becomingContinental’s largest tyre plant in Europe.

Continental’s involvement withPúchov commenced in 1998 with itsshare holding in Continental MatadorTruck Tires s.r.o. In November 2007 thecompany acquired a majority sharehold -ing in Continental Matador Rubber s.r.o.,and since that time it has almost doubledpassenger car and light truck tyre pro-duction in Púchov and employed 850additional workers. In 2009 it acquiredthe outstanding 34 per cent shareholdingin Continental Matador Rubber s.r.o.Today Continental employs more than5,000 people in Slovakia. sg

Slovak PM Robert Fico (l) and Nikolai Setzer sign the MoU. Standing behind are (from left) Slovak minister ofFinance Peter Kažimír and Economy minister Tomáš Malatinský, together with Burkhardt Köller, executivevice-president Controlling (Tires Division) and Executive Board member Heinz-Gerhard Wente (ContiTech)



Citexpo

Kumho passes 100 million tyre milestone in ChinaSpeaking at the Auto Shanghai 2013 show, CaoZhuangzhu, Kumho Tire (China) Sales Company Ltd’sgeneral manager of marketing and logistics, reportedsales of 100 million tyres in China as of the end of 2012.“Following the establishment of diplomatic relations bet-ween China and South Korea in 1992, Kumho Tire wasone of the first foreign-funded enterprises to invest inChina, and construction began on our Nanjing plant in1994,” he added. “Today we have a total of more than5,500 employees and an annual production capacity ofmore than 30 million tyres.”

Outlining Kumho’s marketing strategy in China, Caoshared that the tyre maker’s sponsorship of the CTCC, orChina Touring Car Championship, plays an important role.“Through a competitive bidding process, Kumho Tirebeat Yokohama and Michelin to become the official tyreof the CTCC. This not only demonstrates Kumho Tire’smotorsport technology, it shows Kumho Tire’s support ofChinese motorsport.” sg

Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. has announced its plans to build a new headoffice in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture next to the site of its Tire TechnicalCenter. The Japanese manufacturer, whose current head office is inOsaka said that the company plans to relocate in August 2015, the monthin which Toyo will celebrate its 70th anniversary.

The plan forms part of Toyo’s strategy for global growth, the companyexplains; it hopes to “create more agile management through speedierdecision making.” With this move the company will make one centre forits management functions promoting closer coordination. Before then anew research and development centre is planned for opening inNovember 2013 in Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture.

Toyo’s new management team was introduced at the end of March2013, announcing its plans to “[boost] corporate strength and sustained,innovative, continuous growth.”

The new, six floor headquarters will be built on a vacant lot, which willplace it adjacent to the Company’s technology development centre. Theheadquarters will be about a 20 minute drive from the R&D center inKawanishi. The location is also convenient for commuter access, and theCenter has a capacity of around 350 people, with floorspace of 8,000sqm.Toyo previously operated a plant in Itami between 1953 and 1998. akb

Toyo to relocate head office in 70th year

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PREVIEW

In Our Next IssueA brief look forward at a few of the articles

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I High performancetyres IRecent global growth of the high performancetyre business has outstripped that of passengercar tyres as a whole, making these products hotperformers both on the road and in turnover figu-res. In June, Tyres & Accessories turns its atten-tion to this high profile market segment.

I Tyre Recovery I The uses for end of life tyres are varied. Those notreincarnated through retreading can look forwardto being utilised in a number of products andapplications. Next month we look at this subject ingreater detail.

I Wheel alignment andlifting equipment IWe like to keep our readers pointed in the rightdirection through uplifting features – a subjectwe’re tackling next month manages this quiteliter ally. In June, Tyres & Accessories presentsthe latest products and other news from the liftingequipment and wheel alignment market seg-ments. Stay in the know – don’t miss the nextissue of T&A.

I Retreading Special IThose suffering from retreading withdrawalsymptoms need no longer suffer – the next doseof retreading news and information will be dis-pensed with your June issue of Tyres &Accessories. Our Retreading Special supplement,produced together with our sister publicationNeue Reifenzeitung, returns next month.

Tyres & Accessories May 2013

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