Tyres & Accessories | October 2013

Tyres & A

ccessories October 2013

ww

w.tyrepress.com

October 2013

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WWW.TYREPRESS.COM 3TYRES & ACCESSORIES 10/2013

EDITORIALEDITORIAL

NO ONE CAN DENY that computers are now anintegral part of the way we live and work. With theadvent of mobile Internet connectivity – especially inthe context of social media – they have become a central part of most of our lives. With this comes bothan Orwellian suspicion of what people/corporations/governments might do with this data and the biggestopportunity yet to put your products and services infront of the right people. While the purpose of well-established media gatekeepers has been challenged byeasier than ever information sharing, new quality andrelevance measures have entered the market to helpnavigate the informational maelstrom.

These track and evaluate what is somewhat ironi-cally called “social influence”. Of course it is not a lite-ral measure of either real social interactions or by thesame token “real” influence (whatever that is). It is rat-her a collation and calculation of our online lives.Understand how popular, interacted with and far rea-ching these are and you have a fair idea of the “value”of a particular contact – all summed up in between twoand three significant digits. So how is the tyre industryfairing when it comes to social influence? Regular rea-ders of Tyres & Accessories will know that we producean annual feature analysing developments in the onlinetyre business. This is usually published in the Octoberedition. True to form, our coverage of the latestresearch into online brand equity as well as discussionsand analysis of the latest trends in the market beginson page 32 of this issue.

For the last two of three years, this feature alsoincluded our appropriately “meta-” analysis of the avai-lable analyses. This has meant collating and averagingthe results of between two and three of the bestknown social influence metrics – Klout, PeerIndex andKred. In essence we adopted a kind of “big data”approach in order to get both a broad and fair represen-tation of how some of the best known names in thetyre business are reaching customers. This year, newdata privacy policies from one of the three companiesand tighter data governance at a second has made thismuch more difficult. Add in the fact that our previousreports ruffled feathers amongst some who couldn'tunderstand why one brand's low budget approach out-performed that of an agency retained to connect withthe right people and you even more reason to obfusca-te the data from interested eyes such as ours.

As a result the 2013 research could not completelycollate results from all three metrics in every case.Indeed we could only get reliable measurements

across the board using theKlout system this year.Therefore we are left with aset of data that is more indi-cative than it is empirical.However it does provoke aninteresting discussion whenyou see that last year's win-ner @Goodyear_UK appears to have fallen back tofourth place. Sure, the fact that neither its PeerIndexnor its Kred scores can any longer be validated meansits doesn't have the inflating factor offered by Kred tothe other competitors, but the strong sowing of thisyear's one and two (@MichelinTyres and @ContiUK)look likely to have most to do with it. Across the sametwo metrics, this year's leading social tyre brands ave-raged 71.65 and 67.3 respectively when our researchwas conducted in July. Both were some way off nextbest @DunlopLive with 62.6 and further still away from@Goodyear_UK (53).

Considering the size and scope of the world's largest tyremaker, it was surprising to see @Bridge-stoneTyre follow on after these with 52.25. However, ithas to be said that this is marked improvement on lastyear (although it must be noted that we used a diffe-rent combination of metrics this time). Nevertheless,when comparing Klout alone it is clear that @Bridge-stoneTyre has improved by over 20 per cent from itsscore of 36 in 2012 to 44 in 2013.

With our own research showing that more than halfof the respondents to our December 2012 “Questionof Month” saying they use social media for businesspurposes, we at Tyres & Accessories have been awareof the relevance of this phenomenon for some time.And that's why we can't help but throw in a plug forour newly re-launched tyrepress.com. However, whileany such investment is by its nature – and indeed likeany Fourth Bridge painting endeavour – ongoing, wecannot call it complete without the input of esteemedcustomers, subscribers and readers. So, thank you toall those that have offered support and feedback alrea-dy. For any more that would like to add to this, our mail-box is always open: [email protected]. Or the-re's always, to practice the social media significance Ihave just preached, @tyrepress

@ sign of the times

Contents

Features

October 2013

News

80

• ONLINE TYRE BUSINESSMichelin prominence dominance 32Can B2B and B2C be compared?’ 34Delticom buys Tirendo 36

• WHOLESALEKRT adapts brand strategy 46Micheldever Kumho brand manager 50Shipping costs continue to fall 62

• IAA MOTOR SHOW REVIEW 74

• CITEXPO REVIEW 80

28

WWW.TYREPRESS.COM TYRES & ACCESSORIES 10/20134

• MOTORSPORTHas Pirelli secured 5 years in F1 40

• PRODUCT INFORMATIONAll-rounders top winter tyre test 66OE business update 68

• INTERNATIONAL TYRE MARKETHankook opens Indonesia plant 84Yokohama US groundbreaking 87

• CAREER TRACKS 90

16

• EDITORIAL@ sign of the times 3

• NEWS IN BRIEF 6

• NTDA NEWS 12

• UK TYRE MARKETNTDA, mytyres labelling survey 18ATS-Euromaster flagship centre 22

• COMPANY NEWSPirelli Calendar anniversary 24Conti, Bridgestone Euro investments 26

5893 Classifieds – 94 Advertisers’ Index – 95 Web Directory – 98 Preview – 98 Impressum

TMapollotyres.com

Choose for the safety of Apollo premium winter tyres with 2 years of unconditional warranty*.

Feel safe. Feel free. Feel Apollo tyres.

*Conditions apply

WWW.TYREPRESS.COM6 TYRES & ACCESSORIES 10/2013

NEWS IN BRIEF

U

Michelin launches agri tyrepressure calculator

Michelin has launched an optimum

tyre pressure calculator for tractors,

harvesters, sprayers and trailers,

which is available at www.michelin-

agricultural-tyres.co.uk. Michelin

reports that it has developed the tool

to help farm machinery operators

get the maximum performance out

of their tyres.

Mike Lawton, commercial direc-

tor of Michelin’s Agricultural tyre

division in the UK and Ireland, says:

“Everywhere in Europe, farm machi-

nes must be adaptable. Throughout

the crop cycle, they have to operate

with different attachments and trai-

lers under weights and conditions of

use that differ considerably from

one season to another. It is little

wonder, therefore, that tyre pressu-

res can vary significantly depending

on the type of use or configuration.”

cja

STL announces 2013 TireTechnology Seminar

Standards Testing Laboratories

(STL) will host Tyre Technology 2013,

between 15-17 October at the com-

pany’s Massillon, Ohio headquar-

ters. According to the company,

STL’s Tire Technology Seminar is two-

and-a-half-day educational program

providing a basic yet comprehensi-

ve overview of the tyre industry’s

technology, including compounding

and manufacturing, tyre and wheel

design and construction, tyre testing

and evaluation, materials, tyre

nomenclature and application. It is

designed to benefit attendees ran-

ging from those seeking general

knowledge of the design, constructi-

on, materials and performance of

tyres to advanced tyre engineers. cja

Pirelli tops tyre sector in sustainabilityindex for 7th yearPIRELLI HAS BEEN NOMINATED THE WORLD LEADER in the ATX Auto Componentssector of the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Dow Jones Sustainability Europeindices, with a score of 85 points compared with a sector average of 51 points. It isthe seventh consecutive year that Pirelli has topped the tyre sector in this respect.

The results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) review wereannounced today by S&P Dow Jones Indices, one of the world’s largest providers offinancial market indices, and RobecoSAM, the investment specialist focused exclus-ively on Sustainability Investing. Launched in 1999, the DJSI were the first global indices to track the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven comp-anies worldwide.

The DJSI follow a best-in-class approach, including companies across all indus-tries that outperform their peers in numerous sustainability metrics. The sustainableperformance evaluation comprises the 2,500 companies with the largest free-float onthe S&P Global Broad Market Index and 59 relative sectors in 25 countries. cja

Uniwheels OE on new Audi A8 HybridUniwheels’ has been selected to provide OE wheels for the new Audi A8 Hybrid. Thecontract sees Uniwheels provide its “19-inch hybrid aluminium wheel”, which is saidto offer an exclusive aerodynamic design.

According to the company, the most advanced technologies are used to manu-facture this alloy wheel in a turbine-style design. This means the weight-reducingflow-forming method and the challenging undercut machining to the classy 4EE-bico-lor gloss finish. With its aero-dynamic efficient design and with its slanted spokes thishigh-tech wheel also contributes to the improved consumption in premium hybridvehicles thanks to a favourable cw-value.

Volkswagen Group obviously recognises the efforts that go into Uniwheels’ pro-ducts as the company has been a supplier to the well-known German carmaker forsome time. As Ralf Schmid, CEO of Uniwheelss says: „We expect to deliver over amillion alloy wheels to Audi for almost all car models this year and thus our existingleading position in the challenging OEM market will continue to consolidate“. cja

Are you interested in a target market waiting to be discovered? A target group that wants certifi able quality – not fl ashy gimmicks. A wide group of cus-tomers who compare tyre tests and prices before making an objective purchase decision. What will it take to conquer this market segment for the long term? Your determination and our assistance. Strong sales support and above all:

The safest way into your customers‘ mind.

Contact [email protected]

DRIVE SMARTER

AW03 AW02AU01 AH01 AG02 AS02 AL01


NEWS IN BRIEF

Bridgestone OE on Ferrari F12berlinettaBridgestone has developed a new super sports car tyre, the Potenza S007, as origi-nal equipment for the 2013 Ferrari F12berlinetta. The tyre size is 255/35 ZR 20 and theS007 will be fitted on the F12berlinetta in conventional and Run-Flat Technologytyres..

The S007 tyres have been developed especially for high speed sporty vehicles,requiring extreme levels of lateral force due to their sporty setup. The pattern featu-res rigid pattern blocks for superior steering response and optimum grip on dry sur-faces. The wide outside tread, in combination with specially tuned carcass constructi-on, provide maximum cornering grip, even under the most severe load conditions.

The new Ferrari F12berlinetta certainly throws up challenges for tyre designers. Itgoes from 0-200 km/h in 8,5 seconds and has a top speed of over 340 km/h.Bridgestone engineers developed the Potenza S007 using construction and materialstechnologies developed during Bridgestone’s 14 seasons as official FIA Formula Onetyre supplier. To meet Ferrari’s specifications for improved fuel efficiency, these tech-nologies were combined with Bridgestone’s advanced knowledge of tyres at themolecular level, helping to optimise the mixture ratio and reaction between carbon,silica and rubber, which reduces rolling resistance and fuel consumption.

“Bridgestone is very proud to continue its long-standing partnership with Ferrariand be selected to develop a tyre for the most powerful Ferrari series road car everproduced” says Edwin Van der Stad, Director Sales, Consumer Business Unit,Bridgestone Europe.

Trax supplying OE wheel weights fornew US Ford TransitBritish firm Trax JH Ltd, the second largest wheel balance weight manufacturer inEurope, has been selected to supply wheel weights for the new Ford Transit to bebuilt in Kansas City, USA. Widely known in Europe, the Transit will be new to NorthAmerica and is expected to be sold as the “T” series. The model will be launched in2014.

According to the company, product design is what gave Trax the technical advan-tage over its US-based competitors. To this end the Transit weight incorporates theCAM-BACK feature, which was invented by Trax to significantly improve balanceweight retention. Company representatives explained that balance weight retentionreliability is essential to ensure no warranty claims caused by weights sliding on the

rims or falling off in use.Trax has been a supplier to

Ford in Europe for over 10 yearsand is reportedly pleased to havebeen selected to now also supplyweights in North America.Managing director, John Hallé,said that the company has alwaysbeen at the forefront of balanceweight design and it is excellentnews that investments in productdesign are leading to new globalmarkets. cja

Hankook OE on BMW 5series

Hankook’s high performance Ventus

S1 evo2 tyre is being fitted as OE on

BMW 520i, 528i, 530i, 535i and 520d

models. The size of tyre is 225/55R

17W. This is the fourth model from

the BMW group which has Hankook

as original equipment; the others

are: Mini, BMW 1 series and 3 series

and the fact that Hankook are equip-

ping such high-end vehicles „con-

firms our position as a globally-

recognised manufacturer of high

performance premium tyres“ says

Jin-Wook Choi, Hankook Tire

President and COO for Europe.

The Ventus S1 evo2 is designed

for drivers of high performance

cars, who expect sport performance

with no compromise in road noise,

comfort or rolling resistance. In pro-

ducing the tyre, Hankook drew on

the experience it has gained as

exclusive tyre partner to the

renowned DTM touring car series. It

features what Hankook calls its

‘Kontrol Technology’; derived from

‘Kinetic Control’, this is described by

the tyre maker as „reflecting the

best possible controllability of the

interaction between the driver, the

vehicle and the road by the tyres

during the journey.“ pg

Finalists chosen in MissYokohama contest

The Miss Yokohama beauty pageant

has a long tradition in the Swiss

automotive industry and 2013 marks

the 12th year of the contest. The win-

ner not only spends a year as brand

ambassador for the tyre brand,

attending various functions and

trade shows, but also wins a car and

other prizes, such as a photoshoot.

Auditions were held a week ago

and 15 finalists were selected. Miss

Yokohama 2013 will be chosen at an

all-star event at the PostFinance

Arena, Bern, on September 14th. pg

Distributor Stapleton’s Tyre Services Ltd. - Fourth Avenue - Letchworth - Herts - SG6 2TT - U.K. Tel: 0870 60 54321

NEXEN TYRE Corporation London Branch 17 Douglas Road - Kingston Upon Thames - Greater London KT1 3PX - UK Tel: 0208 546 9948 - Phone: 07919 222 837

A


NEWS IN BRIEF

Stories from the past 20 years of T&A

October 1993Bad economic news; the half-yearresults from Continental, Michelinand Yokohama Rubber all revealed afall in turnover and profits.

Renault and Volvo announced thatthe two groups were to merge.

October 1998J. J. M. Baudoin and R. H. Ouds -hoorn were appointed joint mana-ging directors of Vredestein NV, fol-lowing the retirement of PeterWiersema.

Michelin bought Colombian tyremanufacturer Icollantas.

October 2003Indian manufacturer MRF signed upthree cricketing legends to promoteits tyres; Sachin Tendulkar, SteveWaugh and Brian Lara.

Still waiting: the NTDA called on itssister associations in Europe tocampaign for a change in treaddepth legislation. The proposedchange was a minimum of 2mmfor, S, T and H-rated tyres and 3mmfor faster speed ratings.

October 2008Bothe Goodyear and Michelinannounced plans to increase theirtyre production in Poland.

Sumitomo Rubber was set to buythe Thailand tyre manufacturingplant of Taiwanese manufacturerHwa Fong Rubber for the equiva-lent of £12.5 million.

THIS?REMEMBER

Pirelli nominates F1 tyre compounds forKorea, Japan and IndiaPIRELLI HAS ANNOUNCED its tyre compound nominations for the forthcoming grandsprix in Korea, Japan and India. The P Zero White medium tyre is present for all threeevents – it seems likely that Monaco will remain the only grand prix of 2013 at whichit was not amongst Pirelli’s allocation. Each of the other three compounds will featu-re once, with the two hardest compounds deployed for the seventh time this seasonat Japan’s Suzuka.

For Korea, the medium and supersoft tyres will be used. Pirelli says the surfacetends to be slippery, with a wide variety of corners and some heavy braking areas.The medium tyre copes well with the wide-ranging demands of the circuit, while thesupersoft is capable of generating the highest possible levels of traction on the slip-pery surface.

At the Suzuka circuit in Japan, one of the most popular and historic tracks on thewhole calendar, the P Zero Orange hard and P Zero White medium tyres have beenchosen. These are designed to soak up the high-energy demands of rapid cornerssuch as 130R and Spoon, which characterise the famous Japanese circuit.

In India, which was new to the Formula One schedule in 2011, the P Zero Whitemedium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres are nominated. Pirelli says this combination hasbeen selected to provide the best possible compromise between performance anddurability at the Buddh International circuit, which is well-known for its big elevationchanges and technically demanding corners. akb

Yokohama-equipped takes Malaysianendurance race hat-trickA car equipped with Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.’s global flagship „Advan“ racing tyrewon the overall championship at the 12-hour Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race 2013(MMER 2013) held during 29-31 August. This marks the third straight year that therace has been won by a car equipped with Yokohama tyres.

The winning No. 7 car was a „Clearwater Racing“ Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 driven byMok Weng Sun, Craig Baird, and Hiroshi Hamaguchi. In the preliminary race, theYokohama-equipped Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 that won MMER in 2011 and2012 came in first, with the runner-up spots taken by other Yokohama-equipped cars.In the final, the Yokohama-equipped No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT3 and theNo. 1 and No. 28 cars, both Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s set the pace in the earlystages but those cars soon fell down the leaderboard. The race then became a three-way contest between the No. 7 car, the No.3 car, also a Ferrari 458, and the No. 23Lamborghini LP560-4. The No. 3 car led for most of the night, but the No. 7 car tookthe lead shortly after dawn, built a big lead and took the chequered flag after comple-ting a record 323 laps, beating the last years’ record. After the race, winning teamdriver Hiroshi Hamaguchi said, „The machine had great fuel efficiency and ran trou-ble-free. We installed soft tires for the night race, and they worked great. I felt verylittle grip loss even after running for 40 minutes.“

The Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race has been held each summer since 2000as part of the celebrations commemorating Malaysia’s Independence Day on August31. The race has drawn greater international attention each year and since 2012 hasbeen open only to full-fledged racing cars, such as those meeting FIA GT3 standards.Participants include racing teams and drivers active in the world’s top-class enduran-ce races. This year’s race included 13 cars, mostly FIA GT3-class, equipped withYokohama tyres. cja

The hardest P Zero Orange and White F1 tyreswere most recently allocated at Monza for the

Italian grand prix

[email protected] HPT LtdDawson Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK1 1QY Sales: 01908 625601 / 01908 625603 www.yokohama.co.uk

NEWSwww.ntda.co.uk


UK TYRE MARKET

MMany cars now come with a tyre inflation kit as standard, as thissaves a significant amount of weight and therefore helps overallCO2 emissions. Those with runflats often arrive without eventhis. Either way, the problem remains for the many drivers withinflation kits that some punctures or a complete blow-out can'tbe fixed with the tyre sealant systems.

According to the RAC, in the 12 months up to August 2012, itresponded to 87,000 breakdowns involving a puncture on a vehic-le with no spare, and in the 12 months ending in August 2013 thisincreased to approximately120,000. However the RAC claimsits ‘universal’ spare wheel, whichfits the majority of cars that don’thave a spare wheel fitted as stan-dard. RAC patrols will fit the wheelquickly and liaise with the nearestATS Euromaster centre on theirbehalf to find out what replace-ments are available. Payment canbe taken at the roadside by theRAC patrol, ensuring the customercan drive straight to ATSEuromaster, or book a mobile fit-ting at their convenience. The RACwill then arrange collection of thespare directly from ATS, avoiding any further hassle.

Developed with specialist manufacturer Dynomec working in partnership with tyre expert ATS Euromaster, the five-stud, 17-inch lightweight alloy multi-fit wheel fits a high proportion of vehicles and will significantly cut down the time spent by members at the roadside, often in potentially dangerous situati-ons such as on the hard shoulder of motorways. Trials are takingplace in South West England and Northern Ireland with some200 patrols carrying the new wheel.

Head of RAC technical operations Phil Ryan said: “TheDynomec universal spare wheel demonstrates how the RAC isat the forefront of providing innovative solutions to help our individual members and business customers get back on theroad as quickly as possible after they break down.

“We understand why motor manufacturers need to reducethe weight of their vehicles in order to make them more fuel efficient and to meet EU carbon dioxide emissions targets andremoval of the spare wheel helps them to achieve this. “Butdrivers should not suffer as a result, and in order to minimise thedisruption and inconvenience that punctures can cause, the uni-versal spare wheel provides additional options for patrols to deal

with breakdowns more quickly andeffectively. We are already seeing verypositive results from the trials and weexpect the universal wheel to becomean increasingly common sight on ourroads.”

AA trials universal spare wheel too

Following the launch, the AA reportedthat it had become the latest motoring

organisation to be trialling the use of a 'universal spare wheel'. Atthe same time the company revealed data relating to spare tyreusage. A survey of 22,827 AA members found that close to afifth (17 per cent) of members do not have a spare wheel in theircar. Punctures and other tyre-related issues are the AA’s second-most common call-out – after batteries – averaging 35,000 amonth or more than one in ten breakdowns.

Donald MacSporran, the AA’s head of technical, says,“Although punctures are thankfully rare for most drivers, youcan’t beat the convenience of a spare wheel. If your car doesn’thave one, we can sometimes perform a temporary repair at theroadside or take the damaged wheel to a local tyre fitter but thiscan take time. The ‘universal’ spare offers a more convenientalternative by allowing you to drive to a local tyre depot yourselfor continue your journey with the minimum of fuss. The patrolwill reclaim the spare from the tyre depot or it gets courieredback to us after you’ve finished with it.”

The AA reports that, in the last 12 months alone, it has invest-ed around £15 million in patrols’ training, equipment, technologyand vehicles. pg/cja

RAC offering universal spare in conjunction withDynomec and ATSEFollowing a rise in the number of manufacturers that fit emergency tyre inflation kits instead of spare wheels (not

to mention those that fit run-flats as OE), Dynomec has introduced a 'universal' spare wheel in conjunction with

the RAC. In addition the AA is said to have had a number of the wheels on a trial basis.

A recent AA-Populus sought to answer this question and also revealed:

• Only around half (54 per cent) have a full-size spare in the boot

• 29 per cent have a space-saver ‘skinny’ spare• Around one-in-ten (9 per cent) have a tyre

sealant/inflation kit• 3 per cent have run-flat tyres• 522 respondents (2 per cent) didn’t know

what, if anything, they have in their boot.

Who has a spare tyre nowadays?


UK TYRE MARKET

HHowever the Competition Commission say that they have noplans to review this further stating that despite the evidencethey received during the investigation, they judged that write-offs were an issue relating to the supply of used cars and notrelated to the provision of Private Motor Insurance and relatedgoods and services.

Frank Harvey, Head of NAB, commented: "The dangers cau-sed by written-off vehicles making it back on to the road arevery real and understandably cause great concern to all roadusers. NAB submitted evidence to the CompetitionCommission indicating that the consumers of used cars areoften unable to detect when a vehicle has been in an accident,

or are able to assess the quality of repairs which have beenconducted. As the insurance industry is responsible for the saleand disposal of most write-offs to vehicle salvage operators andalso all repaired write-off vehicles must be insured before theyare returned to the road, NAB believes that this is an issue thatshould fall under the Private Motor Insurance investigation.

"NAB believes consumer detrimentextends beyond the purchase of previous-ly written off vehicles that have been sub-ject of 'ringing' or those that have beenunsatisfactorily repaired. Ringing is whena vehicle is stolen that matches the detailsof a written off vehicle and the written offvehicle's identity is used to mask the sto-len vehicle's identity, thus attempting tolegitimise the stolen vehicle which is thensold to an unsuspecting purchaser.Written-off vehicles not only place othermotorists and pedestrians at risk but alsoresult in further insurance claims whichthen lead to an overall escalation in insu-rance premiums.

"NAB urges the CompetitionCommission to undertake further investi-gations into write-offs to make certain thatconsumer safety is protected by ensuringa history of vehicles that have been repair-ed is made available. If the CompetitionCommission still feels that this does notfall within their remit we would welcomeany guidance on which governmentdepartments would be best placed toinvestigate these matters." pg

More write-offs than ever on UK roads

This BMW has clearly seen better days, but according to the NationalAssociation of Bodyshops, thousands of motorists are on the roads in carsthat have been in a similarly written-off state

The Institute of Advanced Motorists has issued a tyre maintenance warning to UKdrivers after a total of 3,852 tyre-related incidents were reported on England's motor-ways between April and the end of June 2013. This average of 1,284 per month is aresult of motorists often putting off tyre repairs to save on costs, IAM says, though it isactually cheaper to replace worn or damaged tyres where necessary, rather than wai-ting to face a burst tyre and having to be towed off the motorway.

As part of its Motorway Month campaign, the IAM offers the PACT – standing forPerformance, Air Pressure, Condition and Tread depth – advice for motorists on how tokeep their tyres in check. IAM chief examiner Peter Rodger said: “Regular tyre checksare the best way to keep on top of maintenance and avoid those nasty surprises bothto your vehicle and to your wallet.

But one day you could become one of the thousands unlucky enough to experiencea tyre-related breakdown, so having a dry-run of changing your tyre at home can provevery useful and will mean you needn't rely so heavily on breakdown services, gettingyou back on the road quicker.”

Incidents contribute to delays which cost the economy billions of pounds each year.According to the Highways Agency's national satisfaction survey, carried out betweenApril 2012 and the end of March 2013, only 53 per cent of respondents say they regu-larly check their tyre pressure.

Stuart Lovatt from the Highways Agency said: “Nobody wants to start their holidayoff by having a breakdown that leads to them having to extend their journey time. Bychecking that tyres are still in good condition, drivers are helping to avoid incidents andthe risk of delays, not only to their own journey but to those of other drivers.” akb

IAM: 3,852 tyre-related motorway incidents in 2Q 2013

THOUSANDS OF MOTORISTS are driving potentially dan-

gerous cars as the number of vehicles on the road

that have previously been written off increases. The

National Association of Bodyshops (NAB) has prev-

iously called on the Competition Commission to

review their position on write-offs during an investi-

gation into the private motor insurance market.

The premium UHP tyre for dramatic performanceEnsure optimum balance on both wet and dry surfaces through triple layered block design and cooling system.

www.hankooktyres.co.ukHankook Tyre UK Ltd, Fawsley Drive, Heartlands Business Park, Daventry, Northamptonshire NN11 8UG

Tel: +44 1327 304 100 Fax: +44 1327 304 110

You support your team, and Hankook Tire supports your spirit

THE UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE


UK TYRE MARKET

ALMOST A YEAR AFTER POINT OF SALE TYRE LABELLING

BECAME MANDATORY IN EUROPE, the NTDA has revealed that itplans to release the details of a survey into attitudes towardslabelling at the association’s annual dinner in October. Nearly 12months since the labelling of tyres at the point of sale becamemandatory across the EU and the UK, the NTDA wondered whateffect, if any, it has had on the way tyres are sold – have custo-mers become better informed and more knowledgeable? Arethey aware of the introduction of the label? Do they appreciate theinformation on it? And how important is this relative to price?

According to the NTDA, some sections of the tyre industrywere enthusiastic about the introduction, hailing it as somethingthat would fundamentally change motorists’ attitudes towardstyres. The survey’s questions asked whether or not the customerasked for the information in the first place and what value he placed on the information on the label and on the advice given bythe tyre dealer.

While the headline figures will be revealed in October, onedetail has been released. The first question asks ‘what is the mostimportant factor for a customer to buy tyres?’ and early results arethat more than 70 per cent of respondents indicated that pricewas more important than both safety or fuel consumption.

Speaking of the survey, NTDA director Richard Edy was pleas-ed at the level of response, saying: “With still a few days to go,we have had a reply from more than 25 per cent of our members’Head Offices, which is an unusually highresponse rate.” He added that a more typicalresponse rate for questionnaires like thesetends to be in single figures, so the comparat-ively high level of interest shows the import-ance that tyre dealers place on the labels.

Richard concluded: “We at the NTDA firm-ly believe that tyre labelling represents a fan-tastic opportunity for the tyre retailer to enga-ge with the customer and discuss which tyrebest suits his driving style and requirements.It will be interesting to see what the surveyresults tell us about whether attitudes to buy-ing tyres have changed since the introductionof labelling.”

Mytyres.co.uk conducting labelling

research too

Just a day after the first details of the NTDA’snational tyre labelling survey mytyres.co.ukannounced that it is also conducting a surveyon a very similar subject. Writing in a custo-mer email dated 2 September 2013, myty-

res.co.uk explained thebackground to tyre label-ling before going on toexplain that company isinterested in learningmore about what cons-umers themselves thinkof it.

“To allow us to eva-luate what significanceyou attribute to thelabel's three criteriawhen deciding which summer and all-season tyres to buy, wekindly ask you to share out a total of 10 stars across these criteriain the following assessment form. Give the most points to the cri-terion that is most important for you. The assessment scale runsfrom "0" for irrelevant to "10" for very important,” the email read.

It is interesting to note that company asked about consumers’views on labelling with regard to the purchase of summer and all-season tyres. Winter tyres, which routinely perform poorly inlabelling assessments due to the ambient temperatures requiredfor the test environment being above winter products’ optimumlevels, are noticeable by their absence. cja

Labelling has been with us for a year, so soon two surveys will report what – if any – affect this legislationhas had on the market

Sharp growth in Trust My Garage membership

Trust My Garage (TMG) has experienced a boom in membership since theannouncement that the scheme has applied to become a Government backed TSIcode.

Following the announcement at the Trading Standards conference in June thenumber of independent garages wishing to become a TMG member has increa-sed by an unprecedented 20 per cent.

Backed by the Independent Garage Association (IGA), the largest independentgarage voice in the industry, TMG is rapidly becoming a household name and abyword for quality and great service for consumers around the country.

Stuart James, IGA Director commented "The IGA is extremely pleased thatindependent garages have embraced TMG in such a positive way, a scheme puttogether for independents by independents can only be good for consumers.

"All of our members have insisted on the high standards set by TMG andthrough becoming a TSI code our members can offer their customers piece ofmind when it comes to the quality and service they will receive by using a TMGgarage.

"As a clear voice for the independent sector TMG members want us to driveout the cowboys and stand up for all the good independent garages that do agreat job for their customers every day.

"We are currently working towards gaining 3000 members next year and asthings stand we will most certainly achieve that objective." pg

NTDA and mytres.co.uk announce labelling surveysAre labels trumped by price concerns?


UK TYRE MARKET

Figures obtained by the ColinAppleyard.com survey incl-ude the following:• 98 per cent didn't know that the law in France and Spain

demands you carry a spare bulb kit• 95 per cent of drivers didn't know it is illegal to drive in France

with a satnav that shows the location of speed cameras• 94 per cent of drivers didn't know that you have to carry a

breathalyser kit whilst driving in France• 82 per cent of drivers did not know local speed limits, or

were unable to convert them into miles per hour• 35 per cent unaware that headlight converters are required

by law across the continent• 18 per cent didn't know that hi-viz jackets are required in

some European countries in case of roadside breakdowns• 6 per cent were unaware that a GB sticker or a "Europlate"

number plate with the UK flag is compulsory• 1 per cent of those surveyed didn't know to drive on the right

on the continent, and 20 per cent had accidentally driven onthe wrong side whilst abroad

At a time of year when many families are taking their cars ontothe continent for holidays, the likelihood an on-the-spot fine hasincreased as new powers mean police in France can ask for themoney immediately instead of transferring the offence to theUK.

"Everybody knows that ignorance of the law is no excuse," saidColinAppleyard.com Robin Appleyard, "And it only takes a fewminutes' research to find out what steps you need to take before setting out on a foreign driving trip."Unfortunately, we found out that many people are leavingthese shores quite unaware of the risks they're taking."ColinAppleyard.com blamed mixed messages and inconsistentinformation about that lack of knowledge about foreign drivingrules."Unfortunately, people seem to think the headlight convertersrequirement was phased out years ago," said Robin, "but it'svery much in force to this day."Ignorance about driving conditions in France is especially worry-ing, especially as looming on-the-spot fines could put a dent inany family's holiday budget."As most drivers heading for the continent make landfall inFrance, it's a shame that there's so much confusion over thelocal driving laws there," said Robin Appleyard. "While you probably won't be fined for not having a breathalyser, the finefor having a speed camera-enabled satnav can be up to an eye-watering 1,500 euros."Drive safely, and study local driving laws before you go."

akb

CoinAppleyeard.com survey reveals UK ignorance ofcontinental road lawsDriving across Europe requires drivers to conform to a number of different local laws and regulations –

the legal requirement to fit winter tyres in northern European countries including Germany in cold sea-

son conditions will be a familiar one to readers of Tyrepress.com. However a new survey by the

ColinAppleyard.com car dealership chain suggests that nearly every British driver would break at least

one national motoring regulation. The chain said that many British drivers are not only unaware of speed

limits on foreign roads, but also of other vital regulations such as mandatory safety equipment.

Any customer who buys a pair ofPrimewell tyres from a participating keydealer and answers a tyre safety quest-ion will be entered into a prize draw towin a new Citroen DS3 Sport, fitted withPrimewell Sport 910 tyres.

Stapleton’s Head of GeneralWholesale, Nigel O’Hara said: “The com-petition marks our biggest idea and largest investment for Primewell to dateand is befitting of brand that is makingmassive inroads through the trade and tocustomers.

“Over the last 12 months we havepromoted Primewell through 12 weeklyiPad draws and launched the new web-site (www.primewell-tyres.co.uk), bothof which have been very well receivedand resulted in increased sales. Thetiming couldn’t be better to push for-wards once more.”

Speaking at the Primewell Sport 910launch in April, Brian McDermott, GitiTire’s Country Manager UK hailed theproduct as ‘a true ultra-high performanceflagship tyre for the quality sector’.

The main characteristics of the tyreinclude a new asymmetric tread pattern,exclusive compound and manufacturingadvancements which deliver excellenthandling and ride comfort. The Sport 910was introduced in 37 sizes ranging from195/55R15 to 255/35R20, with speedindexes from V to W.

Wina CitroenDS3 in Primewell competitionStapleton's (Tyre Services) Ltd has teamed up with Giti Tire to launch a consumer competition featuring

the exclusive Giti brand Primewell.

COMMAND PERFORMANCE

To find out more about selling KUMHO tyres through the ECSTA Performance Centre programme, contact: Neil Schmid at Micheldever Tyre Services on 07775 676929 or Bonnie Adams on 01926 816826 For Kumho sales in Northern Ireland, contact Modern Tyre Service on (028) 6632 2299/3025 9300

www.kumhotyre.co.uk

C


UK TYRE MARKET

Commenting on the opening, Peter Fairlie, group salesdirector, said: “Our close proximity to Gatwick airportmeans we support many different kinds of fleet, often operating a diverse range of vehicles. Combining our twofacilities in Crawley means local customers can now dealwith a single ATS centre, which supports our goal of beingeasy to do business with.

“We have also focused on enhancing the customerexperience with one of the brightest, cleanest and mostmodern reception areas of any fast-fit workshop in thecountry. At the same time our team benefits from a brandnew workshop featuring new equipment which has en-abled us to grow our serv-ice offering.”

In addition to tyre care designed to save businessesmoney, the new centre offers a full array of fast-fit serv-ices, scheduled maintenance servicing, fault diagnostics,air-conditioning recharging and Class IV MOTs.

The Crawley centre is also home to a fleet of servicevans which can be booked by fleet customers for routinetyre replacements, as well as being on standby 24/7 toprovide a roadside rapid response service to commercialvehicle operators. cja

ATS Euromaster opens flagship centreATS Euromaster has opened what it calls a flagship centre in on the Gatwick International

Industrial Estate in Crawley, West Sussex following more than £450,000 of investment. The

new facility occupies a 7,574 square foot site and is set up to accommodate all vehicle

types under one roof, including cars, vans, trucks, buses/coaches and industrial vehicles.

Its opening follows the merger of two former centres in the local area; one of which ser-

viced cars and vans, and the other commercial vehicles.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr.Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover ChiefExecutive Officer, said: "Today's announce-ment signals Jaguar Land Rover's ambit-ions to push the boundaries and redefinepremium car ownership. At Jaguar LandRover we place the customer at the heartof everything we do and the introductionof a world class all-new aluminium vehiclearchitecture means we will be more com-petitive, flexible and efficient deliveringexciting new products for our customersaround the world."

He continued: "Jaguar Land Rover is abusiness driven by design, technology andinnovation and this investment and level of

job creation is yet further evidence of ourcommitment to advancing the capability ofthe UK automotive sector and its supplychain."

The first new model to utilise this inno-vative architecture will be an all-new mid-sized sports sedan from Jaguar. Launchedin 2015, it will be the most efficient, advanced and refined premium sportssedan ever seen in the C/D segment.

This vehicle will feature the first engineto be built at Jaguar Land Rover's new£500m Engine Manufacturing Centre. Theplant will build the new family of high-out-put, fuel efficient petrol and diesel enginesfor Jaguar Land Rover.

The new 1,700 jobs at the Solihull sitein the Midlands will bring the total numberof UK manufacturing jobs announced byJaguar Land Rover over the last threeyears to almost 11,000.

In order to fully realise the potential ofthis vehicle architecture Jaguar Land Roverwill significantly increase spend with thesupply base. This latest announcementfrom the UK's largest premium automot-ive manufacturer builds on a sustainedprogramme of continued reinvestment. pg

Boost for Jaguar Land Rover at Frankfurt showAT THE FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW, Jaguar Land Rover announced an investment approaching £1.5

billion to introduce an all-new technically-advanced aluminium vehicle architecture in forthcoming

models. To support this strengthening of the Jaguar product portfolio 1,700 new jobs will be crea-

ted in the UK at the company's advanced manufacturing facility in Solihull.

www.primewell.co.uk

For more information on the Primewell range call 0870 60 54321. www.stapletons-tyres.co.uk

KEY DEALER PROGRAMMEGreat Tyres - Great Programme

The Benefi ts of which include:

• Personalised reward scheme

• Preferred purchase prices

• Imprest stock

• Instore point of sale

• Branded workwear for staff

Improved braking and handling in wet and dry conditions

Enhanced straight line driving

performance and comfort

Comfortable and quiet ride

Enhanced high speed stability and endurance


COMPANY NEWS

Fifty years old and still looking good.

PIRELLI MAY BE ITALIAN, but its world-famous calendar began life here in the UK, the baby of

the company’s British marketing team, which was given the task of producing a calendar

for Pirelli’s most valued clients and associates. This year, the British-born ‘Cal’ celebrates its

half-century, and Tyres & Accessories spoke with Pirelli Calendar project coordinator Julie

Naylor about the origins of the Cal’s success, how it has developed over the course of five

decades and what meaning it maintains in Pirelli’s marketing mix alongside the Italian

firm’s Formula One involvement.

: Pirelli’s Calendar is undoubtedly the world’sbest-known calendar and has come a long wayover the past five decades. What has been respon-sible for this success over the years? Was it thephotographers, the top models, the locations, itsexclusivity and/or the fact that it cannot be bought,or has eroticism played a role?

Julie Naylor:The Pirelli Calendar is an iconic pieceof art work designed to portray the high standardof prestigious qualities we possess as a brand.From casting world famous models and top classphotographers, combined with the trendiest locati-ons, Pirelli has ensured if offers one of the mostfamous, diverse, yet exclusive Calendars in theworld.

: Tyres are not a core Cal subject. Why not?

Julie Naylor: During a period during the lateeighties and early nineties the tyre tread was brief-ly featured in the calendars. However, the aim ofPirelli was, and is, to promote the creativity andthe artistic expression of the photographer withoutany imposition. To impose the product could be arestriction! So in the 50 year history this is anot-her factor of the calendar’s success.

: Around the world, there are plenty of comp -anies within the automotive industry that publishcalendars of their own. Why do they lack the suc-cess the Cal has enjoyed? What do they dowrong? Where and how does the Cal set itselfapart from other calendars?

Isabeli Fontana being snapped for the 50th anniversary Cal


COMPANY NEWS

Julie Naylor: Many factors have contri-buted to the international fame of theCalendar. It is only avail able as a corpora-te gift and has never been avail able forsale. In addition to our key customers, itis distributed to important world figuresincluding royalty, industry, finance andculture. This has transformed theCalendar into a cult object eagerly soughtafter by aficionados around the world.

: What is the image you want people tosee when they think about Pirelli and itsCalendar?

Julie Naylor: The Group’s core messageis innovation and this has earned thecompany its place amongst the leadingtyre manufacturers in the world. TheCalendar is just one of the key marketingtools Pirelli use to engage with consu-mers across the full spectrum of cultures,ages and gender around the world.

: End consumers often view tyres andtyre companies as unexciting. Pirelli hasmanaged to create a different image foritself and its products by means of theCalendar and is unique in successfullyachieving such a transformation. Wasthat the goal when Pirelli started with itsfirst calendar 50 years ago, or did it allbegin as ‘just’ a promotional calendar?

Julie Naylor:The calendar was the brain-child of the UK marketing director at thattime, Derek Forsyth. He invented acalendar that would stretch the imagina-tion and at the same time become amarket ing phenomenon.

: What do you think the Cal re-presents?

Julie Naylor: A masterpiece and a workof art. The calendar celebrates thestrength and beauty of the female formand the calendar remains a remarkablecult ural phenomenon which has illustra-ted changing attitudes towards the bodyand femininity over the last 50 years.

: Has this image changed over theyears because of The Cal? Should or willthis change in the near future?

Julie Naylor: The Calendar continues toevolve as it has done since its concepti-on, illustrating the key themes of thetime.

: Would you call the Calendar yourmost precious tool in relat ion to Pirelli’sbrand image? Does the Cal deserve cre-dit for shaping the Pirelli brand?

Julie Naylor: Pirelli is synonymous withinnovation in communication and techno-logy, and for Pirelli, this means seekingnew ways and a new language to trans-mit a way of being. This also providescontinuity for Pirelli’s strong sense ofpride in its history and tradition as we

continually reiterate the founding ele-ments of the Pirelli brand, power andcontrol.

: While the Cal can be enjoyed as awork of art, Pirelli’s Formula One involve-ment has a more direct link with your pro-ducts. How do you think these twoengage ments work hand in hand?

Julie Naylor: The Cal and Pirelli’s strongpresence in motorsport includingFormula One allows communication withthe premium segments of our targetmarket and demonstrate a passion forexcellence, performance and top leveldesign with which we are synonymous.

: This year the Cal celebrates its 50thanniversary. What do you have planned inregards to the actual launch event, thecalendar itself and the accompanyingmedia campaign in order to highlight thisspecial anniversary year?

Julie Naylor: This is a closely guardedsecret that Pirelli will unveil on the 21stNovember in Milan ab/sg

Pirelli Cal project coordinator JulieNaylor

T


COMPANY NEWS

Conti, Bridgestone invest to accommodate European market shift

The first beneficiary is Continental’s Korbach site inthe German state of Hesse. Around €40 millionwill be invested in the facility by 2018.Continental’s Tire Division will use these funds toestablish a specialist production line for 19 to 22-inch passenger car and light commercial vehicletyres to accommodate growing internationaldemand from both the original equipment seg-ments, as well as for the central development ofthe process technology required to manufacturethese tyres.

Continental says the performance characteris-tics of products such as these are placing evermore stringent demands upon its engineering andproduction staff when it comes to process techno-logy. “With this investment, we are taking delib -erate action to scale up our investment program-

me in the further development of product-specificexpertise in tyre design, tyre tread, tyre contours,and tyre compounds, as well as in the expansionof our global tyre production capacity,” statedNikolai Setzer, Executive Board member forContinental’s Tire division.

“In bundling our expertise at the Korbach site,we will also be taking away some of the burden onour other production sites in a bid to drive forwardthe development of new high-tech processes forour tyre plants worldwide from a central location,”Setzer added. “Increasing our investment in new,highly efficient tyre testing technology such as theAIBA (Continental’s indoor new test facility at itsContidrom site in Germany), for example, will helpus to further improve our technological position.”

ON THE LAST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, two of the world’s largest tyre makers separately

announced plans to invest in European production facilities; one will see the

implementation of the latest production technology to meet growing demand for

premium products in our region, and the other offers a reprieve for a factory con-

sidered unable to effectively cope with this shift towards the premium segment.

Continental’s Korbachfactory


COMPANY NEWS

Korbach plant manager Lothar Salokat added: “We areextremely proud of the fact that this internal high-tech projectwill help set us apart from other international production locat -ions and will also create over 60 new jobs in Korbach by 2018.We will do our best to meet the challenges of starting producti-on in 2016 and ramping up the production volume to around400,000 U-UHP tyres by 2018. Our Continental team inKorbach, which – when we include the Tire Distribution Centerand ContiTech – now totals a workforce of more than 3,000people, has proven time and again not only that it is highly flex -ible and extremely motivated but is also capable of respondingto immense challenges.”

“We see this investment decision as a form of recognitionfor all the hard work that our employees have put in over recentyears,” commented Jörg Schönfelder, head of the WorksCouncil at Continental’s Korbach site. “Furthermore, it alsoforms an important element of our strategy to secure the site.People have enormous faith in us and this is something we canbe proud of. Although this project in Korbach is an ambitiousone, I am confident that it will also be a success and play aninstrumental part in ensuring the success of the company as awhole.”

Although Continental anticipates Europe’s (including Russiaand Turkey) replacement passenger car and light commercialvehicle tyre market falling from 313.2 million units in 2011 to307.9 million units by 2014 and DB Equity Research Automotiveestimates that passenger car tyre capacity (both original equip-ment and replacement) in Western Europe fell by 38 millionunits in the last five years to 275 million units, Continental hasstated the premium ultra high performance tyre segment is anarea where it aims to achieve further growth in the comingyears.

Conversion to ‘general use’ tyres central to Bridgestone’s

Bari plan

The ‘death sentence’ hanging over Bridgestone’s Bari passen-ger car tyre plant in Italy was also officially rescinded on 30September. A plan to keep the site operational has beenannounced; in contrast to Conti’s plans for Korbach this calls forthe factory to focus its production solely on tyres for generaluse, while increasing the plant’s competitiveness and reducingits overall conversion cost.

Although the Bari plant received upgrades to enable theproduction of UHP and run-flat tyres from 2009 onwards as partof what Bridgestone says were “repeated efforts” to bring it inline with increased premium segment demand and an overallstructural decrease in demand, Bridgestone Europe consideredthe site the most poorly positioned of its eight European plantsto adapt to this changing market situation. On 4 March the tyremaker voiced its intention to close the Bari factory some timein the first half of 2014. Within days of this announcementbeing made, the Italian government intervened on behalf of theplant’s 950 or so workers. A technical working group chaired by

Ministry of Economic Development undersecretary Claudio DeVincenti met on a number of occasions to discuss issues rela-ted to cost containment measures, efficiency programmes andthe market positioning of tyres produced in Bari.

The negotiations paid off. It is understood that €31 millionwill be invested in the site over a five-year period. While pro-duction capacity will initially fall from 4.5 million tyres perannum to 2.5 million in 2014 and some 377 jobs will be remov -ed from the Bari plant through voluntary redundancies, pro-duction capacity is expected to rise again and reach 3.5 milliontyres a year by 2016; Bridgestone has agreed to transfer someproduction currently located in Asia to the Bari site. It is unders-tood that the factory will adopt a five-day production schedule,with four six-hour shifts each day.

The agreement to implement the conversion plan was sign -ed in Rome on 30 September by all stakeholders involved in thenegotiations – Bridgestone, the Ministry of Welfare, Invitalia(Italy’s national agency for internal development and enterprisepromotion), trade unions and local institutions. The signing

ceremony was overseen by the Ministry of the EconomicDevelopment. Bridgestone says the agreement “indicates thepossibility to maintain important industrial activities in Bari,under conditions to achieve the targeted levels of productivityand cost through the implementation of the commitmentsmade by the above mentioned parties.”

“First of all, the group wishes to express its appreciation tothe Bari plant employees for having always displayed a con-structive attitude, an element that had a considerable impact onthe negotiations’ success,” stated Bridgestone Europe CEOand president Franco Annunziato at the signing ceremony. “Allparties involved in the conversion plan have acted with greatresponsibility and today’s agreement is a clear result of the jointefforts during these six months of dialogue.” sg

Bridgestone’s Franco Annunziato (r) looks on as Italy’s Minister forEconomic Development Flavio Zanonato signs the Bari plant agree-ment


COMPANY NEWS

New advertising opportunities a highlightof upcoming Tyrepress relaunch

In addition to a wider choice of conventio-nal banner positions, the new Tyrepresscan accommodate two major new premi-um options, while supporting more thanjust JPG and GIF formats. With the largestamount of space available for a singleadvertisement, Parker-Copestick explainswhy Wallpaper offers a premium service toclients: “Wallpaper adverts – large bannerson each side of the website with yourdesign – give you maximum exposure on

the Home, News or other page of yourchoice.”

The second new option on the newTyrepress site is Interstitial advertise-ments. This allows advertisers to present abanner in a variety of formats as the pageloads. “Our interstitial adverts can rangefrom square banners in the centre of thescreen up to full screen banners,” Parker-Copestick adds. Finally, Interstitial adverti-sing – and indeed some regular banner

spaces – will allow clients to integrateaudio and video, to present promotionalfilms on Tyrepress.

“As well as upgrading the style ofadverts, we have now re-designed our ban-ners to meet IAB guidelines, making yourdesigners’ and agencies’ jobs a lot easier,”Parker-Copestick says. “Sizes range fromsmall square buttons right up to full widthwallpaper and interstitial banners bringingour range from four up to 11 different sizes

MANY READERS OF TYREPRESS will now be aware of the

planned relaunch of the site later in September. While

the benefits to readers of the site’s new design will be

discussed in articles throughout the week, today we

focus on how the new site will enhance the experience

of advertisers using Tyrepress’ busy, highly focused traf-

fic as a platform for promotion. “One of the first things

we wanted to improve was the choice of adverts availa-

ble to you, bringing you the best options to suit your par-

ticular advertising needs,” explains advertising manager

Scott Parker-Copestick.


COMPANY NEWS

on the new site. And not only do you have a huge range of sizesto choose from, but you can now specify if you want your bannerto appear on the homepage, article pages, or other options.”

Responsive design improves mobile Tyrepress

In 2012-13 record numbers of visitors to Tyrepress have beenaccessing the site via tablets and smartphones, and with this trendcontinuing to grow the relaunched Tyrepress website will offer rea-ders an improved user experience through responsive design. Thechief benefit of responsive design will be to resize and rearrangeelements of the site automatically to present it in a format bettersuited to smaller screens – whether this is a 10” iPad, a 7” Nexus7 or a 4” smartphone – making it easier to read and navigate.

“Reading articles or accessing information while away fromthe desk is increasingly beneficial to tyre and wheel professionals– many of whom spend plenty of time travelling,” said Tyrepresseditor Andrew Bogie. “While the smartphone market has beengrowing appreciably for some time now, the addition of tablets inthe last few years has had a clear impact on the way readers wantto access websites. We want to improve this visitor experienceand make it as quick and easy as possible for readers to get theinformation they want.

“The fact that visitors have such a wide range of choiceswhen it comes to the size of the screens they can use to accessTyrepress means that the site needs to adapt smoothly to diffe-rent screens. The new Tyrepress will achieve this, and we are surethat our mobile readers – from the retailer using our new tyre testdatabase to show customers the benefits of a particular tyre, tothe managing director checking for the latest market news andanalysis on the go – will enjoy reading and interacting with the sitemore as a result.”

Tyre tests database

A new feature coming to Tyrepress in the relaunched version ofthe site is a database of European tyre test results. The featurehas been a part of German sister site Reifenpresse.de’s servicefor some time, and as a result the database offers more than3,500 tyre test results. Tyrepress editor Chris Anthony says thatthe feature forms “a key part of our newly updated website.”

“A few years ago some may have argued that tyre tests repre-sented something of a niche interest,” he continues. “However,with the rise in the popularity of magazine testing and the intro-duction of tyre labelling, knowing what performance characteris-tics products offer and how these compare between competitorshas never been so important. That’s why Tyrepress and our collea-gues at Reifenpresse.de in Germany (reifenpresse.de) andPneusNews.it in Italy have put our heads together to offer our rea-ders the most comprehensive archive of this data currently availa-ble.

“Now that tyre labelling is established in Europe all new testresults will be cross-referenced against their European tyre labelscores, giving you all the background you need when selling or

researching products.“The tyre test database will initially be presented in three

broad categories – summer, winter and all-season. This part of thesite will not require subscription, making it as accessible as pos-sible to our tyre market readership.”

Better integrated Business Directory

The relaunch of Tyrepress will also mark the relaunch of theBusiness Directory service. This feature, which has been availablein two incarnations before this vastly improved third generation,enables tyre and wheel related businesses to direct the website’s240,000 monthly visitors towards their own websites with arange of listings options available for an annual fee; web URLs arealso listed in the back of Tyres & Accessories magazine eachmonth, increasing exposure to print readers too. The TyrepressBusiness Directory 3.0 is better connected to the rest of the web-site, with entries searchable alongside articles.

“The Tyrepress Business Directory has been a feature of pre-vious versions of the website,” comments advertising managerScott Parker-Copestick. “It has always been popular, as the longlist of websites printed in Tyres & Accessories each month shows.However we think the new version of the service will increase itspopularity as customers see the extra value it offers as a betterintegrated part of Tyrepress.”

The Business Directory stands alongside the new CompanyProfiles section, which will make financial reports downloadableamongst other features, as a further way for tyre and wheel rela-ted businesses to connect with readers of Tyrepress.

Improved jobs listingsTyrepress launched a new newsletter product in February

2013 aiming to improve the targeted job advertisement opportu-nities offered by Europe’s leading English language magazine andwebsite for tyre and wheel professionals. The weekly newsletter,which also collates the most recent Career Tracks news everyWednesday, will continue to link to greatly improved listings onthe relaunched Tyrepress website, putting advertisers’ job vacan-cies in front of the widest possible range of European tyre andwheel professionals.

“Our Tyrepress Jobs Newsletter goes to more than 18,000tyre and wheel professional inboxes already, and this weekly ser-vice will continue every Wednesday” says advertising managerScott Parker-Copestick. “Now the listings page on the websitehas been improved in terms of functionality, integration with therest of the website, and aesthetic appeal. In this way, it is clearthat we are able to advertise tyre jobs to the largest and highestquality talent pool of professionals with industry experience.”

The new listings benefit from an improved index layout, whichwill allow visitors to connect with advertisements quicker andmore easily, and from increased sophistication and variety of opti-ons when it comes to presenting employers’ listings as they wantto see them. Advertising tyre and wheel professional jobs onTyrepress and the Tyrepress Jobs Newsletter has never beenmore attractive. [email protected]

O


ONLINE TYRE BUSINESS

Michelin may have continued itsalmost decade-long lead, but the gap

has been narrowing for almost aslong and there were other changes

amongst the high fliers

32

Our 2013 online branding report presentsthe results of an analysis by NetNamesinto online appearances of 17 major tyrebrands, following similar studies carriedout in September 2012, May 2011 andJuly 2010 and (looking at only 12 of thesebrands) in September 2009, October2008, July 2007, August 2006 andSeptember 2005. As with the 2010, 2011and 2012 studies, this report includes anumber of up-and-coming mid-rangebrands produced in the Far East, in addi-tion to GT Radial, the EU identity used bythe Giti Tire, which was featured in the2010 and 2011 reports. The analysis conti-nues to use NetNames’ trade-markedDEX methodology to provide measures

of the online penetration of these brands.One difference from our previous studiesis that we have focused solely on the pro-minence measure this time.

Gap narrows are the top

To cut a long story short, the researchonce again found that, as was observedin all previous studies, Michelin achievedthe greatest degree of online promi-nence. However, something else that wehave observed over the last nine years isthat the leader margin has been consis-tently challenged in this period.NetNames pointed out that, althoughMichelin may have won again, the French

tyre manufacturer achieved this with “amargin which is considerably decreasedas compared with the 2012 study”.

The remainder of the top six most-prominent brands remain the samebrands as observed in all previous stu-dies, though with notable changes forContinental and Bridgestone, swappingsecond and third place with each other,and for Dunlop, whose relative promi-nence has fallen somewhat.

For its part, Continental’s prominencegrew by 0.42 during the course, which isroughly equivalent to an entire lower ran-king tyre brand or two. With Bridgestonegoing the opposite way directly at roughlyhalf the speed, this clearly meant the

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Keeping a good name means as much in business as in life. When it

comes to online marketing it arguably means even more. For the last nine years, Tyres &

Accessories has surveyed the prominence and sentiment of tyre brand names in the online

world. We’re not experts in the very specialist and highly technical research field, so we have

spent all this time partnering with a company in silicon fen that knows a whole lot more

about this than we do. Previously our research partners were known as Envisional, but in the

year since our last report the company has re-branded itself as NetNames. Nevertheless it is

the same system and therefore it continues to be comparable with our data archive.

What’s in a name?Michelin continues prominence dominance, but…



German manufacturerl e a p f r o g g e dBridgestone.

When you look backthrough the data,Dunlop’s 0.19 point fall isuncharacteristic for oneof the oldest names inthe business, with thecompany consistentlystaying in the 1.81 to 1.91range between 2005 and2009. With the exceptionof 2012, there are signsof decline 2010, 2011 and2013, the reasons forwhich are not yet clear.

There remains a mar-ked gap in relative prominence betweenthe top six brands and the remainder,amongst which significant decreases inrelative prominence have been seen forKumho and Avon (dropping belowHankook and Toyo) and for Falken andMaxxis (dropping below Uniroyal).

Hankook’s performance is also worthpointing out. Although we have only beentracking this brand since 2010, it is nota-ble that it has demonstrated consistentimprovement during this period, whichputs it on track to break through the one-point barrier in the next year or two. Thesignificance is that this means it couldovertake eighth-placed , which hasperformed consistently in the 0.85– 0.99 range for the last nine years.Indeed, with an average annualincrease of 0.117, Hankook couldeven go as high as seventh, overco-ming the divide and knocking onthe door of the top flight, unlessanother brand challenges its ascen-dancy.

How the research is done

In order to acquire the dataset weare using here, NetNames used itsDiscovery Engine technology toidentify and classify mentions ofthe 17 brands. The system crawledthe Internet over a three-day periodbetween 12 and 14 August 2013,during which time the system ana-

lysed a sample of those web pages featu-ring content related to tyres which aremost highly-ranked by search engines,and identified mentions of at least one ofthe monitored brands on over 5,000pages.

This was then passed through theDEX Prominence InDEX, which is a cus-tom metric unique to NetNames. Thismeasures the relative extent of totalbrand coverage across the Internet, bycalculating the number of web pageswhich feature each brand, as well as theprominence of the brand in each occur-rence. This statistic provides a measure

of the relative likelihood of thebrands being indexed in a set ofsearch-engine results.

According to the researchers,the DEX Prominence InDEX is arich and nuanced approach toassessing this question. Ratherthan just counting mentions, itcombines the following statisticswithin a unique algorithm: thenumber of web pages and hostswhich feature each brand, the pro-minence of the mention of the

brand within the page (e.g. higher promi-nence is granted to the appearance in adomain name; lower prominence for briefmention in page content); brand concen-tration’ on each host (i.e. the averagenumber of relevant web pages per host)and the total Internet coverage of allbrands under consideration.

The final scores were ‘normalised’ (bythe multiplication of a constant scalingfactor) so that the mean score across the12 brands analysed previously was thesame as for all of the previous analyses,to allow comparison of relative promi-nences between the nine years. cja

NetNames’ Prominence InDEX scores for the 17brands in 2013, compared with the scores forthe brands (where available) from 2012, 2011,2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005



Can B2B and B2C e-commerceapproaches be compared?Automotive firms struggle to give the consumer style e-commerceexperience buyers expect

WHEN IT COMES TO B2B SELLING ONLINE, automotive organisations are struggling to

provide the online buying experience that their customers have come to expect.

That’s the view published in the 2013 E-commerce Report from Intershop, which also

reveals that smartphone usage, social media and the so-called “consumerisation of

IT” are driving up B2B customer expectations. The report’s advice? Automotive firms

have to adapt to changing customer expectations, driven by trends such as

smartphone usage and social media. But how can that be done? In addition to assi-

milating the research data, Tyres & Accessories asked Chris Barling, chairman of e-

commerce system developer SellerDeck for his views.

First, the lie of the land: Across the board,respondents in a survey of 400 B2B com-panies, of which 75 per cent of the res-pondents were from the automotive,high-tech manufacturing, retail, pharma-ceutical, and telecoms sectors, agreed

that the world of B2Bcommerce is evolvingfast, and B2C trends arereflected in the B2Benvironment.

Yet all organisationsin the automotive sectorare facing challenges.For over two thirds (67per cent), the biggestchallenge is deliveringresponsive and flexiblecustomer service inorder to respond quicklyto any customerrequest. Just over half(53 per cent) say it is dif-ficult to manage com-plex organisationalstructures such as diffe-rent user roles, multiplebusiness models, multi-ple commerce touch

points and multiple datadomains. Just under half

(47 per cent) find it difficult to provideintuitive and user-friendly interfaces formultiple touch points such as B2B onlinestores, mobile apps etc.

One big challenge is how this changeis driven by multiple factors – an average

of eight in this sector. Over three quartersof automotive respondents cite eithercustomer demands and expectations (77per cent), developing technologies to per-mit what was previously impossible (77per cent) and/or logistics and demandchain (77 per cent) as drivers of change inB2B e-commerce.

Yet, over half (57 per cent) agreedthat bringing business buyers from offlineto online could result in a higher overallbottom line. Over two thirds (67 per cent)drive offline sales online, and 50 per centsaid bringing buyers online could result inmore return customers and higher brandloyalty.

Automotive organisations who eithercurrently sell online B2B products or ser-vices (97 per cent) or who plan to do so(3 per cent) were included in theresearch. Of those already selling online,97 per cent plan to increase the percen-tage they sell online, on average by 31per cent.

When it comes to the features theircustomers expect, more than more four-fifths of B2B automotive organisationsunderstood the importance intuitivesearch and navigation (83 per cent),online order approval (83 per cent) andcategory and product pages (83 per

SellerDeck chairman, Chris Barling



cent). This is followed by online store ana-lytics and monitoring in real time (77 percent), and search engine optimisation andsearch engine marketing and customisedcatalogue with pre-negotiated productsand pricing (both 73 per cent).

Barling: B2B progress has lagged

compared to B2C

With all this in mind, we asked ChrisBarling for an expert point of view. ForBarling’s company, SellerDeck, has pur-portedly helped tens of thousands ofsmaller companies start selling on theweb. “At SellerDeck (www.sellerdeck.co.uk) we have long sold e-commercesolutions to both B2C and B2B compa-nies, with a fair smattering doing both.However, uptake in the B2B space hasnoticeably lagged that in B2C. That’s whythe Intershop report makes interestingreading,” Barling commented.

He continued by pointing out that thefundamental difference between B2Band B2C e-commerce lies in what hap-pens prior to the buying decision beingmade. B2B customers are hugely morelikely to be repeat buyers and much morelikely to have accounts, to be given creditetc, so they are just visiting the site toplace the order, not to make a buyingdecision. Conversely, B2C buyers aremore likely to be encountering retailersfor the first time. This means that theonline opportunity is greater and marke-ting plays a larger part.

“To quote an extreme example toillustrate the point, a buyer of commerci-al jets won’t search online, discover anew type of plane and then place anonline order all in the same session.Similarly, most retailers will be repeatbuying from wholesalers, not searchinganew before every order. Once an autoaccessories outlet has established agood relationship with a reliable partssupplier, and maybe has its own discoun-ted price list, why should it look elsewhe-re?” Barling asked.

According to the SellerDeck chair-man, the big benefits in B2B ecommerceare around the cost of processing orders(online is cheaper) and subsequent visibi-

lity and tracking of the status of the order.Online orders both reduce queries andprovide a better service to the buyer, soboth sides gain. These benefits are mostpowerful when the cost of processingand tracking orders is high relative to thevalue of the order, which is less commonwith B2B transactions where the averageorder size is higher. The relative cost of anemployee answering queries on the tele-phone or by email (which, of course, isthe alternative to answering on the web)regarding two or three £10,000 orders ismuch lower than the cost of answeringmany queries about £50 orders.

“However, it’s becoming increasinglyhard for B2B sites to stop the tide. Mostbuyers are now also consumers who intheir personal life are buying on B2Csites. They expect the same, or betterservice in their business lives. It is truethat B2B sites have lagged the market,but it is also true that there are benefitsfor B2B sites, as cited by the survey. Themost likely outcome is that online orde-ring, and equally important, online ordertracking, will be become a necessary partof doing business in the auto trade in thefuture, whatever the cost,” Barling con-cluded.

So, while the boundary lines are per-haps not as blurred as the InterShopreport makes out; there is clearly a signi-ficant degree of crossover between B2Band B2B online business practice, whichis as applicable – in general terms – totyres as to any other business segment.Like the rest of the automotive trade, thetyre business is likely to have work to dobefore its systems are as attractive and“consumerised” as users increasinglywant it to be. In any case it is clear thatthis method of business remains a chal-lenging enterprise.

[email protected]

Tyres On TheDrive secures£1.5 millioninvestment

On 11 September Tyres On The Driveannounced it had received £1.5 millionof investment in a follow-on round offunding led by venture capital firmMMC Ventures. Launched in 2011 byformer Michelin manager DominicClark, Tyres On The Drive offers itscustomers a mobile tyre-fitting ser-vice. Since the company’s launch ithas grown to more than 40 staff witha fleet of 21 vans across the NorthWest and West Midlands regions andis reportedly on course to double itsworkforce by the end of the year.

The £1.5 million investment, whichalso included backing from EV Group,is said to mark the final stage of awider round of funding to supportexpansion across the rest of the UKfor the firm and launch a new e-com-merce website and mobile offering.Total investment in the company nowcomes in at £2.6 million, which inclu-des funding from the founders.

Dominic Clark, co-founder andchief executive of Tyres On The Drive,said: “It’s a very busy and excitingtime; we are on the cusp of a majorexpansion. Feedback on our service todate has been fantastic, which is tes-tament that we are raising the indus-try bar very high for value, service andconvenience.

“Our outstanding customer feed-back has placed us first for customerservice in the UK on Trustpilot and weaim to continue to set new standardswithin the industry.” cja

D



Strategic positioning?Delticom buys Tirendo for 50 million euros and shares

ON 16 SEPTEMBER DELTICOM AG agreed to purchase

Tirendo Holding GmbH. The leading European online

tyre business announced it will purchase all shares in

the Berlin-based online tyre retailer and its subsidia-

ries. According to a statement issued by the compa-

nies, the purchase price, including acquired sharehol-

der loans, amounts to roughly 50 million euros.

However it emerged shortly afterwards that the compa-

ny was also offered significant share options as part of

the deal.

Delticom’s rationale for the purchaseappears to be that it is acquiring a “rapid-ly growing company with complementarystrengths in IT and marketing”. ForTirendo, Delticom is an experienced,well-funded partner which excels in theareas of procurement and logistics.However the more you look at the dealthe, the more the marketing value of thelink-up comes to the fore.

“Tirendo complements our existingportfolio of shops with another strongbrand. The acquisition will allow us to tar-get additional consumer groups,” saidFrank Schuhardt, board member ofDelticom AG, “Tirendo customers canlook forward to more choice and evenbetter service.”

Tirendo’s CEO, Dr Martin Kern: “WithDelticom’s logistical and sector network,we can deliver even more value to ourcustomers and initiate the next stage inour growth.” Kern laid the foundation forTirendo’s success thanks to his manyyears of experience in the automotivesector. He will leave the internet start-upat the end of the year and will remainconnected to Tirendo in an advisory role.

Markus Bihler, who worked on thetransaction on behalf of the sellers, willjoin the management team of foundersErik Heinelt (Product & IT) and FelixVögtle (Marketing & HR). Bihler: “I amlooking forward to working withDelticom. Together we will continue towrite the success story of online tyresales.”

Delti offered shares as part of Tirendo

deal

Following on from the news thatDelticom AG purchased fast-growing

online tyre retailer Tirendo, Delticom exe-cutives have also revealed that companyfounders and main shareholders RainerBinder and Andreas Pruefer also soldaround 500,000 Delticom shares to a

Tirendo in brief

Tirendo was founded in October 2011 by European Media Holding and launchedthe tyre portal Tirendo.de in Germany in March 2012. Seed-funded and operatio-nally supported during its ramp-up phase by Project A Ventures, Tirendo has quick-ly established itself in the market through innovation in IT, marketing and branding.The emerging e-commerce company is now active in eight European countriesand, for its second year of business, expects a turnover in the mid double-digit mil-lion euro range. Tirendo is well-known not least thanks to Sebastian Vettel. Thethree-time Formula One world champion will continue in his role as exclusivebrand ambassador. Indeed it seems clear that the combined strengths of rapidcompany growth and strong marketing track record is what Delti is looking to tapinto. cja

SellerDeck chairman, Chris Barling



subsidiary of European Media Holding AG (EMH), which itselfis a founding shareholder of Tirendo. In addition EMH was gran-ted options to purchase up to a further 1.6 million shares. Apartfrom increasing the apparent combined value Delticom attribu-ted to Tirendo, it is also likely to have consequential effects onmarket pricing.

Deutsche Bank analysts shared their assessment of thedetails in an investor’s note dated 18 September: “We under-stand this share transaction comes on top of the 50 millioneuros paid in cash and that the exercising of the optionsdepends on specific, non-disclosed conditions with the averageprice of those stocks already sold and the options being bet-ween 34-40 euros.”

What all this means is that, if the share purchase option isexecuted in its entirety, the combined Binder/Pruefer owner-ship stake would fall to around 35 per cent from roughly 55 percent at the moment.

“In our view, [the share purchase options] significantlyincrease the attractiveness of the former Tirendo shareholdersgiven the ability to purchase up to almost 20 per cent of theoverall market leader’s outstanding shares at a decent discountto current trading levels and after a period of a significant share

price decline over the past year,” the Deutsche Bank analystscontinued.

Price pressure a tyre market ripple effect

However in addition to these corporation level consequencesthere are likely to be market level ripple effects too: “We belie-ve the ad-hoc details support our initially stressed view. Thisdeal likely secures Delticom know-how from a well experiencedteam of online professionals and could help to stabilize pricingin the short-term.”

The biggest potential problem appears to be the fact thatother companies “could feel encouraged by the fact the marketleader buys out a much smaller but very aggressive competitoronly 1.5 years in operation with such an attractive deal” and thatthis could persuade them to pressurise already threadbareonline tyre margins, thus putting more pressure on price in thetyre market in general the medium-term. As one online tyredealer told Tyres & Accessories recently, in the UK at least, mar-gins are already pushed to limit and there is nowhere else togo. [email protected]

Dutch firm combines DriveRight with national number plate databaseVWE (a provider of VRM license platesearch technology in the Netherlands andalso a reseller of DriveRight products) hasproduced a case study demonstratingusage of Drive Right tyre and wheel data.VWE has linked the data from DriveRightdirectly with the Dutch number plateregister. This allows customers to get thecorrect combination of wheels and tyresfor their vehicle by using their numberplate in the website search, where theVWE solution is available. ProfileTyrecenter from the Netherlands hasbecome the first company to use thisdatabase and, in the company’s ownwords, take a step ahead of their compe-titors.

Stephen Hendriksen (CategoryManager for wheels at VWE) commen-ted: „If a car manufacturer says that awheel doesn t fit a particular car DriveRight knows if it might be possible,

because of the many years of experiencethey have.“

EC1222.com

Writing in a recent customer newsletterDrive Right also let the industry knowthat new tyre product data is now availa-ble from the following manufacturers:StarMaxx and Petlas. Specific productsinclude the Velox Sport PT741

EC1222.com is DriveRight`s web-based UI solution for tyre product dataand EU tyre labelling legislation. It allowsa user to retrieve attributes such as rollingresistance, wet grip and noise ratings forover 90 tyre manufacturers. Label imagesare available in PNG, JPG and GIF for-mats. In addition, tyre images and manu-facturer specific product information isavailable. All data can also be used overthe EC1222 webservices to embed the

information into your own website.Drive Right company representatives

were also present at the Frankfurt IAA2013 (IAA). The International Car MotorShow is the world’s most comprehensi-ve, so the presence of suppliers fromacross the whole automotive parts andaccessories industry is a real boon to afirm specialising in such data. Over 300exhibitors from the industry presentedtheir products this year.

According to Drive Right, this year’svisit to the IAA show was very success-ful: “We were able to collect a lot of newdata for many new models from a largerange of manufacturers”.

Some examples of the data collectedinclude: BMW 4 Series and X5, BMWElectro Series i3 and i8, CorvetteStingray, Audi A3 Cabriolet and Peugeot308. The data is currently being proces-sed and will soon be available soon. cja



Established in 1983, Paul Jarrold Tyres Ltdis a family run tyre retailers based inMonmouth. The company stock tyresfrom all major brands in the car, van, truckand agricultural sectors and offer a 24hour callout service operating 5 mobileservice vans.

“Autopart Tyres has brought significantbenefits to our business,“ said MikeJarrold, Director at Paul Jarrold Tyres Ltd.“Our staff now have access to instant, in-depth, product information at the point of sale which has helped us toimprove our customer service. The on-screen catalogue has made our businessoperations much more efficient, as we no longer have to flick through paper cata-logues to find the stock that we need.“

Autopart Tyres provides a variety of

functions to improve a business’s opera-tional efficiency, such as scheduled repairtimes, labour allocation, customer post-code lookup and the option of vehicleregistration (VRM) lookup. It also has theability to send scheduled SMS text mes-sages that could include MOT and servicereminders to customers which could helpto increase profits by providing futuresales opportunities. Statements, Quotesand Invoices can also be emailed directlyfrom the system saving on postage costs.

“The software is fully compliant withEU tyre label regulations, which our previous system did not cater for,“ Mikecontinued. “We’re very happy to havechosen MAM Software’s businessmanagement solution to help us expandour business.“

“We’re delighted that Paul JarroldTyres Ltd has chosen to deploy AutopartTyres to help them develop their compa-ny,“ said Malcolm Hazard, Senior SalesManager – Tyres, at MAM Software.“Customer service is essential to anybusiness, and our software provides awealth of functionality to help companiesimprove this, such as being able to saveall customer information for the next timethey visit and to aid in direct marketingwhich highlights new services and speci-al offers“.

“It’s becoming more and more com-mon for businesses, like Paul JarroldTyres, to tell us how our software prov-ides them with more functionality thantheir previous systems.“ pg

THE ZEETEX TYRE BRAND launched a new website onThursday 12 September 2013. According to the company, thesite has been “aesthetically upgraded, is user friendly andboasts of enhanced functionality and dynamic tools”. The goalappears to have been to create a “visually appealing, polishedand professional website – which also offers region-specificcapabilities.”

The new site will introduce dealer zones that will allowZeetex dealers to log in and download product collaterals andorder promotional materials. The region links are NorthAmerica, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, Europe,CIS/Russia and Asia & Oceania.

Functionality has been enhanced with fast-loading pages,minimal scroll and cross platform/browser compatibility riding

on simplicity, a consistent layout, prominent and logical navi-gation as well as descriptive link text. It also features a searchengine which the company calls its ‘Tire Finder’, allowingZeetex customers to search for and find the exact tyres theywant.

The relaunched website will also have a media page whichwill keep Zeetex stakeholders in the loop when it comes toactivities related to the brand. It will also update the public onthe latest technology available in the industry.

The Zeetex brand was established in 2005, with a productportfolio comprising of tyres, batteries and lubricants. Thebrand offers over 500 differentiated items for the automotiveindustry and 65 specifications of lubricants under the Zeetexbrand. cja

New Zeetex website

TYRE RETAILER Paul Jarrold Tyres Ltd is the latest company

to deploy MAM Software’s MAM Autopart Tyres to help

them expand their business. Autopart Tyres provides an

interface for efficient sales transactions and professional

customer service, supported by an enterprise-level admi-

nistration, inventory, accounting and reporting platform.

Paul Jarrold Tyres chooses MAM

T



Retailers and wholesalersopt for CAM-based systems

Through its consumer-facing e-commerceplatform, www.grippy.co.uk, the e-taileruses a range of technologies from CAMincluding Cameo, the MIDaS B2C module,Workshop Scheduler and the Online TyreCatalogue (OTC) to streamline the wholeprocess so no sale on the web ever requi-res any human intermediation in the backoffice.

The consumer drives the process fromfinding the site, locating service resources,identifying the vehicle requiring fitment,selecting the tyre product, scheduling thework to be done and finally payment, pre-senting it as an effective ‘cash before deli-very’ model.

In particular, web connectors for CAM’sWorkshop Scheduler and MIDaS B2C pre-sent the consumer with a wide choice ofproducts together with workshop availabili-ty, which when selected updates core sys-tems automatically.

All the product data is underpinned byCAM’s OTC, which is automatically linkedto Grippy, ensuring product codes and refe-rences are completely up-to-date, againwithout any human intervention.

Graham Barker, director of FastfitStation, says, “Importantly, the tyre pro-duct data is cross-referenced to key sup-plier product codes so if Fastfit Station isnot currently holding stock, primary sup-pliers for the product being considered bythe consumer online can still be refe-renced. In that way the product can alwaysbe sold and the motorist is never disap-pointed, which is critical.”

Grouptyre takes on CAM’s OTC

For its part well-known tyre wholesaling

group Grouptyre is introducing the OnlineTyre Catalogue (OTC) from CAM Systemsto enhance its product data and stockmanagement function and help deliveradditional accuracy to its sales processesfor the benefit of its many customersnationally.

With the advent of new tyre labels,amendments to article numbers, changeswithin categories and the movement oftyres from active to non-active statuses, asignificant amount of product informationis changing on a daily basis. With over 160brands, representing in excess of 70,000part numbers under management withinthe OTC, Grouptyre’s subscription to theservice means it can manage its stock pro-file in a highly informed and effective waywhich helps when receiving orders fromcustomers and placing orders on sup-pliers, bringing inaccuracies within thesupply chain to a minimum.

Carl Murphy, IT manager of Grouptyre,commented: “We’ve been impressedwith how the OTC can deliver tyre data tous and make visible the impact of changesso Grouptyre is in a position to be makingfast, assured and accurate amendmentson thousands of product lines systemati-cally.”

Dexel picks UniSerV for greater effi-

ciency

Tyre distributor Dexel Tyre Group choseCAM Systems’ UniSerV application suiteto provide the company with process effi-ciencies and “a seamless transactionalsolution for the challenging commercialenvironment“.

The emphasis is on Straight Through

Processing (STP) for the car, van and trucktyre provider, which means that a com-mon breakdown form should never be pro-cessed by an operative in more than onestep to update core systems, whetherthey are based internally or externally. As aresult, invoices can be generated almostimmediately for work completed.

The UniSerV platform includes featu-res such as call logging, customer policyand contract management, integratedcasing management and the recentlyintroduced e-tablet technology for break-down forms. It also integrates seamlesslyinto CAM’s Cameo platform for systemi-sed updating of stock and near real-timeinvoicing, making commercial functionsspeedier, more robust, less costly to pro-cess and, ultimately, easier and cheaper tomanage.

James France, managing director atDexel Tyres, said: “The removal of duplica-te data entry through the use of electro-nic, tablet based job sheets and the utilisa-tion of the 3rd party interface will greatlyreduce admin tasks and as such increaseour efficiencies at the depot level. This willhelp our managers concentrate on theimportant areas of the job.”

Mike Allen, managing director of CAMSystems, comments, “The UniSerV plat-form is robust, simple to process and stre-amlined so customers can build up servicedata significantly and maximise efficien-cies around administration and billing.” cja

A NUMBER OF WELL-KNOWN tyre retailers and wholesalers have opted for

computer software developed by CAM Systems, but why? The most recent

news was that Fastfit Station has announced that it is “revolutionising” its

e-trading through systemising the entire sales and booking process and

placing the experience squarely in the domain of consumer choice.

“With such vast amounts of product available inthe commercial arena, it’s vital that large wholesaleoperations like Grouptyre are receiving orders cor-rectly first time, every time,” CAM Systems mana-ging director, Mike Allen


MOTORSPORT

THE FIA RELEASED A STATEMENT regarding thefuture of Pirelli in F1 following the World MotorSport Council meeting in September. Within thisvaguely worded document, the association onlygave a conditional indication that Pirelli would sup-ply tyres in 2014, dependent on the manufacturer’sability to meet technical and safety standards. Thestatement also suggested that tyre and fuel sup-pliers would need to enter a tender process aheadof the 2015 season. However it emerged later thatPirelli has agreements with both the 11 teams andthe rights holder, and is merely waiting for a con-tract with the FIA to be completed.

Hembery told Reuters that this could takesome time, referring to 2011 when Pirelli enteredthe sport. While Pirelli was unveiled as the newsupplier towards the end of the 2010 season, themanufacturer said that the final contracts had notbeen signed until February 2011. From the FIA’scagey statement mentioning safety, it appears theexperience of Silverstone’s British grand prix,during which there were several tyre failures, still

looms large in the memory, though subsequentaction has supported Pirelli’s explanation of theproblems it faced there. Since the British grandprix, the tyres have been changed to a more con-servative structure and teams have worked withPirelli to ensure they are run more safely, ratherthan with low pressures and extreme cambers notsanctioned by the tyre supplier.

It would seem to make sense to suppose thatPirelli will continue this new conservatism into2014 at least, with car specifications undergoing anumber of non-tyre related changes. Hemberyhimself certainly believes that Pirelli have doneenough to convince the sport that the tyre pro-blems of 2013 are long in the past, and the agree-ment he appears to have secured with the teamsbears that out. He even felt able to be a little bul-lish about Pirelli’s future in F1 when questionedwhether he felt any anxiety over the deal in Korea.“There might be more anxiety from the otherpeople's point of view because we could walkaway,” he told Reuters. akb

Has Pirelli secured five-year F1 deal?

Paul Hembery has given the strongest indication yet of a longer term future in Formula One for

tyre supplier Pirelli. While there had been speculation that the manufacturer had secured the

supply deal for 2014 only, the company’s Motorsport director told reporters at the Korean grand

prix that the exclusive tyre supplier is “working on five years”, meaning Pirelli would be in the

series until at least the end of the 2018 season.

The Mercedes team’s tyre allocation forthe Korean grand prix – Pirelli appears to

have secured a lengthy five year deal withthe 11 F1 teams and the rights holder;

only FIA confirmation remains pending


MOTORSPORT

OSIAN PRYCE WON THE TRACKROD YORKSHIRE

RALLY, round five of the British Rally Championship,following a three-way battle that took the event tothe final stage. Pirelli, on whose tyres the BRC iscompeted, said that the rally matched last year’scorresponding event, which staged one of thechampionship’s closest finishes, for excitement. Themanufacturer’s supported Pirelli Star Driver MarkDonelly helped make the event for Pirelli, driving amature rally to bring his Pirelli-backed Citroen DS3R3T home in fifth. Meanwhile championship leaderJukka Korhonen – a former Pirelli Star Driver himself– looks likely to clinch the title in the Dorset andHampshire forests, where the six-round series con-cludes with Rallye Sunseeker International (18-19October).

Forming the penultimate round of this year’sBritish Rally Championship, the Yorkshire Rally mar-ked a return to gravel for the BRC crews as theytook full advantage of Pirelli’s highly successfulScorpion gravel tyres to combat the fast, flowingroads that characterised the two-day event.

Championship leader Jukka Korhonen set thepace on day one with a blinding time on Friday eve-ning’s Staindale stage, which was held in the dark.The lead didn’t last long, however, as Pryce respon-ded by going quickest through stage two to snatchthe overnight lead.

Saturday’s stages were to prove just as compe-titive with Korhonen, Pryce, Fisher and WelshmanTom Cave all grappling for the top spot. Only a hand-ful of seconds separated the crews before theytook on the longest stage of the rally: the 15-mileLangdale test, which Pryce went on to win.

With less than eight seconds separatingKorhonen, Fisher and Pryce going into the final test,it was all to play for. However, the pressure provedtoo much for Korhonen as he stalled on the finishline and Pryce went onto claim his second consecu-tive BRC victory. Korhonen was forced to settle for

second, Fisher took third and Cave finished fourth.Speaking at the finish, rally winner Pryce – who

also took part in last year’s Pirelli Star Driver shoo-tout - commented: “This season is just getting bet-ter and better. We’ve proved we can win on bothgravel and asphalt so now we need to secure thehat-trick by winning the Sunseeker next!”

After a sterling performance at his home eventin Ulster last month Pirelli Star Driver Donnelly kepthis nose clean over the weekend to bring hisCitroen home in a credible fifth place. “It’s been anokay rally for us,” admitted 23-year-old Donnelly whohails from Omagh. “The pace at the front has beenreally fast so we’ve struggled to match the pace ofthose guys but we’ve done a good job and I waspleased with how the last few stages went.”

Alex Parpottas was awarded the fifth Pirelli StarDriver nomination of the year after impressing thejudges with his drive in the Ford Fiesta R2, which henursed home through the rally’s closing stages afterthe car’s cooler pipe split.

Pirelli UK operations manager Matthew Corby,summed up the weekend: “Last year’s YorkshireRally was one of the closest finishes in BRC historyand this year’s event proved just as exciting with thebattle for the win going down to the very last stage.The boys at the front were very quick but our PirelliStar Driver Mark Donnelly was a model of consis-tency over the weekend. He did a brilliant job of justdriving his own rally, looking after both the car andtyres. Jukka Korhonen now looks set to clinch theseries title at the Sunseeker season-closer and it’sfantastic to see how much our former Pirelli StarDriver has progressed in his career over the past 24months. Hopefully Mark can follow in Jukka’s foots-teps and continue to take steps forward in his rallycareer after the support and guidance he has receiv -ed from Pirelli this season.” akb

Pryce wins Yorkshire Rally, Pirelli Star Driver finishes 5th


T

Metzeler ends road racing summer with‘world’s fastest’ Ulster GPMETZELER HAS ROUNDED out its road racing season with

its first year as title sponsor of the Ulster Grand Prix, at

which Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin took three victories on

the company’s rubber. Martin’s Supersport and feature

Superbike race wins were joined by victories for Ivan

Lintin in the Lightweight class, while Gary Johnson and

Dean Harrison also enjoyed strong performances in the

Superstock race. The weather led to the cancellation of

the Dundrod 150 races on Thursday, but Metzeler enjoy-

ed a victorious day on Saturday as the brand comple-

ted the first of three years as title sponsor to the World’s

fastest road racing event, the Ulster Grand Prix.

The opening Supersport race was held in damp but drying condi-tions and it was the Metzeler shod Tyco Suzuki GSX-R600 of GuyMartin, who recently announced he will be remaining with theteam for 2014, who took the ‘holeshot’. Leading for the majorityof the five lap race, and despite increased pressure from theexperienced Bruce Anstey on the final lap, Guy was able to takevictory, crossing the line ahead Anstey by just 0.075s.

To the relief of the thousands of fans who had packed thebanks and hedgerows that line the 7.4 mile road circuit, the sunappeared ahead of the Superstock race and it was Lincs LiftingKawasaki rider Gary Johnson who led for the opening lap. Unableto hold off Isle of Man TT hero Michael Dunlop, Johnson crossedthe finish line to claim second place, giving Metzeler their secondpodium of the day. RC Express Kawasaki rider Dean Harrisonenjoyed a well-earned fourth place while Supersport winnerMartin was unable to match his earlier success, being forced toretire on the opening lap.

Throughout the ‘roads’ season, the Lightweight category hasbeen a close run affair, and fans at the Ulster Grand Prix wereonce again treated to an enthralling, fairing rubbing Lightweightrace that came down to the final lap, with Metzeler supportedIvan Lintin fending off Jamie Hamilton to take the victory.

A dry track greeted riders for the main event of the day, theMetzeler Ulster Grand Prix Superbike race, and it was once againSupersport winner Guy Martin who wrestled the lead from thetwo Dunlop brothers from the start. Setting about commanding

the race from the front, Martin and Michael Dunlop played a racelong game of cat and mouse which came down to final lap, andit was fan favourite Guy Martin who took the victory on his GSX-R1000 by 0.054s ahead of current king of the roads, MichaelDunlop.

A problem for Martin in the second Supersport race forcedhim to retire on the first lap, however he was able to bounce backin the final race of the day, the second Superbike race, claiminga dominant victory as he lead from the off, to complete a trio ofwins, and 11 career wins at the Ulster Grand Prix.

Metzeler UK marketing manager Jim Worland commented,“It’s been a fantastic day of road racing here at the MetzelerUlster Grand Prix, especially as the weather was kind after somuch rain in the build-up to the event. The organisers, fans andriders really deserved to see some good action after they workedso hard in adverse conditions earlier in the week.

“Guy was so impressive today especially in the featureSuperbike race to hold off Michael Dunlop who has been in suchstrong form this year. He also held his nerve and showed the per-formance of the Metzeler’s by winning in both the wet and drytoday. Congratulations also to Ivan Linton in the Lightweight race,surely a star of the future.

“All in all it’s been a great event for us both in terms of resultsand as title sponsors, we can’t wait to come back next year!”

akb

Guy Martin leads the way at the MetzelerUlster Grand Prix

EVENT TYRES now available offering quality tyres at an affordable price. If you are looking for a 4x4, passenger, van or comfort tyre, we’ve got an affordable choice for you.

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MOTORSPORT

Grovewood Sport and the British Automobile

Racing Club (BARC) have revealed plans for a four

round Protyre Formula Renault Championship

‘Autumn Cup' which will take place at Rockingham

International Super Sports Car Circuit over the

weekend 16th/17th November.

AFTER ANOTHER OUTSTANDINGYEAR for the one-make sin-gle-seater series, which crowned its main season champion- Chris Middlehurst - during the penultimate race meeting ofthe campaign last month at the Northamptonshire track,organisers are confident of a well-supported Autumn Cup.

One qualifying session and two races will be contestedeach day of the event and registrations for the championshipare now open, with a closing date of Wednesday, 13thNovember. As well as the cars currently running in ProtyreFormula Renault, pre-2006 Tatuus FR 2.0 chassis with therequired engine restrictor in place will also be eligible tocompete in a standalone class.

"We're very happy to confirm a four round Autumn Cup,running the entire event across just one weekend makes itmuch more cost-effective for the teams and drivers andwe're hopeful of seeing a healthy line-up", said champion-ship promoter Simon North.

"We're offering a lot of track time, which is so importantfor drivers who may be considering racing in ProtyreFormula Renault next year. The schedule we've created, withone qualifying session each day, seems to be very popularwith the teams."

Protyre Formula Renault, which has evolved into one ofthe most important single-seater categories in Britain inrecent seasons, has enjoyed consistently strong grids in2013 with up to 20 drivers at any one event and no fewerthan 11 nationalities from across the globe.

Along with headline sponsor Protyre, Formula Renault isadditionally supported by Michelin, The LubricantConsultancy, Petronas Syntium and NGK Spark Plugs. pg

Protyre Formula Renault

‘Autumn Cup’ announced5 of top 7 use Maxxis Trepadortyre at King of the ValleysFive of the top seven ranked competitors at the second

staging of the King of the Valleys endurance event used

Maxxis’ M8060 Trepador competition tyre. Maxxis UK

managing director Derek McMartin says the partner-

ship Maxxis has established with the King of the Valleys

is “hugely beneficial”.

“BEING A PART OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST UP-AND-COMING

MOTORSPORT EVENTS in the UK gives Maxxis a great advan-tage when it comes to its competition. It’s great to put ourtyres to the test and this event proves that the advanced tech-nology we use to develop our tyres, Orange Engineering, isone of the reasons why the M8060 Trepador was a popularchoice of tyre for competitors at this year’s King of the Valleysevent, with the performance reflected in the results.”

2012 champions Team Acerni Racing from Italy returned toachieve first place for the second year running. Stephane Zossocame second, Team Lucky Dog came in third, and Maxxis-spon-sored Team Gigglepin just missed out on a podium finish andcame fourth. With some of the fastest lap times recorded atthis year’s event, Team Gigglepin pushed the Maxxis M8060Trepador tyres to achieve a highly impressive finish aftercoming down hard onits front radium arm,forcing it to return tothe garage to getrepaired.

Organized by NeilWhitford on behalf ofthe All-Wheel DriveClub – the largest all-makes off-road club inthe UK with some2,000 members – and supported by Ultra4 Racing, which runsthe US equivalent, Griffin King of the Hammers, the annualevent involves three days of endurance racing. Teams battleagainst each other and the terrain over 80 miles of tough natu-ral obstacles spread across the 1,600 acre site. The number ofentrants grew to 49 teams from across Europe and the USA in2013, and all-terrain vehicles from Landrover Defenders to 4x4Buggys chose to run on Maxxis M8060 Trepador tyres.

Maxxis says the M8060 Trepador has become its “mostsought after extreme 4x4 specialist tyre to date.” It’s tread ele-ment arrangement helps to achieve a uniform tread contactarea, multi-stage staggered shoulder pattern provide improvedcontrol, and nylon belt-reinforced tyre construction is designedto provide improved control even on the most difficult terrain,making it the preferred choice for many drivers at this year’sKing of the Valleys. akb

THE NEXEN N8000

THE NEXEN N8000

Improvedperformance on wet roads at an affordable price

Improved performance on wet roads at an affordable price

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE NEXEN RANGE, OR TO BECOME A KEY DEALER, PLEASE CALL 0870 60 54321 OR LOG ON TO WWW.STAPLETONS-TYRES.CO.UK OR WWW.STSPROFITLINK.CO.UK

AVAILABLE FROM

K


WHOLESALE

Kings Road Tyres adapts brand strategywith new Tianli, Maxam deals

KINGS ROAD TYRES (KRT) has adapted its brand stra-

tegy to meet customer needs in 2013, saying the key

to success in demanding market conditions is to meet

the changing needs of trade customers. With this in

mind, the wholesaler has recently launched new dis-

tribution deals with Chinese OTR manufacturer Tianli,

and with Luxembourg-based construction and indus-

trial pneumatic tyre supplier, Maxam

KRT is already one of the UK’s lea-ding distributors of agriculturaltyres, but made the decision toextend its offer further with theintroduction of 14 new trailertyres from Chinese OTR manu-facturer Tianli. “Tianli is a well-established manufacturer of spe-cialist OTR and agricultural tyreswhich offer UK customers a cost-effective alternative fitment opti-on in a range of popular size andtread patterns,” explains KRT’s purcha-sing and marketing manager, Tim Bader.

In addition to its Tianli distributor-ship, KRT is alsoan appointed dis-tributor forMichelin, Kleber,F i r e s t o n e ,Goodyear andTrelleborg AGRtyres, along withexclusive UK distribution for Taurus andthe new Linglong Radial Drive tyres.

Luxembourg’s Maxam Tire appointedKRT as its exclusive construction andindustrial pneumatic tyre range dealer forthe UK and Ireland. Speaking of theappointment, Maxam’s CEO Ian Thomassaid: „It is Maxam’s policy to try and workwith companies that are the best in theirclass and we are delighted to welcomeKRT to our global network of distributors.I am confident that they will greatlyenhance Maxam’s presence in the UKand Ireland“

KRT’s managing director, AdrianBader, commented: “We are pleased toadd Maxam construction tyres to our pro-duct portfolio; KRT specialises in offering

its customers top quality, value-formoney tyres and there is no doubt thatMaxam fits this bill perfectly.”

Maxam tyres are highly engineeredproducts, designed to offer outstandingperformance and long life in even thetoughest conditions. Ian Thomas said:„Customer satisfaction is vitally impor-tant to Maxam, which is why our tyresare subject to stringent quality checksthroughout the manufacturing process.We know how expensive and frustratingdowntime can be, which is why our tyresare designed to perform perfectly, dayafter day.“

‘Flexible but disciplined’ brand

strategy

In addition to these new developments,KRT claims its position as one of theUK’s longest established and largestspecialist wholesale distributors oftruck, agricultural, OTR and industrialtyres through the 40 year relationshipsit has fostered with many of the world’s

leading tyre manufactu-rers. The company saysthis has allowed it tomaintain a “flexible butdisciplined approach” toits brand policy.

“We pride ourselves on close busi-ness relationships with world class com-panies like Bridgestone, Michelin,Continental and Goodyear, where wework with them to deliver a highly profes-sional and effective route to market fortheir products,” explains Tim Bader. Theserelationships with major brands extendbeyond distribution of their premiumlines. So for example, KRT is also theexclusive UK distributor of the GroupeMichelin Taurus agricultural range as wellas the Continental Group’s Matador TBRoffer.

Outside the premium segment KRT isalso the exclusive distributor of otherpopular brands, including China’s Aeolusand Antyre TBR and Wanda ATV and turf

KRT has extended its range of brands with Maxam and Tianli, while Uniroyal, Matador and Aeolus providea structured sub-premium offering


WHOLESALE

tyres. It also has a private brand inKingstone, which has a range coveringconstruction, industrial, OTR and tubemarkets. With the addition of Maxam andTianli, KRT argues that it has achievedcomprehensive market coverage in thesesegments.

“We have worked hard to develop arange of products that meet both the per-formance and financial requirements ofour customers in the commercial, indus-trial and agricultural sectors. We are veryloyal to our premium brand suppliers butif a customer cannot for example fit aMichelin tractor tyre we can offer Taurusas a cost-effective alternative. The sameapplies to the truck market where we cansupply Matador as an alternative toContinental,” says Tim Bader.

Aeolus produces a popular range ofbudget tyres manufactured in Chinasince 1965. The company is among thelargest producers in China and was oneof the first to manufacture casings thatare suitable for both retreading andregrooving. Researchers and tyre desig-ners at Aeolus have also factored in ope-rating qualities such as driver comfortinto their latest products. As an example,all front wheel truck applications nowundergo a dynamic balance test beforeleaving the factory.

Aeolus has recently introduced twonew patterns, the ASR69 and ADR69truck tyres which are now available inpopular sizes 295/80R22.5 and315/80R22.5.

As part of the drive to increase salesand awareness of Aeolus TBR, KRT haslaunched a dedicated website atwww.aeolustyres.co.uk. This includessize, application and technical details forthe comprehensive ranges of productscovering Regional Haul, Long Haul, MixedService and City Urban products for com-mercial vehicle, coach, city buses, lowloaders, semi-trailers and tippers.

“Supplying the haulage market requi-res a full understanding of the customer’srequirements and expectations of tyreperformance,” explains Tim Bader. “Withmany years’ experience and expertise wehave the ability to select and supply theappropriate tyre solution, calling on an

inventory that covers the latest premiumproducts through to the most cost-effective budget tyre.”

KRT’s investment in developing longterm relationships with Chinese tyremakers – in addition to and Tianli it sup-plies Antyre truck tyres and Linglong agri-cultural products for example – has alsopaid dividends. “China has become ahuge exporter of tyres around the worldand has had a big impact on the UK mar-ket, especially over the last five years.With so many manufacturers and brandsto choose from we made a strategic deci-sion to work with a small number of reli-able suppliers we could build professionalrelationships with. Aeolus is a good casein point, where we have promoted theirproducts in the UK and worked withthem to develop tyres that meets theneeds of the market, particularly in areassuch as rereading and re-grooving,” saysBader.

Mid-range importance

As was previously mentioned, KRT is alsovery active in the mid-range market: it isthe exclusive UK distributor of theContinental Tyre Group’s Matador andUniroyal TBR tyres. Matador is a long-established brand with a tyre-makingheritage dating back to 1925. All Matadorproducts continue to be manufactured inEurope.

“Matador is an exciting brand with agreat deal going for it; not only is it amember of the Continental Group, whichspeaks volumes about its commitment tohigh quality, European manufactured pro-ducts, but it also has a comprehensiverange of competitively priced tyres cove-ring all major commercial marketsectors,” says Bader. Another importantconsideration for fleet buyers is thatMatador tyres are both regroovable andretreadable.

As part of its marketing and dealersupport for the Matador brand KRT hasintroduced a dedicated website atwww.matadortyres.co.uk. This providesfull details of the product portfolio ofcoach, bus and truck applications for CityUrban, Regional and Long Haul, MixedService and Winter applications.

Additionally, KRT argues that theUniroyal range has proved to be a costeffective product for operators working ingeneral haulage, tanker and on/off roadfleets. All users benefit from the durabili-ty of the product and its high mileage per-formance, typical characteristics of tyresmanufactured by Continental. These qua-lities also extend to the high casingacceptance that delivers the all-importantfurther life options for the tyre, throughre-grooving and retreading.

The Uniroyal range includes all popu-lar sizes from 17.5” through to 22.5”. TheFH steer axle, DH drive axle and TH trai-ler applications are all manufactured tomeet the stringent operating demandsplaced upon them by the modern haulageindustry. The range also includes winterpatterns, allowing hauliers to continueoperating in the most severe weatherand road conditions.

“Uniroyal truck tyres are very wellaccepted by customers,” confirms TimBader. “They appreciate the value formoney the range delivers across allsectors of the commercial market andthe links with Continental, which providea guarantee of high and consistent quali-ty.” akb

KRT’s Tianli radial flotation tyre range

500/50R17 Flotation Radial500/50R17 R305500/60R22.5 Flotation Radial560/45R22.5 Agro Grip560/60R22.5 Agro Grip560/60R22.5 Flotation Radial600/50R22.5 Flotation Radial600/55R22.5 Agro Grip600/55R26.5 Flotation Radial620/55R26.5 Agro Grip650/50R22.5 Agro Grip650/55R26.5 Agro Grip710/45R22.5 Flotation Radial710/50R26.5 Flotation Radial


WHOLESALE

Tyregiant helping supportindependent BondInternational customersReg Bond rewarded for horse racing support

REG BOND is rounding the final corneron 50 years of tyre wholesaling sinceopening in Pocklington, near York, and thecompany is currently developing one ofits bigger innovations – the move intoonline tyre retail with Tyregiant – signify-ing Reg and his family’s desire to drivethe business forward. The upcomingmilestone has also been marked by anot-her achievement recently, as Bond wasrewarded for the work in his sporting pas-sion outside the tyre business. Bond waspresented with a special LifetimeAchievement Award by Go Racing inrecognition of his outstanding service tothe sport. Bond International continues tosupport meetings at York Racecoursealong with Infinity Tyres, for which thecompany is the UK distributor.

Online Bond’s bespoke onlineordering system, ‘Fastrac’, now hasmore than eight years under its belt,and the company says that uptake is“still growing rapidly”. The companycontinues to develop the system regu-larly with new functions aimed at“streamlining the search and orderprocess”.

The newer side of the wholesaler’sonline business is the customer-facingTyregiant e-Commerce site, which hasbeen operating with the goal of increa-sing business for Bond’s number of

independent dealer customers. The tyredistributor characterises its role withretailers as supportive: “With severalmajor players dominating the online retailtyre market, [we] decided it was time tohelp… independent customers get apiece of the action without incurring thehigh costs associated with launching andmaintaining a retail website,” the compa-ny states.

Bond says its customers are seeingincreased traffic through their doors,“with excellent profit opportunities” as aresult of Tyregiant and other online part-nerships. The company operates withfour warehouses and “over 100 deliveryvehicles”. These “handle over 20,000tyres per day (10,000 in and 10,000 out),”Bond says. In this way, Tyregiant was ableto stock 500,000 tyres from day one.

The website has a network of morethan 600 accredited fitting centres nation-wide with Bond’s vehicle fleet deliveringdirectly to fitting stations in the wholesa-le business’s dealer network. Bond stres-ses the win-win nature of the consumer-facing website, which will “drive more

retail business to its customers and atthe same time put more wholesale busi-ness through its own books.”

Bond brands

Bond says it has “continued to streng-then its relationship” with the leadingpremium brand manufacturers particular-ly over the last few years, while it has astrong range of exclusive value brands.While Jinyu and Rotalla are also availableon an exclusive basis through Bond, thekey brands of Marshal, Infinity and Sailunall offer dealer incentive programmes.The wholesaler says they are “proving tobe very popular with some exciting newschemes”. Bond has recently launched amarketing campaign for winter tyres,restating the suitability of the products incold weather, and publicising the Jinyuand Sailun brands particularly.

Bond has even tied in the promotionof Tyregiant with Reg’s other passion. Inaddition to the standard investment indesign and search engine optimisation,Tyregiant has sponsored horse races at

York, Doncaster,Beverly, Ripon andRedcar as a way ofraising the brand’sprofile. It sponso-red a race on eachoccasion and a hos-pitality box at York.

akb

Bond’s new winter poster campaign

Reg Bond alongside his wife Betty with two oftheir sons Greg on the left and Mike on the right

B


WHOLESALE

Micheldeverappoints Kumhobrand managerMICHELDEVER TYRE SERVICES has appointed Lorna

Craig as the company’s new Kumho brand mana-

ger. Craig was previously charged with the deve-

lopment of Micheldever’s business and brands in

Scotland where she was an area sales manager.

Wholesale sales director Alan Baldwin stated the

company’s delight in her appointment, saying her

previous experience had “made her the perfect

choice for what is one of the most important roles

within the MTS business.” Micheldever says it is

Europe’s largest distributor of Kumho tyres, evin-

cing the importance of Craig’s new position.

Baldwin continued: “Lorna’s expertise indeveloping tyre retailers’ businesses in atrue partnership, and her understandingof the challenges they face against thre-ats like national retailers intent on domi-nating the UK retail tyre market, will deli-ver business gains for Kumho Dealersand provide the innovative added valuerequired to help drive their business andincrease consumer footfall.”

Lorna Craig commented: “Kumho hasa fantastic product range, high consumerawareness, superb quality and is alreadyone of the strongest tyre brands in the UK.That success comes from the loyalty andsupport of our Kumho Dealer Network,Ecsta Performance Centres and my inten-tion is to work closely with our customersto help their business develop with theKumho Brand and Micheldever.”

She added: “It’s not enough anymoreto simply supply product, even the bestproduct. Dealers need innovative and busi-ness building initiatives to make themstronger and more competitive in this mar-ket with all of its difficulties, but alsoopportunities.” akb

Micheldever Tyre Services Kumho brand manager, Lorna Craig

Micheldever supporting TyreSafe through retail business

Micheldever Tyre Services was one of the original TyreSafe retail supporters, andits support is continuing during this October’s Tyre Safety Month by providing astrong programme. In addition to each of the 64 Protyre centres offering a freetyre safety check, the company is arranging free lady’s and young driver’s car carecourses at 14 of their key nationwide centres. Also, the company is undertaking anationwide “down the line” radio promotion.

The free car care courses, being run at Protyre centres, cover how to checkunder bonnet fluids, oil and water, but most importantly the evening sessions willtackle tyre safety. In addition to outlining how to change a wheel safely,Micheldever says that Protyre technicians will provide hands-on demonstrationson how to check for tread depth, tyre pressures and other key pointers to keep acar safe on the road. An added incentive for female drivers attending these sessi-ons is free membership, worth £23, to the UK’s only motoring club for women,Foxy Ladies Drivers Club (www.foxyladydrivers.com).

The “down the line” radio campaign will promote tyre safety messages andwill involve Micheldever retail director Simon Hiorns undertaking some 20 radiointerviews from a London based studio. “Tyre Safety Month is a very importantevent for the UK tyre industry,” said Simon Hiorns, “and we at Micheldever areputting a lot of effort behind the campaign this year. Tyre safety is vitally importantand whilst road accident deaths have fallen, the 194 deaths in 2012 as a result ofdefective tyres are unacceptable and we must do what we can to reduce this figu-re even more.” akb

TM

t: 01952 684168 f: 01952 684957 e: [email protected]


WHOLESALE

RH Claydon structures wide range ofbrands to become ‘one-stop shop’WHILE THE PHRASE “ONE-STOP SHOP” is somewhat overusedin relation to tyre wholesaling, RH Claydon (RHC) businessdevelopment & purchasing director John Parker argues that forhis company it is thoroughly deserved. Now in its 60th year oftrading as one of the UK’s independent nationwide premierspecialist tyre wholesalers, RHC believes that, whether theneed is for Consumer, Off-Highway or Truck applications, it hasa wide range of brands and fitments within its extensive pro-duct portfolio to meet the requirements of service provider andend-user alike in the UK and Ireland market place.

The company’s product portfolio encompasses brands suchas Annaite, Aurora, Basoon, BKT, Duro, Galaxy, Infinity, Lassa,Mitas, Primex, Security, Titan, Trelleborg, Vredestein,Windpower, Zeta and more in various patterns, profiles andsizes. This extensive brand range is backed by an equallyimpressive range of own branded “Airtite” tubes.

Parker says the Consumer range majors on the brandsAurora, Lassa (in Scotland only), Security and Zeta. The Aurorabrand, part of the Hankook Tyre stable, is exclusive to RHC forthe UK. The product, from a high quality manufacturer, comeswith an RHC Lifetime Guarantee, displaying the wholesaler’sfaith in its quality. To compliment both Aurora and Lassa, anot-her high quality product is Zeta, Parker says, which also offersand expanding selection of sizes and fitments to cater for theValue end of the market. The Security brand is concentrated onkey sizes for the radial high-speed trailer market.

The Off-Highway market is served by key brands BKT, Duro,Galaxy, Mitas, Primex, Titan, Trelleborg and Vredestein. The BKTbrand, for which RHC is the longest established AuthorisedDistributor in the UK, has a vast range which coversAgricultural, Trailer, Plant & Construction, Industrial, Small &large Implement, Forestry, Turf Maintenance, ATV, Port,

Earthmover and more in various radial and crossply manufactu-re.

Also exclusive to RHC for the UK and Ireland are the brandsGalaxy and Primex from the Alliance Tire Group stable. Parkersays the brands are “synonymous with quality” and offer “anexpanding range” of sizes and fitments both in radial and cross-ply for Agricultural, Trailer, Plant & Construction, Industrial,Small & Large Implement, Specialist Turf Maintenance andEarthmover segments. He particularly notes the Galaxy brandas an OE supplier “to well-known prestigious manufacturers” –good news for the tyre service provider in that it presents repla-cement market opportunities. Covering the smaller end of themarket, RHC supplies Duro, Supreme, Titan and Trelleborgalongside BKT and Galaxy.

In the light and heavy truck tyre markets RHC boasts end-to-end coverage too, with the brands Annaite, Basoon, Infinity,Lassa and Windpower. RHC categorises Infinity, Lassa andWindpower products as its “Premier” range – Infinity andWindpower are exclusive to RHC in Northern Ireland and theUK respectively. Both brands offer a wide-range of sizes, pat-terns and profiles for the many different applications required,such as short and long haul, tipper, trailer and bus/coach. The“Value” support package is covered by the Annaite and Basoonbrands, Parker says. These brands also present an extensiverange of size and fitments for this key market segment.

RHC’s very extensive product portfolio offering is suppliedthrough strategically located sales and service branches inFalkirk, Scunthorpe, Stockport, Swindon and Bury St Edmunds.With “experienced, knowledgeable and motivated staff,” Parkersays RHC is confident it can satisfy both existing and futureneeds and requirements of their ever expanding customerbase. akb

Tyres that make sense. Tyres that make you money.

T


WHOLESALE

Treadsetters discusses Falken distri -bution deal, Sunday Times accolade

Treadsetters was the only tyre wholesaler to recei-ve this prestigious honour, and the company waspleased to have continued to feature in the SundayTimes, having made a previous list in 2012.Treadsetters achieved 76th position in the SundayTimes Fast Track 100 list and additionally receivedan HSBC Business Innovations Award (see text-box).

In addition to the new Falken distribution deal –the brand is also distributed by Ireland’s PhilipWhite Tyres in the British Isles – Treadsetters provi-des extensive and diverse ranges of tyres, withinvolvement in the PCR, UHP, Van, 4x4/SUV andTruck market segments. The wholesaler says it isparticularly keen to specialise in regularly develo-ping new market potential.

Increased Torque

The Torque truck range, which is anexclusive brand for the company, isproduced “within technologicallyadvanced manufacturing facilitiesincorporating the latest tyre assem-

bly innovations”, according to Treadsetters. It spe-cialises in providing tyres to suit mid to long dis-tance, regional and urban driving applications. Itincludes a block pattern design giving superiortraction performance and stability plus solid grip inall Drive positions. An anti-abrasion tread com-pound yields increased mileage return along withreduced tread wear. A special rib pattern is desig-ned to improve directional handling, lateral tractionand wet grip in steer positions.

Torque has recently developed a new com-pound and introduced a new tread pattern, theTQ121 to further enhance Treadsetters ability toprovide a quality truck tyre to meet every applicati-on in the commercial market. The TQ121 offersoperational benefits such as being a visibly wider

UK AND INTERNATIONAL tyre wholesaler, Treadsetters has recently been

appointed as a UK distributor for the Falken tyre range – a move that it

says enhances “significantly” its commercial tyre operation. The compa-

ny says the Sumitomo-manufactured Falken brand joins Goodride and

a number of specially selected mid-range and premium brands. The

Shropshire-based wholesaler states that it has enjoyed a “very progres-

sive trading period” in the last couple of years. As well as steadily

increasing its product portfolio the company has also received a num-

ber of business accolades and were recently placed 59th in the Sunday

Times International Track 200 list.

tyre complete with a wider footprint for improved heat dissipation providing a higher mileage returnthrough the tyre running cooler.

Treadsetters is also the appointed UK distributors for the Hifly brand, incorporating a comprehensi-ve choice of modern pattern designs for the passenger car, high performance, van and 4x4/SUV sectorsoffering an extensive selection of sizes and series. The Hifly UHP range presents several importantbenefits including a fluent, straight line pattern design for improved steering response and a specialtread pattern for superior wet and dry road handling and aquaplaning resistance. The company additio-nally present the Durun range which is a competitively priced budget range.

Backed by dynamic sales and marketing incentive programmes including a fully supported dealerpartnership scheme, Treadsetters says its truck tyre portfolio “looks set to continue its progressivegrowth momentum.” akb


WHOLESALE

Independent UK tyre wholesaler receives export acco-lade

West Midlands based tyre wholesaler and producer, Treadsetters (Part of the TIAGroup) has been named as one of the UK’s leading innovators of internationalexport sales.

Treadsetters were listed at 59th position in the International Track 200 supple-ment in a leading national Sunday publication (sponsored by HSBC CommercialBanking) which ranks Britain’s mid-market private companies with the fastest gro-wing international sales performance (measured over the past 24 months fromavailable accounts).

The International Track 200 Listing highlights companies with sales thresholdlevels including sales returns from £25 million up to £200 million, internationalsales ranging from £5 million up to £100 million and an average two-year interna-tional sales growth pattern from 25 per cent up to 500 per cent.

This latest accolade is the third prestigious business award for Treadsetterssince 2010 when the company received an HSBC Business Innovations Award andthey also hold the distinction of being the only tyre wholesaler and producer tohave been listed in both the Fast Track 100 (in 2012 at 76th position) and the latestInternational Track 200 Listings.

Currently exporting tyres, including its own Torque brand, to 42 countriesaround the world, Treadsetters says it has found success as a leading UK basedbusiness on an international level. It says it “has maintained a continued rapidgrowth momentum” over the past couple of years, “bucking the general trend ofa static UK business market”. It has also regularly opened up new markets on aglobal basis and firmly established themselves as a leading supplier of value formoney, quality tyres.

A spokesperson for Treadsetters says, “With this recognition of our ongoingachievements in international sales in the past few years. It will act as an encou-raging ‘springboard’ for Treadsetters to move further forward to increased salesgrowth in existing markets and to open up international market opportunities.” akb

Treadsetters claimed 59th position on the Sunday Times International Track 200 in 2013

The Torque TQ121 fromTreadsetters

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WHOLESALE

Grouptyre’s Kenway celebrates 30 years GROUPTYRE member Kenway Tyres,

which services the northeast of

Scotland, is celebrating 30 years in

the tyre business in 2013. Grouptyre

says that Kenway has continued to

expand over the years and built on

the success of its single site in

Aberdeen. Kenway now operates

three retail sites in addition to its

distribution business: two in

Aberdeen and one in Dundee.

Kenway Tyres is the largest tyre wholesa-ler in the northeast of Scotland. Coveringan 8,000sqm territory Kenway offersexpress one-hour delivery to an area fromTain to Fife. Collectively the companynow employs 60 members of staff in itsbusiness and operates 16 delivery vehi-cles. Kenway has strengthened its positi-on in the marketplace by servicingsectors such as 4×4 and high perfor-mance, which has been one of the oppor-tunities derived from being a member ofGrouptyre. Through on-going technicaland sales support, Kenway is also able tohelp its customers develop their busines-ses and tailors its service to meet theirneeds.

“We’re extremely proud of our achie-vements here at Kenway Tyres”, saysKenway’s managing director AlanKennaway. “The whole team here deser-ves recognition for the way in which wehave evolved and grown as a company.We strive daily to meet the needs of ourcustomers in the North East, providing afriendly service, and we look forward tocontinuing to do so for many more years”.

Grouptyre’s evolution

Grouptyre’s evolution over the last fewyears means it now numbers 10 regionalwholesalers. The member companiesoffer daily to multiple same-day deliveries– also on demand in some cases – with acollective fleet of more than 400 deliveryvehicles nationwide operating from 38strategically located distribution points.

The 10 members boast a combined stockholding of one million tyres at any onetime. Grouptyre also has a team of busi-ness development managers on theground, offering tyre industry experienceand support to retailers.

In terms of the benefits Grouptyrecan offer to retailers, it says its strongrelationship with tyre manufacturers iskey, as it allows members to access com-petitively priced products for their custo-mers. Grouptyre has an extensive rangeof exclusive margin brand products, inclu-ding Evergreen, Federal, Goodride andLandsail, with comprehensive dealer sup-port packages for access to exclusivedealer promotions, point of sale materialand merchandise.

“The industry has experienced somevery difficult trading conditions over thelast few years”, says Paul Hollows,Grouptyre’s sales director. “We’re con-stantly striving to meet the needs of theindustry and our growth and strong posi-tion in the industry has allowed us to ven-ture into some extremely rewarding busi-ness opportunities over the past coupleof years, such as Grouptyre Wholesale inthe South East (a joint venture betweensome of our members) and the new ZRTyres retail business (a joint venture bet-ween Tanvic Group Ltd and BA Bush Ltd).Grouptyre is certainly a force to be reck-oned with within the industry.”

Grouptyre adopts Cam’s OTC

Grouptyre is introducing the Online TyreCatalogue (OTC) from Cam Systems toenhance its product data and stockmanagement function and help deliveradditional accuracy to its sales processesfor the benefit of its many customersnationally.

Tyre labels, amendments to articlenumbers, changes within categories andthe movement of tyres from active tonon-active statuses mean a significantamount of product information ischanging on a daily basis. With over 160brands, representing in excess of 70,000

part numbers under management withinthe OTC, Grouptyre’s subscription to theservice means it can manage its stockprofile in a highly informed and effectiveway which helps when receiving ordersfrom customers and placing orders onsuppliers, bringing inaccuracies withinthe supply chain to a minimum.

Carl Murphy, IT manager ofGrouptyre, says: “We’ve been impressedwith how the OTC can deliver tyre data tous and make visible the impact ofchanges so Grouptyre is in a position tobe making fast, assured and accurate

amendments on thousands of productlines systematically.”

Mike Allen, managing director ofCAM Systems, adds, “With such vastamounts of product available in the com-mercial arena, it’s vital that large whole-sale operations like Grouptyre are recei-ving orders correctly first time, everytime. OTC regularly checks, validates andpublishes all the variations in labelling andother tyre data, enabling dealers likewiseto be precise, which ultimately savesboth parties time and money.” akb

Grouptyre member Kenway Tyres’ mascot Kaptain


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V

VDB offering broader winter portfolioin 2013-14

EUROPE, BEWARE – WINTER IS COMING, and the-

re’s nothing you can do to stop it. The first

snow has already fallen in the mountains of

Switzerland, and that means the start of a

new winter tyre season. Van den Ban (VDB),

however, reports itself “winter ready” and

says its expanded assortment of winter

tyres is even more extensive compared with

prior years. The wholesaler has been develo-

ping its flagship brand Novex in 2013, and

this includes a number of winter fitments

too.

VDB expects demand for winter tyres for the upco-ming season will suddenly increase when thesnow and cold reaches lower altitudes in Europe.And when this happens, it believes the company’srange and logistics will enable it to respond to allmarket needs. As in previous years, VDB has pur-chased a wide range of winter and all seasontyres, including UHP sizes up to 20-inches and run-flat fitments. It has also expanded its budget rangeto meet the array of fitments present in the mar-ket.

The Blackstone and Novex private labels arewell represented in VDB’s 2013-2014 assortment.After expanding the assortment of its successfulHifly budget range, VDB is now introducing newwinter tyres into its Trazano budget brand. TheTrazano (SW 608) winter range consists of 12 sizes

from 175/65R14 up to 225/45R17. Furthermore,the Hifly winter range has been greatly expandedin comparison to previous years. The PCR-range(Win-Turi 212) includes 41 sizes from 155/80R13up to 225/45R17 and 8 sizes light truck from195/75R16 up to 235/65R16. The range of studda-ble winter tyres, aimed at the Scandinavian mar-ket, consists of 17 sizes (Win-Turi 215).

Van den Ban upgrades flagship brand Novex

Van den Ban’s private label Novex has been upgra-ded with a more mature identity and improvedassortment. The distributer has displayed greatconfidence in the Novex brand, produced by whatit describes as “a well-known Asian tyre manu-facturer” and the range is developing rapidly byintroducing new patterns and sizes. With theincreased winter and all-season assortment, VDBsays Novex is now in a better position to respondto the needs of the market.

Novex is winter-ready with in total 52 sizes in 3patterns in passenger car and light truck tyres. ThePCR range covers the sizes from 145/80R13 75Tup to 215/50R17 95V. The latest introduction is theNovex Snow Speed 3 and includes 26 (new) sizes.In the Snow Speed LT 4 new sizes have beenadded, offering a total of 14 sizes in this light truckrange.

Moreover the Novex All Season pattern is avai-lable in no less than 13 new sizes which consistsnow of a total 39 sizes, offered from 155/80R1383T to 225/45R17 94V. All the sizes carry the markof M&S and three peak mountain symbol. In bothwinter- and all season, the first tyres are unloadedand available in stock, VDB says. The company alsooffers marketing support to help partners furtherdevelop the brand. VDB describes itself as “morethan convinced” that Novex has a “completepackage” with the potential “to be an exclusivebrand for our customers.”

In addition to the gains of 2013, VDB said thatit will announce a new asymmetric summer pat-tern for Novex to be introduced in January 2014,when the brand “will be upgraded once more.” Intotal, next year’s summer range will number a totalof 136 sizes in five patterns, the distributor reveals.

sg/akbThe Novex Snow Speed 3 The new all-season Novex tyre, introduced this year


WHOLESALE

New ‘DACH’ region importer forAeolus PCR rangeAEOLUS HAS A NEW DISTRIBUTOR for itspassenger car tyre range in the German,Austrian and Swiss markets. German who-lesaler and tyre service provider ReifenStraub GmbH now handles imports inthese three territories and in mid-September began delivery of AeolusAW02 and AW03 winter tyres for thecoming ‘changeover’ period, which traditio-nally takes place in October.

“It is now no longer to possible tomake any more money with many premi-um brands,” observed Reifen Straub mana-ging partner Eugen Straub at an Aeolusmarket launch event in September.“However, we are able to break newground with an innovative company suchas Aeolus and a competent local contact.

Just one example: the transport of the firstcontainers took place over land by railfreight. Within just 15 days, our goodswere delivered to the central warehousevia Hamburg. The resulting savings andlogistical advantages are obvious.

“Aeolus is a company that thinks outsi-de the box and has impressed us with itsunique strategy. Establishing new rulesmeans breaking old ones, while at thesame time continuing to impress bothcommercially and economically,” Straubcontinued. “We are excited by what is hap-pening here and we look forward to a longterm partnership and close cooperationwith and for Aeolus.”

Aeolus views an important part of suit-ably positioning passenger car tyres in

crowded markets such as Germany,Austria and Switzerland as being to have a“compelling and consistent strategy.” Italso believes the use of high quality rawmaterials, intensive testing in Europe forEurope, and the continuous developmentof the appropriate product portfolios formthe basis for sound market development.

sg

Eugen Straub (l) and Thomas Wolgemuth

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D

Maersk boasted the “mostimpressive” bunker cost savingsin the first half of 2013

SEA FREIGHT RATES are currently on a downward trend

that looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future,

says freight forwarding specialist Rob Shelley of

Maritime Cargo Services. According to industry feed-

back, this year’s peak season from Asia to Northern

Europe got off to a slow start in July, and remained

unconvincing even up to the beginning of September.

Exports from Asia to Northern Europe in the second

quarter were only the same as during the same period

last year, and year-on-year growth in the first seven

months of 2013 reached just one per cent.

Drewry, the specialist research and advi-sory organisation for the maritime sector,is expecting rate levels to continue to fallin the final months of the year. As thetrade enters a shoulder season still pla-gued by overcapacity, rates will comeunder renewed pressure. Furthermore,shipping lines are once again consideringa General Rate Increase in November,and Shelley says it will be interesting tosee how their intentions play out. “Forthe tyre trade, the most important mes-sage to get across is that you ensure anysavings are duly passed onto you,”Shelley advises.

“Fuel cost savings since 2011 havebeen impressive,” Shelley continues.

“Depending on vessel size, fuel (knownin the shipping industry as bunker) costscan amount to over 60 per cent of allvoyage expenses, which explains whyocean carriers’ recent financial reportshave dwelt so much on success in mini-mising fuel costs. For example, OOCL’sreport noted that its average fuel price infirst half of 2013 ($626/tonne) was nineper cent less compared to same period of2012, and that its overall fuel cost savingwas 4.4 per cent.

“Maersk’s performance was themost impressive so far, with its bunkercost in 2Q 13 ($1.3bn, or 23 per cent of alloperating costs) being 31 per cent lowerthan in the same period last year. This

was achieved through reducing bunkerconsumption by 18 per cent, and a 15 percent decrease in average bunker price,down to $589/tonne.

“As market conditions are likely toremain difficult for at least another year,yet more focus will have to be applied oncost cutting. The problem is that oceancarriers have already benefitted enor-mously from bunker price reductionsover the past two years, and are unlikelyto see the same again, which means thateither other costs will have to be cut, orfurther slow steaming introduced.

“Increasing economies of scale willagain be of assistance, given the largenumber of vessels over 10,000 twenty-

Shipping costs continue to fallRob Shelley of Maritime Cargo Services surveys the current shipping outlook


WHOLESALE

foot equivalent unit on order. Dependingon the level of postponements, therecould be as many as 36 vessels averaging14,000 teu delivered next year, followedby a further 33 vessels averaging 15,600teu in 2015. As most will be deployed inthe Asia/North Europe trade lane, this willfurther increase the average size of itsvessels.

“Quantifying the benefit of this is dif-ficult to predict, but recent experienceprovides some guidance. The averagesize of vessels deployed between Asiaand Northern Europe in 2Q 13 (just under10,500 teu) was 14 per cent higher thanthe average of 9,200 teu in 2Q 12.

“Assuming that the fuel price in thetwo periods remained the same for thetwo sizes of vessel, this would haveresulted in an eight per cent saving aloneon a ‘per teu carried’ basis, but as the

fuel price was in fact 6 per cent lower, thetotal saving was a remarkable 14 percent.

“The evolution of the change since2009 has been huge; then, fuel priceswere considerably lower, and the averagesize of vessel deployed between Asia andNorth Europe was only 8,100 teu; shipswere also a lot faster then. After climbingby 51 per cent between 2Q 09 and 2Q11, up to $384 per teu, bunker costs perteu carried (excluding diesel) then fell byseven per cent over the next 12 months,followed by a further 14 per cent bet-ween 2Q 12 and 2Q 13.

“Significantly, these savings wereachieved only by falling fuel prices andincreasing vessel size, as average shipspeed remained more or less the same,which highlights the hidden weapon stillat their disposal. Another ‘surplus’ vessel

for many of the route’s 22 weekly loopswill often be required for this, however,which may not always be available.

“How bunker surcharges evolve willalso be interesting as, although bunkeradjustment factors (BAFs) and fuel priceshave been following each other in theAsia/N Europe reasonably well since2009, the correlation appears to overlookthe economy of scale benefits of biggerships. Drewry believes that should fuelprices increase, ocean carriers will conti-nue to soften the blow through increasedeconomies of scale right up to the end of2015.

“With so many fluctuations going on,making sure you get the best deal isessential, and in order to do that, partne-ring with the right freight forwarder iskey,” Shelley concludes. akb


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THE AL DOBOWI GROUP has initiated

an annual Infinity German Partner

Conference, having presented the

Infinity Tyres programme and dis-

cussed new distribution strategies

with a select group of German tyre

retailers, distributors and journalists

at Aschaffenburg’s Schloss Hotel in

Bavaria. Infinity Tyres were introdu-

ced to the European market nine

years ago, and the brand’s owner

and global distributor expects a

complete new passenger range for

2014 to bring faster year on year

sales growth, especially in techni-

cally demanding markets such as

Germany.

Harjeev Kandhari, executive director ofthe Al Dobowi Group, and Jorge Crespo,general manager Europe of Infinity Tyrespresented information on Infinity tyres,the spread of marketing activities, part-

nership networks and charitable foundati-ons at the two-day event. The informationdisseminated included the new passen-ger products, truck, OTR and agriculturaltyre lines.

Harjeev Kandhari emphasised AlDobowi’s commitment to the Europeantyre market and the international Infinitydealer network through the process ofdeveloping the Infinity brand in the long-term together: “We are excited andproud to announce 79 new develop-ments in five different passenger catego-ries in 2013.”

Guests were also introduced to ChrisDavison of Total Performance Testing,who assessed the technical capabilitiesof Infinity tyres against competitor pro-ducts during controlled testing environ-ments, as well as outlining his own sub-jective test experience.

Infinity Tyres is also now a registeredmember of the BRV, the German TyreDealer Association. The general manager

of BRV Hans-Jürgen Drechsler joined theconference and congratulated Al Dobowifor this move. He also gave a detailedpresentation of the German tyre marketby segment as well as a future outlookfor the economy tyre growth.

Jorge Crespo added that, due to thechanging tyre trade dynamics, the polari-sation between ‘premium’ tyres and‘economy’ tyres lends a great opportuni-ty for growing the Infinity brand inGermany.

A final highlight of the event was theintroduction of Oliver Harsch, theGerman Drift Challenge Champion.Infinity sponsors Harsch’s car, increasingbrand exposure at Championship events.After the presentation, guests and thepress were able to see a drifting demons-tration from Oliver in his BMW M3 withbrand new 480HP engine, with the addi-tional option of co-piloting. The event alsoincluded fine cigar and wine tasting withan expert sommelier. akb

Infinity holds first German PartnerConference

STARCO REPORTS that its Russia-based business, Starco

Eastern Group, has moved into new and larger facilities

in St. Petersburg. The operation’s new central warehou-

se has been established on a greenfield site within ten

minutes drive from the St. Petersburg ring road; Starco

says the move has brought its supply chain closer to its

customers, and the new warehouse will simplify com-

pliance with import procedures. Meanwhile, Starco

also moved into new premises on the web, as it laun-

ched its own YouTube channel.

The new office for the Starco Eastern Group’s sales depart-ment includes 160 square metres of office space plus otherfacilities, while the new warehouse currently comprises 1,000square metres of capacity. This will be doubled in the comingyear. The warehouse area is equipped with racks that are adap-table to suit a wide range of products, giving Starco the abilityto arrange its stocks to meet customer requirements and tocontinue to increase its operational capacity and efficiency.

The warehouse is equipped with a tyre-changing machi-ne to meet OEM requirements as well as a tyre press forsolid tyres, allowing Starco to offer a faster service for after-market customers. Starco says the new facilities have beendeveloped with attention to workplace health and safety inmind, drawing on the resources and experience of the enti-re Starco Group

With the opening of these facilities, Starco EasternGroup has also strengthened its team in St. Petersburg withadditional experienced personnel.

Starco launches YouTube channel

Starco has introduced a further enhancement to its newwebsite, publishing a series of videos about the companyand its activities and products. “Continuing to grow andbecome a global company is exciting, but it also presentsmany new challenges”, explains Group marketing managerBrian Lorentzen.

“The new website and all our other external communica-tions initiatives target a global audience; our companies in22 countries serve a wider range of products to a rapidly gro-wing number of customers, many of whom will be meetingour company or specific products for the first time. Thisgives Starco greater need to communicate and inform.

Starco believes that its focus on “engineering expertise,manufacturing quality, logistics and customer service” meanthat new visual presentations and more detailed informationare required to increase customers’ insight into the compa-ny’s activities. “Whilst we are always competitive, the pro-duct is only one of many important parameters on which we

compete,” said Lorentzen. “Our new web platform, which inte-grates the corporate and regional websites with an online cata-logue and web shop, has been designed to give our customersgreater insight into our products and services – and to themany tangible values which make Starco products world class.With the latest videos customers worldwide can learn aboutour production expertise and capacities, and experience ourvarious manufacturing and assembly operations in our factoriesand distribution centres worldwide.”

The videos and improved web presence are also designedto display “the global resources and expertise within Starco, onwhich our customers can draw when selecting special wheelsfor almost any application,” Lorenzen adds. “Whereas we wereonce a group of companies with different products and activi-ties in each region, we are now able to promote and deliver acomprehensive range of products and services.”

The videos are accessible via starco.com, or Starco’sYouTube channel. sg/akb


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Starco opens new Russian facility

Are you the next dealer in your country of LEAO tyres?

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PRODUCT INFORMATION

All-rounders top German winter testsWINTER TYRE TESTS carried out by

two German publications have

returned strong results for products

delivering solid performance in a

wide range of conditions; both

reserved particular praise for

Continental’s ContiWinterContact

TS850.

This year, German motoring organsiationthe ADAC got together with its Austrianand Swiss counterparts, the ÖAMTC and

TCS, to produce its winter tyre test. Twosizes – 185/60 R15 T and 225/45 R17 H –were tested, and in both size categoriesContinental and Michelin received a“good” recommendation (no “verygood” ratings were given out in thisyear’s test) with theirContiWinterContact TS 850 and Alpin A4.Four products were rated “inadequate”by the testers.

In the smaller size, the ADAC tested17 products using a VW Polo as test vehi-cle, and seven of these were rated as

“good”. Particular praisewent to the Continentaltyre: “TheContiWinterContact TS850 proved itself to be thebest of the good, it achiev -ed the best grades in thekey wet, snow and ice cri-teria and thus is seen to beparticularly well-balanced.Furthermore, it stands outfor its low fuel consumpti-on.” Describing the other‘good’ rated tyres, theADAC stated: “Along with

other good and well-balanced propertiesthe Michelin A4 – as has already beenseen in the past – showed itself to bevery wear-resistant. This is also the casefor the Firestone Winterhawk 3, whichshined on dry and wet roads. A particularstrength for the Nokian WR D3 is its per-formance on dry surfaces. The GoodyearUltraGrip 8 and Semperit SpeedGrip 2round off the group of good winter tyres.They have no predominant strength butalso no weaknesses.”

A Skoda Octavia performed the testhonours for the larger size, and from thetotal of 15 size 225/45 R17 H winter tyreswere tested, only four were rated as“good”. These tyres won the testers overwith their all-round performance; theContiWinterContact TS 850 received thehighest rating in the snow, theBridgestone Blizzak LM-32S in the wetand the Michelin Alpin A4 for having thelowest wear. While the new Uniroyal MSplus 77 was not rated the best in anycategory, it also showed no weaknessesand was therefore included in amongstthe “good“ rated tyres.

185/60 R15 T

Continental ContiWinterContact TS850 goodDunlop Winterresponse 2 goodFirestone Winterhawk 3 goodMichelin Alpin A4 goodNokian WR D3 goodGoodyear UltraGrip 8 goodSemperit Speed-Grip 2 goodVredestein Snowtrac 3 satisfactoryBarum Polaris 3 satisfactoryPirelli Winter190 Snowcontrol 3 satisfactoryGT Radial Champiro WinterPro satisfactoryHankook Winter i*cept RS (W442) satisfactoryFalken HS-449 Eurowinter satisfactoryKleber Krisalp HP2 satisfactoryNexen Eurowin 600 acceptableKormoran Snowpro b2 inadequateMarangoni 4 Winter E+ inadequate

Results: ADAC winter tyre test 2013

225/45 R17 H

Continental ContiWinterContact TS850 goodBridgestone Blizzak LM-32 S goodMichelin Alpin A4 goodUniroyal MS plus 77 goodGoodyear UltraGrip 8 Performance satisfactoryNokian WR D3 satisfactoryDunlop SP Wintersport 4D satisfactoryFulda Kristall Controll HP satisfactorySemperit Speed-Grip 2 satisfactoryESA-Tecar Supergrip 7+ HP 210 satisfactoryPirelli Winter Sottozero 3 satisfactoryHankook Winter i*cept RS (W442) satisfactoryToyo Snowprox S953 satisfactoryInterstate Winter IWT-2 inadequateSailun Ice Blazer WSL-2 inadequate

Dancing on ice, ADAC style


PRODUCT INFORMATION

Toyomoto

AMS votes Conti best in wet and snow

In the September issue of German publication Auto Motor undSport (20/2013), eight brands of winter tyre were put throughtheir paces. Seven types of size 225/50 R17 V tyre and a set ofMichelin 225/50 R17 H tyres were fitted to a BMW 330d for thetest and subject to handling and braking tests in snow, wet anddry conditions, along with condition-specific tests such as aqua-planing, traction, comfort, rolling noise and rolling resistance.Here is what Auto Motor und Sport found out:

In dry conditions, Nokian’s WR D3 came out on top, its toppoints for dry handling and braking helping it score 95 from 100points in this category, ahead of the Pirelli Winter Sottozero IIIwith 88 points and the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 4D with 87points. Last place went to the Fulda Kristall Control HP, whichscored 70 points, including last place in the subjective handlingand dry braking tests.

But when a bit of wet and cold was added to the mix,Continental’s ContiWinterContact TS850 came to the fore. In wettesting the German tyre scored 99 out of a possible 100 points,landing top market for handling, directional control and braking,along with good marks for aquaplaning (although the Toyo

Snowprox S953, the tyre that achieved the lowest points overall,performed better on this test). The second best wet performerwas the Pirelli Winter Sottozero III, which scored 92 from 100points.

Gold in the snow testing category also went to theContiWinterContact TS850, which scored 95 from 100 points,including equal (along with the Pirelli tyre) top marks for traction.The Goodyear Ultragrip 8 Performance, Dunlop SP Winter Sport4D and Fulda Kristall Control HP shared top honours for handlingand the Fulda tyre also gained top points for the snow brakingtest.

Overall, the ContiWinterContact TS850 scored best with 277out of a potential 300 points. Runner up was the Pirelli WinterSottozero III with 270 points and third place went to the DunlopSP Winter Sport 4D, which scored 258. The wooden spoon wentto the Toyo Snowprox S 953, which scored 218 out of 300 points.

The tyres tested by Auto Motor und Sport were: Particularlyrecommended: Continental ContiWinterContact TS850, PirelliWinter Sottozero III, Dunlop SP Winter Sport 4D and Nokian WRD3; Recommended: Goodyear Ultragrip 8 Performance,Michelin Alpin A4 and Fulda Kristall Control HP; Conditionallyrecommended: Toyo Snowprox S 953. sg


M

OE update – the latest deals

Michelin: Peugeot’s second-generation308, which made its public debut at theIAA motor show in Frankfurt, will be avail -able with two different Michelin tyres asoriginal equipment; models deliveredwith 15 and 16-inch rims will be fittedwith the Energy Saver + while the PilotSport 3 will be mounted on 17 and 18-inch rim versions.

“For the Peugeot 308, the newMichelin Energy Saver+ tyre shortensbraking distances on wet surfaces bythree metres, reduces carbon dioxideemissions by three grammes per kilo -metre and delivers remarkable handlingwithout sacrificing tyre longevity,” com-ments Laurent Cléro, Michelin’s technicalaccount manager in charge of co-develop -ing tyres for the 308.

Another agreement sees Michelintyres fitted as original equipment on amuch rarer beast. The French manufactu-rer is sole tyre supplier to Porsche’s newhybrid supercar, the 918 Spyder. The 918-

specific Sport Cup 2 will be fitted in size265/35-ZR20 at the front and size 325/30-ZR21 on the rear.

Production of the new Porsche beganon 18 September and only 918 units ofthis model will be manufactured, never-theless during the vehicle’s developmentMichelin tested 550 prototype tyres. 150hours of testing took place on fiveEuropean circuits.

Goodyear: Two Goodyear tyres, theEfficientGrip and Vector4Seasons, havebeen selected by Italian car manufacturerFiat to fit its latest 500 models, includingthe 500C and the new 500L Trekking. Themodels will be supplied with tyres in size195/45R16 84V. Fiat has selectedGoodyear’s EfficientGrip for the 500 and500C cabrio version, while the Fiat 500LTrekking will roll on the Vector4Seasons.

“The Fiat 500 is an icon, says HuguesDespres, Goodyear brand director EMEA.“It is one of the most stylish city cars inthe world. We are proud that Goodyear

has once again been selected to help itsdrivers enjoy an even more satisfyingexperience.”

Nexen: Two further European originalequipment agreements have been addedto Nexen Tire’s supply list. Starting inDecember, the Korean tyre’s rollingresist ance optimised N’Blue HD will bedelivered to Skoda in size 205/55R16 91Vfor fitment on the new Octavia, and befo-re the end of the year Nexen will beginshipping the N’Blue HD to Volkswagenfor the Polo. This time the tyre will besupplied in 185/60R15 84H.

The tyres fitted on the Octavia andPolo are produced in Nexen’sChangnyeong plant, which opened inApril 2012. “The Volkswagen Group,Nexen Tire’s new OE partner, representsinnovative and high-value productsaround the world,” states Hee-Jong Lee,director of Nexen Tire’s Europe TechnicalCenter. “We are therefore very proudthat we have, with our N’Blue HD, devel -

Although Michelin’s supply to the918 Spyder is hardly high-volume, itcarries on an original equipmentrelationship dating back to 1961

Amongst the recently-announced original equipment supply agreements

are a pair from Michelin, Goodyear’s two Fiat fitments and one each from

Korean tyre makers Nexen and Kumho. Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has also

been approved for take off with a Czech Republic airline.


PRODUCT INFORMATION

Akar Makina Sanayi Ltd.

oped a tyre that meets the high require-ments expected by Skoda and VW.”

Kumho: The latest version of the mostserious Mercedes-Benz 4x4 offering, theG-Class, is now fitted with Kumho’s SolusKL21 as original equipment. The Koreanfirm has begun supplying the Solus KL21in size 265/60 R18 110H, adding anotherstring to its Mercedes-Benz original equip-ment agreement bow – Kumho begansupplying the A-Class (Solus KH 15 in size185/65 R15) in 2007 and the Viano X-Clusive (Ecsta KU19) in 2008. Korean-mar-ket Sprinter and Actros models, along withDaimler AG’s Smart, are also deliveredwith Kumho tyres as original equipment.

The Solus KL21 is produced inKumho’s factory in Vietnam, the comp -any’s most modern tyre plant. It is avail -able in various 16 to 20-inch sizes.

Dunlop Aircraft Tyres: The

Birmingham-based firm’s latest long-termsupply contract sees it providing new andretreaded tyres to Czech Republic carrierTravel Service Airlines’ fleet of 23 Boeing737 Next Generation aircraft, as well asto the four Boeing 737 Next Generationplanes flown by its low-cost subsidiarySmartWings. The supply deal includesnose and main wheel tyres.

“Travel Service Airlines is the latest ina number of carriers that have placednew orders, not only in Europe but in AsiaPacific and the Americas as well, com-ments Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ chairman,Ian Edmondson. “With more than 4,500Boeing 737NGs in service, this is one ofthe most successful airliners of all timeand it is reassuring that major operatorslike Travel Service Airlines recognise thelow cost of ownership that our tyres pro-vide.”

Uniwheels: Last but not least,Uniwheels shares that it is shipping 20-inch allow wheels to BMW for the latest6 Series M Sport Edition. The wheels areproduced at the company’s Werdohl plantin Germany and fitted to order on Coupé,Cabrio and Gran Coupé versions of themodel.

“We have been supplying BMWGroup with our high quality products formore than ten years,” notes UniwheelsCEO Ralf Schmid. “The decision of BMWto produce the demanding 20-inch wheelat Uniwheels confirms once again ourstatus as a strategic supplier.” This year,Uniwheels will produce more than600,000 wheels for BMW and Minimodels. akb/sg


PRODUCT INFORMATION

Dunlop introduces latestwinter tyre for smaller carsTHE SEQUEL, or successor if you prefer, to Dunlop’s Winter Responseis now available throughout the UK following its recent launch. The newWinter Response 2, designed for small and compact tyres, picks upwhere the Winter Response left off and is described by Dunlop as the“perfect complement” to its high-performance SP Winter Sport 4D.The Winter Response 2 is available in 22 dimensions from 155/65 R14to 195/65 R 15.

“The Winter Response 2 is designed to tackle important safetyissues such as braking performance, handling on snow and ice and inthe wet winter conditions,” wrote Dunlop upon introducing the newtyre. “Through its innovative technology, these needs have beenimproved on Winter Response 2, as compared to its predecessor. Thisincludes the incorporation of 45 degree shoulder blades to improvegrip on snow and ice when cornering. The new profile design with aninnovative tread block geometry improves traction under accelerationand braking on snow covered roads.”

Dunlop says the increased density of blades on the WinterResponse 2 leads to more biting edges and provides a more stableperformance in the wet and provides additional traction, shorter brak -ing distances and more stable cornering on snow. The tyre makerreports that 16 of the 22 available sizes have been given a ‘B’ labelrating for wet grip. The new tyre also offers improved fuel efficiency,Dunlop adds. sg

New GT Radial winterHP tyre

GT RADIAL has added the ChampiroWinterPro HP tyre to its portfolio, withsizes ranging from 16 to 20-inch wheeldiameters, including dedicated SUV fit-ments.

Designed specifically for the UK andEuropean markets, the tyre’s develop-ment has focused on mid-to-large high-performance cars. According to the com-pany, it has been produced using a sun-flower oil-enriched compound that main-

tains the elasticity of the rubber atlow temperatures and utilising anasymmetrical tread design. Theouter blocks are designed to pro-vide good dry and cornering pro-perties while the inner block areahas been developed to provide

extra grip in wet and snow conditions.The WinterPro HP is available from

195/55R16 to 275/40R20 XL, with speedratings from H to V and aspect ratios from40 to 65 series. Along with the ChampiroWinterPro, which ranges from 145/80R13 to 225/55 R16, the brand now coversthe majority of sizes of automotive coldweather tyres.

Brian McDermott, country managerUK for Giti Tire, manufacturer of GT

Radial, said: “It was imperative weimprov ed the size offering to meet EUmarket vehicle evolution and customerdemands, and following over two yearsresearch and development we have atyre which I would class as excellent.

“With excellent results provingexceptional wet and dry handling to givea better balanced performance, high levelsnow traction properties, improved all-round ride handling and reduced audiblenoise, the tyre sits as a benchmark forwinter tyres in the mid-market sector. TheWinterPro range will be very popularthroughout UK and Europe, and weexpect to increase our market shareaccordingly”. cja

The Winter Response 2 isdescribed as the “perfectcomplement” to the SPWinter Sport 4D

We build great things using perfect details

... involves combining a great number of perfect interlocking details into one harmonic unit. For safety on both wet and dry roads, comfort at higher speeds, optimum handling, short braking distances and real resistance to aquaplaning, Matador tyres are the ideal choice.

The full Matador range including car, van, 4x4, and UHP tyres is available from Stapleton’s Tyre Services.

www.stapletons-tyres.co.uk, www.stsprofitlink.co.uk.


PRODUCT INFORMATION

M

Michelin adds wintertyre to scooter portfolioTHIS WINTER, Michelin’s first European market winter tyre forscooters will hit the roads. The new range has been named CityGrip Winter and is specifically designed for safe riding on wetand snow-covered road surfaces. Michelin says the M+S labeledCity Grip Winter aims to offer optimum grip on surfaces whilegiving a comfortable ride and high total mileage; in order todevel op a tyre that delivers performance in these three areas,Michelin reports pulling several technical innovations from itsbag of tricks.

As expected, the compound plays a key role in ensuring theCity Grip Winter is suited to conditions in the colder months.While a drop in temperature causes polymer macromoleculechains within a standard compound freeze, causing the rubber toharden and reducing grip, Michelin says the thermoactive com-pound in the new tyre helps avoid this phenomenon. It heats upquickly, thereby delivering grip as soon as the scooter takes tothe road. A further feature of thermoactive compounds is theirability to maintain flexibility, and thus grip, to -10°C.

The City Grip Winter’stread contains a large num-ber of grooves – ten per centmore than found in theMichelin City Grip – andthese help to evacuatewater from the centre of thetyre. Large tread blocks andwave-shaped sipes providetraction on wet and snow-covered roads; Michelin sha-res that its in-house testingshows the City Grip Winterto deliver 30 per cent more

grip than the City Grip. The tread pattern has been designed to wear evenly in order

to increase mileage. And the sipes that cover 90 per cent of thesurface are said to deliver consistent performance throughoutthe tyre’s useful life.When it comes to com-fort, the manufacturerstates that the City GripWinter range offers thesame handling and preci-se steering as the CityGrip range: “The twotyre ranges share thesame profile. This provi-des ease of use, makingriding more comfort -able.” sg

A side-by-side comparison of the City Grip Winter(l) and City Grip treads show the elements thatmake the former better suited to winter use

The City GripWinter is sold in thefollowing sizes:

3.50 - 10120/70 - 12120/80 - 14130/70 - 12140/60 – 14 (available Q3)140/70 - 14150/70 - 13

Mitas enters bike radialmarket with Sport Force Mitas has entered the motorcycle radial business with theglobal launch of the Sport Force. The new tyre is manufactu-red in Slovenia by Savatech, the former Sava rubber manu-facturing division acquired by Mitas’ parent company CGSHoldings in October 2012. Sport Force is a sport and touringrange that is initially available in three front and five rearsizes.

“The Sport Force radial tyre is the result of an intensivefour years of complete in-house development work,” saidBojan Rupar, head of the company’s motorcycle R&D depart-ment. “It is based on our long-term experience in road andracing scooter and motorcycle tyre development, whichtogether with the most modern materials and some innova-tive technical solutions has resulted in a very competitiveproduct.”

Riders of sport, naked and supermoto bikes, along withsport touring motorcycle riders are the Sport Force’s targetgroup. The tyre features an S-SBR elastomer compound anda casing designed to maintain high levels of rigidity even asthe tyre wears – Mitas calls this ‘SCT’, or Strong CarcassTechnology. The tyre maker also reports that computer-assist -ed simulation was used to achieve the optimum tyre con-struction and footprint; the result, says Mitas, is that theSport Force can deform to achieve high levels of grip but atthe same time is rigid enough to provide driving stability.

Tread groove depth on the Mitas Sport Force was deter-mined according to where tread wear actually occurs; in thecase of the front tyre, the groove depth in the middle secti-on is slightly shallower, then it increases in areas where tyreabrasion is greater before once again reducing towards theedge of the tread pattern and gradually fading to a slick sur-face. Rear tyre tread depth is the greatest in the centrewhere abrasion and also water drainage occurs the most,then it gradually reduces towards the edge and it fades to aslick surface at the point where the tyre comes into contactwith the road surface at the maximum lean angle and thehigh est levels of road grip are required. sg

Front and rear SportForce fitments


PRODUCT INFORMATION

U

Bridgestone goes into bat for the kiwiBRIDGESTONE NEW ZEALAND has

entered into sponsorship partner-

ships with two organisations loo-

king after the country’s native flora

and fauna, and its best-known bird

in particular – the Rainbow Springs

Kiwi Wildlife Park and the Motuora

Restoration Society.

Under a new sponsorship programme,Bridgestone will support the RainbowSprings Kiwi Wildlife Park by assisting inmeasures to assist New Zealand’s endan-gered national icon. Bridgestone willsponsor Rainbow Springs on an annualbasis, with different projects being sup-ported each year. In the first year of spon-sorship it will do this by funding incuba-tors, scales and other equipment for theirKiwi breeding programmes.

“It’ll be great having another incuba-tor for more eggs to hatch in,” sharedClaire Travers, Rainbow Springs’ kiwi hus-bandry manager. “Without the help oforganisations like Bridgestone, kiwi couldbe extinct within our lifetime. By suppor-ting the conservation work done by theNational Kiwi Trust, Bridgestone are hel-ping us grow the chicks up to a predator-proof weight – that’ll significantly impro-ve their survival chances.”

Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Parkopen in 1932 and is spread over 22 acresof parkland in Rotorua, in the country’sNorth Island. Rainbow Springs is a con-servation and breeding haven for endan-gered species such as the kiwi and thetuatara, a reptile unique to New Zealand;Travers says that Rainbow Springs raisersover 100 kiwi chicks a year. The parkallows visitors to see animals in theirnatural environment both during the dayand night.

Another measure Bridgestone is

undertaking to help the kiwi is its newsponsorship programme with theMotuora Restoration Society.Bridgestone’s relationship with theMotuora Restoration Society began seve-ral years ago and the company has alrea-dy provided the organisation with bothfunding and volunteer support. As aresult of this support, hundreds of nativeplants were established across the pre-dator-free sanctuary of Motuora Island inthe Hauraki Gulf, helping to create anenvironment in which kiwis have beenreleased and are flourishing.

This sponsorship comes alongsidecontinuing volunteer support fromBridgestone. With Motuora now 80 percent planted, the Society’s focus has shif-ted to reintroducing native species thatwould have once inhabited the island. Thecurrent tree planting programme thatBridgestone’s sponsorship will support isfor 5,000 pioneer trees and 3,000 canopyspecies trees per year. Canopy trees areplanted beneath the existing pioneertrees to grow up and through them tocreate mature forest canopy.

Although Bridgestone staff volun-teers have been involved in a variety ofrestoration tasks on Motuora, by far theirbiggest contribution has been to the plan-ting programme. They’ve collectedseeds, worked in the nursery raisingplants and of course completed the jobwith winter planting. For pioneer species,

seeds are collected,germinated, pottedout and planted wit-hin a year. However,canopy trees requiretwo or three yearsbefore they are plan-ted, taking morenursery work andtime as they need tobe repeatedly re-pot-ted into successivelylarger pots beforeplanting.

Along with treeplanting, another cost

related to volunteer work on Motuora isthe chartering of water taxi/ferries. Formany years now the Society has chargedall volunteers NZ$20 (£10) per adult forthe return trip to the island; Bridgestonenotes that this is much lower than thetrue cost, but it is an amount the Societydoes not feel it can exceed for volun-teers. As a result, the MotuoraRestoration Society subsidises the ninemonthly volunteer trips by $1,800 peryear. Bridgestone’s new sponsorship willassist with these costs and make it pos-sible to get more helping hands across tothe island.

Ray Lowe, chairman of the MotuoraRestoration Society, is very enthusiasticabout the new sponsorship partnershipwith Bridgestone: “It’s fantastic to seeBridgestone continuing its supportiverelationship with us in this new way. Thesponsorship will be a big help in gettingmore trees planted, more native birdsand lizards reintroduced and a muchmore authentic natural environment crea-ted on the island.” sg

Bridgestone may not be ‘official tyre supplier to the kiwi’, however its assis-tance is well appreciated


FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW

Continue sowing while reaping – Hankook

shows premium segment products

The well-timed for the IAA news of Hankook Tire’soriginal equipment successes, including withupmarket models, tells end consumers somethingthat tyre experts have known for some time: TheKorean tyre maker has advanced into premiumbrand territory with high sophisticated productssuch as the Ventus Prime ², which is being fitted onthe new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and the VentusS1 evo ², which since late summer has been sup-plied to all new BMW 5 Series models and alsomounted, in its BlueEFFICIENCY version, on theMercedes-Benz E-Class.

Despite news of this considerable success,Hankook’s executive director of sales and marke-ting for the German-speaking markets, DietmarOlbrich, exercised the art of understatementduring the IAA; he spoke more of success in the

volume segment, for example with theVolkswagen Group. With these comments, hemost likely wished to point out that a major inter-national tyre maker can only achieve limitedgrowth if it chooses to exclusively focus on thepremium market. Taking into account the producti-on volumes that Hankook has built up in the pastfew years and aims to continue developing in thenear future, this argument is easy to understand.

Hankook’s global capacity is now approaching90 million units a year, shared Olbrich, pointing tothe added capacity facilitated by past, current andupcoming expansion work at the company’s plantin Hungary. And colleagues in Asia have recentlyopened a new plant in Indonesia, which in 2014will help Hankook break the 100 million unit a yearbarrier.

New factories and new, modern facilities alsomean state-of-the-art performance capabilities. It’snot surprising that Mercedes-Benz has approved

Present and future on show at IAATHIS YEAR’S IAA, the Frankfurt-based International Motor Show, attracted 1,098

exhibitors from 35 countries. Just seven of these were tyre makers, but this defi-

cit in quantity was more than compensated by the products and innovations on

the companies’ exhibition stands. Editors from our sister publication Neue

Reifenzeitung were present and contributed to the following report, offering

their view of what was on show and what company representatives had to say.



tyres produced in the recently-upgradedGeumsan plant in Korea for the S-Class(tyres supplied to BMW are also manu-factured there) and Rácalmás-made tyresfor the E-Class. All seven of Hankook’styre factories offer the same high stan-dard of technology, commented salesdirector Roland Hehner (HankookDeutschland). This allows for a flexibilitythat benefits the end product, particularlytyres destined for the replacement mar-ket.

Olbrich noted that Hankook holdspotential to further improve brand aware-ness and image with end consumers,and he pointed research carried out byGerman motoring organisation ADAC thatshow the brand, in terms of price-benefitratio, sits at the same level as establishedpremium suppliers such as Michelin andGoodyear, although it is still behind crite-rion leader Continental.

Whoever wants to be premium must

have innovative energy

At the end of the day, premium qualityrests upon the product. Premium isn’tjust the brand or manufacturing expertise– the products themselves must alsomeet premium expectations. When itcomes to original equipment tyres thatare also marketed to the replacementsegment, Hankook has shown this to bethe case. With new products such as the4x4 variant of the Ventus S1 evo²Hankook is not just reaping success, rat-her it is sowing for further suc-cess. And the company usedthe IAA to give word ofboth imminent productlaunches and to offer aglimpse of further intothe future.

The companydebuted the firstAA labeled versi-ons of its high-end Ventus

Prime² touring tyre and its fuel-efficientKinergy eco, which will be available fromspring 2014. The Kinergy eco’s fuel-savingtechnology is based upon a combinationof new tread materials such as silicananoparticles and the use of a new com-pounding technology. These technologiesare said to increase both fuel efficiencyand braking on wet road surfaces.Hankook is also rejuvenating itsrefitting/tuning line-up with the spring2014 European market launch of the‘wide’ Ventus V12 evo². In addition to“considerable improvements in all perfor-mance parameters” over the prior-gene-ration Ventus V12 evo, the manufacturersays “environmental characteristics werealso a key element for the developerwhen creating the V12 evo².” The range ismostly produced in the company’sHungary factory and will be available in25 sizes for 16 to 19-inch rim diameters,with tread widths of 205 to 255 mm inthe 30 to 50 series. The tyre maker alsopresented the Kinergy 4S, its latest-gene-ration all-season tyre aimed at milderEuropean climates, at the IAA.

Potential trend-setting tyre solutionsaimed at meeting requirements of sustai-nable mobility systems could also beseen at Hankook’s IAA 2013 stand, inclu-ding its iFlex, a non-pneumatic tyre madefrom polyurethane synthetics and said tobe 95 per cent recyclable. The iFlex tyre ismanufactured in conjunction with its rim,which reduces weight considerably. Thestructure of the rolling resistance optimi-

sed tyreu s e s

organi-c a l l y

interconnected spokes that distributetyre pressure so that the tyre is compres-sed under load and extends upwardsimultaneously. Thus a comfortable andbalanced ride is achieved.

The ‘eMembrane’ tyre design con-cept on display has already been ack-nowledged by two awards, most signifi-cantly the Red Dot Design Award 2013 inthe Design Concept category. The con-cept tyre, developed in close collaborati-on with the University of Cincinnati, con-vinced the jury through its mix of designand technology. The eMembrane designis based upon a so-called Smart Hybriddesign: By changing the tyre’s innerstructure, the eMembrane concept iscapable of adapting the tread design andtyre footprint to the respective drivingsituation. For example, whilst in eco-mode, the centre of the tread is raisedand the contact area reduced, resulting indecreased fuel consumption with a cor-responding reduction in rolling resis-tance. In addition to the abovementionedaward, the eMembrane concept receivedthe ‘iF Concept Design Award’ in May.

Present and future on show at

Bridgestone stand

IAA regular Bridgestone had plenty ofroom to show its goods upon the 320square metre floorsplace it divided intotwo areas. One zone was dedicated tothe present and was home to displaysdedicated to the current ‘Everywhere’advertising campaign and the tyremaker’s latest products, including thePotenza Adrenalin RE002, Ecopia EP150,Ecopia EP001S, Turanza T001 and thelatest run-flat tyres. And ahead of thecoming European winter, the stand sport-ed an Audi Quattro fitted with the newBlizzak LM-32 winter range.

The stand’s ‘future zone’ showcasedupcoming ideas, technologies and pro-ducts. Bridgestone displayed its develop-ments and concepts for future generati-ons of environmentally-friendly vehicles,including tyres made from 100 per centsustainable materials, the ‘Air-Free’ tyre,on display for the first time in Europe, andthe ‘Half-Weight’ concept tyre. As is the

A glimpse into the near future – The AArated, spring 2014 available Kinergy Eco


case with some other tyre makers,Bridgestone is pursuing a trend towardsmarkedly narrower, larger diameter – theJapanese manufacturer calls this its“large and narrow” technology.

Apollo Vredestein join forces with

Hamann at the IAA

Indian-Dutch tyre maker ApolloVredestein was present at the IAA toget-her with technological partner HamannGmbH. It would be easy – much too easy– to view this as a cost saving factor atthe highly expensive, top-level Frankfurtshow, but simply writing off this joint pre-sence as such overlooks the fact thatHamann and the Vredestein brand reallyhave developed a very close relationship– the vehicle customiser proudly refers tothe 21-inch Ultrac Vorti R as “our high per-formance tyre”.

A highlight for the tyre maker on the360 square metre stand, alongside a line-up of Vredestein-shod Hamann cars, wasthe Wintrac xtreme S – this latest and fas-test Vredestein winter tyre was shown

fitted upon a BMW 6 Series Gran Coupé.The Wintrac Xtreme S uses Internal SipeLocking Technology (ISLT) to ensure stabi-lity in the rain and on snow-free surfaces.The tyre is Y speed rated and thus suitedfor speeds of up to 300km/h (186mph).

Accompanying the Wintrac xtreme Son the stand was a special ‘HamannEdition’ of the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti R.Thanks to technology developed specifi-cally for the vehicle customiser, it waspossible to personalise the tyre sidewallwith vulcanised logos; Hamann displayedtyres bearing its own logo on the BMWM5 Mi5Sion. The M5’s 21-inch rims werefitted with the Ultrac Vorti R in sizes265/20 and 305/25. With a speed ratingof up to 325km/h (200mph), theVredestein Ultrac Vorti R is more than amatch for the 552hp BMW’s 305km/houtput.

As the person responsible for globalproduct management at London-basedApollo Tyres (UK) Pvt Ltd, Sytze J. Attemais very familiar with the Ultrac Vorti R andWintrac xtreme S, yet like many withinhis company he also is very interested in

the pending acquisition of Cooper Tire &Rubber. Attema is aware that collaborati-on with the new family member can onlydevelop once the ink is dry on the con-tract, however he views this as a veryinteresting phase in his career and heexpressed enthusiasm about playing apart in this merger. Nobody yet knowshow the ‘Apollo culture’ will look when itdraws in new members from the US andChina. But being able to help write such aunique intercultural success story is a sig-nificant adventure.

Innovative tyres at the heart of

Michelin’s business activities

Although Michelin shunned its traditionalIAA floorsplace in Hall 8 of the Frankfurtexhibition centre in favour of a moremodestly proportioned presence in thesame hall, the French tyre maker never-theless generated the most tyre-relatedheadlines at the show. This began with astar-studded press event but was paired –in true Michelin style – with very specialproducts.

News broke in March 2013 of thecompany’s signing on as exclusive part-ner to the FIA Formula E championshipfor its first two years and that it wouldsupply specifically-developed, advancedtyres. The new all-electric motorsportseries gets under way next year on urbanrace courses around the world. Michelin’srace tyres were there for all to see at theofficial IAA presentation of the electricSpark-Renault STR_01E Formula E car,which will be used by all teams during thefirst season.

The occasion was so important forthe tyre maker, the FIA and the organiserof the new race series that the accompa-nying press conference could also passas a leaders’ summit: Present along withFlorent Menegaux (Michelin’s director ofpassenger car and light commercial vehi-cle tyres) and FIA president Jean Todtwere Alejandro Agag (CEO Formula EHoldings) and Frédéric Vasseur (presidentSpark Racing Technology). The motor-sport panel discussion was hosted by thewell-known German F1 reporter Kai Ebel.

One criticism often leveled against

Bridgestone went for a ski motif for itsBlizzak-shod Audi display



motorsport tyres these days is that they have littlein common with the tyres fitted to the ‘whitegoodson wheels’ or family saloons found on our roadsand motorways – they exist in a parallel tyre world,so to speak. Without enteringinto a discussion on the topicit can be noted that the tyresize to be used by most upco-ming championships is 13-inches, while in the real worldthe focus is on 18-inch rimdiameters and higher.

Yet Michelin has develo-ped relatively narrow 18-inchtyres for the high perfor-mance Formula E cars, some-thing Menegaux says is anabsolute world first for a sin-gle-seat race car. The closerelation to the road tyres thatMr. and Mrs. Average can buyat any tyre dealer doesn’t justmanifest itself in the tyresize, however: In the newrace series a single ‘univer-sal’ tyre version – which ismounted on magnesium

wheels from OZ Racing – will beused on all inner-city race courses inall weather conditions (excludingheavy rain). The new MichelinFormula E tyres feature a tread pat-tern designed for use on both dry

and wet surfaces. And as another of Michelin’s phi-losophies – longevity – comes into play, every racecar only receives a single set of tyres per race, andthese must be used for free training, qualifying and

Bib listens to what Florent Menegaux has to report

Unveiled at Michelin’s IAA stand – the Spark-RenaultSRT_10E Formula E car on 18-inch, non-slick race tyres

Nov.13-15, 2013

SHANGHAI · CHINA

Further information:Messe Essen GmbH · Phone: +49 201 72 44-727 · Fax: +49 201 72 44-435

E-Mail: [email protected] · www.reifen-china.com

China United Rubber Corporation Phone: +86 10 5865 0277 · Fax: +86 10 5865 0288

E-Mail: [email protected] · www.reifenchina.com



the race itself. The first tyre tests with thenew car are planned for December 2013.

Tall and Narrow

The new 18-inch tyres, incidentally, are anexact fit for the company’s Tall & Narrowstrategy, and Michelin doesn’t just intendto reserve this aerodynamics and energyefficiency improving tyre concept formotorsport. It sees that using a larger rimdiameter places less stress on individualsections of the tyre, improving adhesionand longevity and thus believes that Tall &Narrow tyres have a promising futurewith series production electric cars. TheFormula E engagement should thus con-tribute to innovative mobility solutions forpeople and freight-carrying vehicles. Thelatest technological advances, includingTall & Narrow, can be seen in the165/65R19 – a totally new size – tyreMichelin has developed for the Peugeot208 HYbrid FE.

The high and simultaneously narrowtyre architecture optimises aerodynamicswhile reducing rolling resistance, and indoing so considerably improves the vehi-cle’s energy efficiency. Ride comfort isalso improved, says Michelin, as the tyrescan better absorb irregularities in the roadsurface. Further benefits are a markedreduction in rolling noise and – due to itslongitudinally narrower but less curvedfootprint – better resistance to aquapla-ning. Michelin also managed to signifi-cantly lower the Peugeot 208 HYbrid FE’soverall weight by reducing the weight ofeach tyre by 2.5 kilogrammes, giving thecar a much reduced unsprung weight.

With its highly fuel-efficient yet dyna-mic vehicle, Peugeot, Total and Michelinshow an attractive way forward: ThePeugeot 208 HYbrid FE technical projectwas undertaken under the title ‘Mission49-8’ as the aim was to produce a carwith CO2 emissions of 49 grams per kilo-metre (which corresponds with a stan-dard fuel consumption of 2.1 litres per100 kilometres or 135mpg) while offeringan 0 to 100 km/h acceleration time ofeight seconds. The ‘FE’ in the Peugeot’sname stands for Fuel Economy and Fun &

Efficient, by the way. The project develop-ment team set itself five main points:Weight reduction (200 kilogrammes lessthan the already light Peugeot 208),increased engine efficiency, optimal ener-gy recovery, improved aerodynamics plusextremely low rolling resistance. The spe-cially developed tyres and their uniqueheight-width ratio contribute a fair dealtowards achieving these goals.

IAA debut for Nexen

This year’s IAA was the first Frankfurtshow for Korean manufacturer NexenTire. In addition to product promotion theexhibition was seen as an important vehi-cle for furthering and strengthening glo-bal awareness in the Nexen brand. Thecompany informed show visitors aboutits positive development, numerous origi-nal equipment successes and, last butnot least, its diverse, recent sponsorshipactivities; even during the exhibition itselfNexen was fast omnipresent thanks to itsmany promotional activities and wasmuch more active in this respect than theother tyre exhibitors. And the absence ofsome well-known tyre makers at theFrankfurt show further strengthenedNexen’s visibility. But while hype drawsattention to a brand, it shouldn’t be for-gotten that it will ultimately succeed orfail on the merits of its products.

Regarding products, the companypresented 26 tyres at its dynamic andmodern exhibition stand under the ‘EnjoyNEXEN – Dynamic Driving Partner’ ban-ner, including six new products. Thesenewcomers were the UHP N’Fera SU1,SU4 and RU1, the Roadian AT pro RA84x4 and HTX RH5 4x4 tyres plus theWinguard WH2 winter tyre. Under Nexennaming, premium ultra high performancetyres take on the N’Fera name whileN’Priz is the moniker given to all-seasontyres, N’blue the name for energy effi-cient tyres, while 4x4 tyres bear theRoadian name and winter tyres go by thename of Winguard.

The N’Fera SU1 is promoted as a tyrewith excellent braking and handling pro-perties plus long tread life, while the new

for 2013, European market N’Fera SU4 isdesigned for small and medium-classcars and offers low rolling resistance.With the May 2013-launched N’Fera RU1,Nexen offers a 4x4 tyre it says offers “aride unsurpassed by any other SUV tyre”.And the Roadian AT pro RA8 is said tomark a “breakthrough in mileage, off-roadand wet performance” compared withthe prior AT2 model The Roadian HTXRH5 is a new HT-line product designedwith driving performance in mind.Nexen’s new standard cold weather tyre,the Winguard WH2, features the threepeak symbol for winter use and has zig-zag 3D sipes that are said to maximisestability and a zigzag outer edge forimproved traction on snow and ice. Thetyre will be available from 2014 in 60sizes for 14 to 17-inch rim diameters.

“We are very pleased to be able topresent Nexen Tire and its innovative pro-ducts at the IAA,” stated Joo-Ho Song,president of Nexen Tire Europe GmbH.“The exhibition is a perfect opportunityfor improving global brand awareness.Accordingly, it goes without saying thatNexen Tire is taking part.

A trip with Continental

Under the slogan ‘A Day in a Driver 'sLife’, Continental wanted to take IAA visi-tors on a journey and presented a “futuremobile day” at its 1,100 square metrestand. It displayed innovations from thefields of safety, the environment, andinformation technology based on thedaily routine of different drivers worldwi-de.

The company also organised a largepress conference. Executive Board chair-man Dr. Elmar Degenhart grasped theopportunity to announce its autonomousdriving systems collaboration with IBM(reported by tyrepress.com on 22August), which builds on its partnershipwith Cisco. But although these two ITpartnerships were Conti’s big news at theIAA, the Rubber group also gained a men-tion: While 85 per cent of research anddevelopment expenditure flowed into theAutomotive group last year, both parts of



the company (51 per cent for Automotive)were almost equally treated when itcame to investment.

Although Degenhart made referenceto the Rubber group during the pressconference and said the company “belie-ves” in its tyre products, it was harder tobe truly convinced of this without kno-wing the background behind Conti’s IAApresence: The tyre business inhabited asmall corner of the large stand andappeared almost pushed to one side asan ‘orphan’. But there are historical rea-sons for this – the exhibition stand hasgrown out of a concept originally develo-ped by the Automotive business and istherefore more this part of the company’sbaby.

Small IAA presence, but big plans for

tyre business

Continental’s Tire division has set a long-time growth goal based upon the compa-ny’s Vision 2025. Despite the modestlevel of development currently seen inthe European passenger car tyre replace-ment business, the tyre industry’s fourth-largest company will invest more than abillion euros until 2016 boosting globalpassenger car tyre capacities and withthis is setting itself up for sustainablelong-term growth. Its aim is to improvethe global balance in production andsales, and Continental particularly desi-res to grow faster than the market in theBRIC countries and the US. To achievethis, the company has built two new tyrefactories in Kaluga (Russia) and Sumter(South Carolina, US) which will respecti-vely enter production in the final quarterof 2013 and first quarter of 2014. In addi-tion, the company is preparing to expandits tyre factories in Camcari (Brazil), Hefei(China) and Mt. Vernon (Illinois, US) toenable these regions to meet long-termdemand with local production.

Kumho focuses on OE, technology

Korean tyre maker Kumho Tyres was pre-sent in a prominent, almost 300 squaremetre location in Hall 8 (the positionoccupied by a French competitor twoyears earlier) and showed off its currentproduct range and many other highlights,including a first glimpse at its two new S-UHP tyres, which will be released inspring 2014. These are the Ecsta PS91(shown in size 295/30 R20 XL 101Y) andEcsta V720 (shown in size 305/30 R19 XL102Y). Another pair of tyres due out nextspring and present at the show were thenew high performance Solus HS51 andthe Crugen HP91 for SUVs. Joining thesenew tyres was the global premiere offour concept tyres – e-clev, maxplo, road-beat and spinus.

Two cars fitted with Kumho tyres asoriginal equipment, the Solus KL21-shodMercedes Benz G Class and the MiniJohn Cooper on Ecsta V70 tyres, werepresent on the company’s stand. PeterBecker, executive managing director of

the KETC (Kumho European TechnicalCentre) shared that further original equip-ment supply deals are still coming thisyear. Regarding this orientation towardsthe original equipment segment, Beckersubstantiated that it logically followsKumho’s technical orientation. Originalequipment tyres from Kumho are primari-ly mounted on volume brand vehicles,however the intention is to secure dealswith premium models and thereforeKumho wishes to make its technologicalcompetence known – the two models ondisplay served as evidence of this.

A tour over the stand with marketingmanager Wolf Fuder revealed the diversi-ty Kumho brought to the IAA: There wasa ‘Racing Zone’ with the company’s highperformance summer tyres, a ‘WinterZone’, an ‘Eco Zone’ that placed a particu-lar focus on the tyre label, and a ‘ProductZone’ that featured off-road and lightcommercial vehicle tyres. Last but notleast was the spectacular ‘Ghost Car’with ‘Ghost concept tyres’ (in size 225/45R17). [email protected]

Spectacular and well-photographed – the ‘Ghost Car’

80

D

TYRES & ACCESSORIES 10/2013

Chinese companies branding for distinctionat country’s biggest tyre show

TAKING PLACE AT THE SHANGHAI Everbright Convention &

Exhibition Center, Reliable International Exhibition

Services has staged another successful China

International Tire Expo (CITExpo), the eleventh edition

of the show. Tyres & Accessories visited the show on 4-

6 September, 2013 in its capacity as a media sponsor,

speaking with many of the exhibitors on themes of

increasing importance in the Chinese tyre industry,

such as the post-boom development of tyre brands.

Most exhibitors were happy to call CITExpo China’s

best exhibition, though some expressed a little frustra-

tion that more foreign guests had not made the trip.

However, the figures suggest a marginal increase has

been achieved. Reliable managing director Wilko Fong

is hoping to speed up this rate of change in 2014, when

the exhibition will increase in size again, taking a fourth

hall in the Everbright Center.

During the three day event, 335 exhibi-tors occupying 24,000 square meters ofexhibition area showcased their latestproducts, services and technologies,Reliable states – the largest of thosenumbers for any edition of the show. Thethree full exhibition halls were taken upthis year in order to accommodate theincreased number of the exhibitors.

Claiming to be the largest tyre relatedtrade show in the Asian region, CITExpois designed as an event with high buyingpower from the worldwide tyre industry.While the success of this aim are debata-ble, interest from abroad is clearly strong– though this year it seemed Russia,Africa and South America played agreater roll in providing visitors than tradi-tionally strong markets in Europe and the

USA. The organiser claimed that therewere 3,040 international and 4,263domestic visitors from 101 countries and32 Chinese provinces and regions at thisyear’s show.

Besides the major Chinese manu-facturers, foreign brands’ representativesand other suppliers, the exhibitors alsoincluded the worldwide suppliers fromthe five continents such as the UnitedStates, United Kingdom, Germany,Poland, Korea, Thailand, India, Australia ,The Netherlands, Italy, Singapore, ChinaTaiwan and other countries and regions.Amongst the exhibitors were largeChinese manufacturers in Triangle,Double Coin, Linglong and CooperChengshan, all of whom took largebooths showcasing their latest products.

Wilko Fong, managingdirector of show organiser,Reliable InternationalExhibition Services

Tyres & Accessories visits CITExpo 2013


CITEXPO PREVIEW

According Fong, speaking to T&A atthe end of the three days 80 per cent ofthe exhibition space has already beenrebooked by 190 exhibitors for 2014.“Most of the exhibitors have increasedtheir exhibiting space aggressively toaccommodate more high-valued profes-sional buyers, enhance their companyimage and maximise the opportunity toaccomplish more trade orders,” Reliablestated.

The twelfth edition of CITExpo willbe held in the same venue on 10-12September 2014.

Triangle Tire

The largest Chinese tyre manufacturerdisplaying its products at CITExpo 2013was able to comment about the show’srepresentation of what is going on in thecountry’s tyre industry in the wake of itsfastest period of growth. Triangle’s repre-sentatives told Tyres & Accessories thatthe proliferation of new, cheap brands iscreating pressures for more establishedplayers – Triangle itself was founded in1976, while many exhibiting companieshave histories going back no further thanthe start of the new millennium.

At the manufacturer’s Shanghai-hos-ted Global Business Summit in May2013, many presentations focused onthe process of “decommoditisation” andits importance to more mature brandssuch as Triangle. This importance is brought into focus whencomparing the company’s position within the largest gatheringof the Chinese tyre industry. There are “lots of new, cheapbrands” attempting to make headway with impressively largecapacities and ranges – and the marketing budget to promotethemselves at CITExpo. Triangle pointed to their “strength onpricing”, which is creating increased pressure on more establis-hed companies in terms of “pricing, sizes and delivery.”

Triangle’s representatives on the stand were keen to explainthat they see this pressure as a positive sign – competition that

is “driving the business forward”. The company’s atti-tude is that it “cannot sit back” on its current strongposition and that it must “focus on quality”. Triangle’spurchase of 10 per cent of its UK distributor, whole-saler TYM International’s business earlier in the yearalso indicates a company working towards the diffe-rentiation of its business, and those of the manynewer companies with stands at the show.

Triangle’s stand was“focused on internationaltrading”, displaying a largenumber of its latest PCRproducts. Additionallythere were larger tyredesigns in which thecompany is something ofa specialist; a number ofnew mining tyre designswere “provided for thedomestic market”. Thecompany said thatCITExpo continues to bea “good show” and that itwill return next year. Thecompany described cus-tomer numbers as“acceptable, but worththe money.”

Double Coin

Representing another ofChina’s larger tyre compa-nies, Double CoinHoldings InternationalTrade Department’s LindaJing gave a strongly pro-fessional presentation ofthe company’s stand toTyres & Accessories. Themanufacturer – thesecond-largest exhibitingtyre-maker at the show –

was returning for only its second year atCITExpo, and Jing said that it had targeted generating neworders. She said that the company’s “next project” would be totarget business in Africa. With that in mind, Jing said the showhad been spent meeting potential clients from the continent,reflecting this year’s decreased interaction with Europe infavour of Africa and the Americas.

In Europe, Double Coin is already “strongly supported” byUK wholesaler Kirkby Tyres and European distributorIntersprint, of course. Jing said that Kirkby are “strong suppor-ters of the brand’s growth”, helping to suggest product develop-

CITExpo 2013 key figuresTotal number of Visitors registered: 7,303

Number of Domestic Visitors: 4,263

Number of Foreign Visitors: 3,040 (101 countries)

Total number of Exhibitors: 335

Exhibition Space: 24,000sqm

Number of exhibitors rebooked during

the show for the next year’s show: 190

Exhibition space sold for next year

during this year’s show: 80 per cent

Double Coin was the largest tyre manu-facturer present at the show, displayingon a large, professionally run stand

Evergreen was the most visible brandoutside the Everbright


CITEXPO PREVIEW

ments such as new sizes.Demonstrating Double Coin’s strong

service for another mature market is therecent Smartway verification of itsRR680 in the USA. The US EnvironmentalProtection Agency verified the trucktyre’s rolling resistance performance tomeet the standards required of newtyres in the scheme, joining five otherDouble Coin models in its OptiGreenseries. In addition to the RR680, theOptiGreen Series includes Double Coin’sFR605, FD405, FT105, FT125, and theFD425.

Cooper Chengshan

Cooper Chengshan boasted a large,126sqm central stand on the ground floorof the Everbright, with “all members ofits international sales and marketingteam” in attendance. The stand was divi-ded into brand sections, comprisingChengshan, Austone, Starfire and Deanwith a smart LED advertisement section.

The company said the “grand boothdesign” attracted many exhibitors andvisitors, especially during the usual liveentertainment of loosely choreographeddances given by the female promotionalcrew.

Building brands

Triangle’s observati-on of the pressureto build quality bothin terms of the pro-ducts and in termsof branding weredemonstrated furt-her at CITExpo byone manufacturerthat has alreadybeen building stron-ger brand recogniti-on and another thathas embraced bran-ding aspirationsfrom the start of anew passenger cartyre line.

With itsEvergreen brand, distributed in the UK byGrouptyre, Shandong Jinyu has beenintent on “developing advertising” as thecompany steps up the technology usedin producing the range. It characterisescompetition in the European market as“difficult”, but expects the situation tochange in 2015 as a result of plannedchanges to the grade boundaries in EUtyre labelling. In terms of branding, Jinyuran a separate Evergreen stand, in additi-on to providing large flags for its flagshipexport brand outside the Everbright.

As one of Jinyu’s brands, Evergreen’scapacity is expanding with a new plant inDongying City due to go online in 2014,sales manager Steven Li explained toTyres & Accessories, which will morethan“double the company’s capacity”,from 10.5 million PCR tyres to a pro-jected 24 million in 2015. TBR capacitywill be around 3.2 million units.

On a large bipartite stand nearEvergreen’s in the ground floor Hall One,Qingdao Ditrip general manager CalvinDuan explained to T&A that the companywas also keen to be a part of the changescurrently underway in the Chinese tyre

market, specifically using two new-for-2013 brands to achieve this: MarandoTBR tyres, which launched in May 2013,and Nereus PCR tyres, which will be avai-lable in November 2013. Duan explainedthat both brands were focused on brin-ging higher quality raw materials intotheir products, and therefore would belooking to enter the market “at a higherprice point than many other Chinesebrands”.

Marando tyres launched with 26 pat-terns, incorporating Thai natural rubberand Bekaert-produced steel belts foradded strength, longevity and retreadabi-lity. The brand is an example of Ditrip “fol-lowing Bridgestone’s example to get thereputation for quality,” Duan said, withthe tyres expected to reach around180,000km service. Duan said the brandwould be priced just below that of estab-lished Chinese TBR players, Double Coinand Aeolus, and is currently seekingworldwide distributors, including Europe.

For the Nereus PCR brand – a name“derived from the Greek god of the sea”for a European feel, according to Duan –Ditrip recruited former Maxxis engineersto develop a hard-wearing tyre withincreased brand value. The range has fivePCR, SUV and LCV lines ready for launch,with most of the UK’s most popular sizescovered by two high performance tyres,the Primus NS302 and Fasta NS301(Nereus has taken European cues in

Many brands were displaying on stands that showed increasedsophistication, such as on Crown Tyre’s Gremax brand display

Nereus tyres are being launched at a higher price pointthan normally expected of new Chinese brands, exemplify-ing manufacturer Ditrip’s efforts to bring more maturity toChina’s industry

naming each line too, rather than leaving it at a model number). Duan explained that the manufacturer had planned for the

development of Nereus to be implemented over a “long-termschedule”, entering the market once again with “a higher pricethan other Chinese tyres”. Whether promised quality of newbrands with a slightly higher price tag will entice global custo-mers will be interesting to see in the short and long term.These brands are just three of those testing the waters ofdecommoditisation.

Labelling interest

While much of the UK and European tyre marketappears to have shrugged its shoulders over tyrelabelling, it was clear that plenty of manufactu-rers exhibiting at CITExpo 2013 were keen to dis-play EU labels on their tyres, even though therewere only a few European visitors. While somewere quite familiar names on the European mar-

ket, manufacturers with a less developed profile had gradeson display too.

Shengtai had labels on four tyres, for example, whichwere as follows: • Aoteli Ecosaver in size 265/70R15 110H, which got E-C-72));• the Aoteli P607, 275/45R20 110V XL, C-C-72));• the Rapid P609, 215,45ZR17 91W XL, C-B-71));• and the Three-A P606, 235/40ZR18 95W, C-B-72)).

Another brand displaying labels was Sunitrac, manu-factured by Jinyu and distributed by Qingdao YongdaoInternational Trade Company. It had EU labels on two win-ter tyres: the Focus Win II (215/65R16) was the marginallybetter rated tyre, getting F-C-74))). The Rotalla brand ofQingdao Hans, also displayed a label. The ability to produce

EU labels for their tyres was deemed important enough forsuppliers of even small quantities of tyres to the European mar-ket. And perhaps Chinese enthusiasm for the legislation hasincreased as an opportunity to display the increasing technolo-gical sophistication of some of its products.

[email protected]


CITEXPO PREVIIEW

Despite only a small number of European visi-tors, a number of stands displayed tyres car-rying EU tyre labels

Exhibition Number of Number of Number ofYear Space (sqm) Exhibitors Visitors International

visitors

2013 24,000 335 7,303 3,0402012 22,500 305 7,200 3,0352011 22,000 298 7,190 3,0302010 20,000 300 7,200 3,0032009 18,200 300 6,320 2,1032008 18,000 311 6,860 N/A2007 15,000 254 6,850 N/A2006 10,000 220 6,800 N/A2005 6,000 150 4,388 N/A2004 3,000 80 2,047 N/A2003 2,800 72 1,535 N/A


INTERNATIONAL TYRE MARKET

Hankook Tire vice-chairman andCEO Seung Hwa Suh speaks at

the opening ceremony

JK Tyre & Apollo may follow suit

H

THE OFFICIAL OPENING for Hankook

Tire’s new plant in Indonesia was

held on 17 September. The facility in

Lippo Cikarang, West Java – the

South Korean tyre maker’s seventh

global plant – was inaugurated in

the presence of top Hankook execu-

tives, including Hankook Tire vice-

chairman and CEO Seung Hwa Suh,

Hankook Tire Worldwide president

and CEO Hyun Shick Cho, and

Hankook Tire CMO/CCMO Hyun

Bum Cho. Also in attendance was

Indonesian president, Susilo

Bambang Yudhoyono and several

other Indonesian government offi -

cials.

Hankook Tire says the new plant will be a“major growth factor contributing to thecompany’s continued global businessexpansion.” Some 4.2 million tyres, 70 percent of the factory’s ultimate six milliontyre per year capacity, will be exported tothe North American, Middle East andASEAN markets, with the remainder soldin Indonesia. The production programmeincludes PCR, UHP and light truck tyres.

“Today’s commemoration of Indonesiaplant opening marks yet another mile-stone in Hankook Tire’s ongoing growth asa global top-tier tyre company,” statedSeung Hwa Suh during the opening cere-mony. “This is also a clear manifestation ofour strong will and commitment for furt-her growth together with Indonesia andother emerging economies. As a leadingglobal tyre company, we will continue ourrelentless efforts to supply customersaround the world with more advanced,globally acclaimed tyres via our newexport base in Indonesia.”

Groundbreaking at the 60 hectareLippo Cikarang site took place in June

2011 and production was originallyexpected to begin in the final quarter of2012. At present the plant employs around1,400 workers, and this is expected toincrease to a total of 4,300 by 2018.Hankook previously stated that totalinvestment in the plant up to 2018 willamount to US$1.1 billion.

Hankook Tire is also building up‘Hankook Masters’ in Indonesia. The firsttwo outlets in this end-to-end distributionchannel have been established inSurabaya and Bandung, and the companyaims to increase this number to 30 outletsby the end of 2013.

Will JK Tyre, Apollo become ‘new

neighbours?’

Hankook is now at home there, andIndonesia may well also be the preferredlocation for new Asian facilities set up byJK Tyre & Industries and Apollo tyres. Asreported by tyrepress.com in September,JK Tyre chairman and managing directorDr. Raghupati Singhania told Indian financ -ial daily The Economic Times that followingthe integration of Mexican tyre makerTornel into the company, JK Tyres has“encountered some interesting proposit -ions for possible opportunities of acquisit -ion to catapult into a global entity.”

Singhania said the JK Tyre is consider -ing both potential acquisitions and newplants outside of India, and while no plansare finalised (as of the start of October),the company is “actively consideringgreenfield manufacturing base in manyemerging markets of Southeast Asia thathave posted some strong growth in recentyears.”

Explaining JK Tyre’s interest in this par-ticular region, the chairman and managingdirector commented that “even as there isvast potential in the domestic tyre marketwith India being the world’s manufacturing

hub for compact cars, we have turned oureyes towards Southeast Asia for somefast-track expansion.” Another factor pos-sibly motivating the tyre maker is thequestion mark hanging above India’songoing competitiveness. In a statementreleased to coincide with last month’sAnnual General Meeting, Dr. Singhaniasaid “it is a matter of concern that India’scompetitiveness, both in the global anddomestic markets, is being adverselyimpacted due to ‘high cost’ structure ari-sing from a host of factors…with this costdisadvantage, along with recent Free TradeAgreements that India has entered intowith various countries, the Indian manu-facturing industry is losing its edge.”

Aziz Pane, chairman of the IndonesianTire Producers Association, points to hishomeland as the likely site for this factory,and he also believes Apollo Tyres will setup shop in Indonesia. In late September,Pane told Indonesia’s Investor Daily that“the two investors from India are interes-ted in coming here.” He added that eachtyre maker would have to invest betweenUS$300 million and $350 million in orderto achieve a suitable economy of scale andopined that in order not to operate at aloss, the factories will have to operate ona three-shift day system.

The Apollo Tyres project Pane refers towas first reported prior to the Cooperacquisition deal’s announcement in June.The company said it was finalising plans toestablish a greenfield factory in Asia; inApril, Apollo vice-chairman and managingdirector Neeraj Kanwar was quoted as say-ing the tyre maker was “in the final stagesof discussions with the Thailand andIndonesian authorities for the location ofthis facility.” Apollo is looking at erecting apassenger car tyre and truck and bus radi-al plant with respective initial capacities of16,000 and 1,500 units per day. sg

Hankook opens Indonesia plant

BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION has madetyres in Turkey through its Brisa joint ven-ture operation for a quarter of a centurynow, but its days as the sole Japanesetyre producer with a manufacturing pre-sence within the country are numbered.On 18 September, Sumitomo RubberIndustries broke ground at its new facto-ry site in Turkey’s Çankırı Province, itssecond tyre plant outside of Asia (its near-ly-complete factory in Brazil being thefirst). Some fifty people took part in thegroundbreaking ceremony, includingSumitomo’s president and CEO IkujiIkeda and Mustafa Özcan, chairman oflocal Sumitomo, Falken and Dunlop distri-butor Abdulkadir Özcan Lastik Sanayi veTicaret A.S.

As is the case with Brisa BridgestoneSabanci Tire Manufacturing and Trading,the new Sumitomo factory will also be setup as a joint venture; the Japanese firmwill be 80 per cent share-holder, with the remainingshareholding in theSumitomo Rubber AKOLastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.(SAT) operation held byAbdulkadir Özcan.

Sumitomo RubberIndustries says Turkey wasselected as the site for thenew plant in part asdemand for passenger cartyres is expected to increa-se there, but also as Turkeyoffers a strategic locationnear the European, MiddleEastern, North African and Russian mar-kets. Production is scheduled to start inJuly 2015 and the US$500 million facilityshould produce 30,000 tyres a day by late2019. Norifumi Fujimoto has been appoin-ted the Turkish factory’s representative.

Bridgestone contemplates second

Turkish plant

At least Bridgestone may soon be able tolay claim to the title of the only Japanesetyre maker to have two plants in Turkey. In

early October it announced that Brisa hasselected a site several hundred miles sout-heast of Istanbul for a new passenger car

radial factory that willcomplement the compa-ny’s existing passengercar, bus and truck radialplant in zmit, whichentered volume producti-on in 1990. Bridgestonesays total investment inthe project will bearound ¥28 billion (£177.2million).

Bridgestone notesthat demand for tyres isexpected to grow withinTurkey in future.

Furthermore, Turkish GDP is growing at ahigh rate – it expanded 2.1 per cent quar-ter-on-quarter in the second quarter of2013 – and has a demographic compositi-on (80 million inhabitants/average age of29.2 years) that favours continued growth.

Brisa was established in 1988 and tra-des under the Bridgestone, Lassa,Bandag, Firestone (agricultural segment),OtoPratik, Lasti im and lastik.com.trbrands. The company reports that its annu-al net profit has trebled and annual salesdoubled sales since 2008, and in this timeit has also increased production six percent and its workforce by 20 per cent.Approximately US$800 million has beeninvested in Brisa since its establishment25 years ago. sg



Japanese tyre makers focus on Turkey

MRF to double factory capacityIndian tyre maker MRF Ltd intends to double capacity at its plant near Hyderabad inthe state of Andhra Pradesh. Financial daily The Economic Times says it hasapproached the state’s Commisionerate of Industries regarding an Rs 10 billion (£98.3million) investment in the facility. According to information published by TheEconomic Times on 30 September, the expansion of the plant in Andhra Pradeshwould create more than 1,000 new jobs.

“We have received the proposal from MRF for expansion and it is currently underthe consideration of the industries ministry,” a senior ministry official told thenewspaper. sg

An artist’s impression of SRI’sgreenfield plant in Turkey

Brisa CEO Hakan Bayman heads upa company that achieved net salesof US$794 million and operatingincome of $78 million in 2012



Pneumobil grows network, debuts premium service conceptPNEUMOBIL, the retail operation run byPirelli in Germany, has acquiredBavarian tyre retailer Reifen-Wagner I.S.Auto-Service GmbH & Co. KG. The pur-chase of this chain adds 15 new outletsto the 70-strong Pneumobil network;the deal will take affect on 1 October.

This purchase means that Pirelli nowowns both ‘Reifen-Wagner’ companies;the 1921-founded family business wasseparated into two separate companiesin 1997, with the founder’s daughter andson establishing Reifen-Wagner I.S. andReifen-Wagner R. W. respectively. The11 outlets run by Reifen-Wagner R.W.were acquired by Pneumobil in July2013 and integrated into the network asof 1 September. Other recentPneumobil purchases include ReifenBlank, which joined Pneumobil on 1August, and Die PneuCenter RRT, whichbecame part of Pneumobil on 1September.

“With Pnemobil GmbH, Reifen-Wagner I.S. has found a strong partnerfor the tyre trade’s future challenges,”commented Michael Schnickmann,managing director of Reifen Wagner I.S.“We are pleased that our outlets willsoon become a part of Pneumobil.”

First ‘Driver’ centre opens

A new addition to the Pneumobil net-work is ‘Driver’, and the company ope-ned the first of these flagship storesrecently. The Driver store in Frankfurtopened its doors on Friday 13September, and this will hopefully provea lucky date for the new premium con-cept. Pirelli intends to expand the Drivernetwork, however it has not outlined itsfuture rollout plans or indicated whetherthe Driver centre concept will be exten-ded to other markets.

The new Driver centre on Frankfurt’sHanauer Landstrasse covers a 3,300square metre floorspace and will stockaround 4,000 new tyres at any giventime. Storage space also exists to store

around 24,000 customer wheels whentyres are swapped to suit the season.The Driver service portfolio covers awide range of tyre, wheel and vehiclefast-fit services.

Two and a half years of planning andconstruction went into the new Drivercentre, which was opened by PirelliGermany CEO Michael Schwöbel. “Wehave succeeded in creating somethingdifferent and in an unusual location,” hecommented. The new Driver Centre wasalso praised by Michael Boddenberg,Hessian Minister of State for federaltopics. He congratulated Pirelli on the“great enterprise engagement” and alsoon the choice of location. Pirelli chosethe location for its Driver Centre flagshipstore because it is close to several pre-mium car manufacturers, major banksand insurance companies in the heart ofFrankfurt’s financial district.

The Driver centre fits in well withPirelli’s focus on the premium segment.The new Frankfurt outlet will serve as ashowcase centre for those joining theDriver network. sg

ContiTrade Africa acquires Jody’s TyreGroupCONTITRADE AFRICA, a newly foundedentity of Conti Global Holding, hasbought eight Jody’s Tyre Group fitmentstores in Johannesburg, South Africa.ContiTrade Africa is responsible for fran-chise and retail operations in Africa withtwo main systems, FIT&GO and BestDrive – some of which are companyowned while others are franchise sto-res. Of the eight stores recently acqui-red three will be converted into FIT&GOand four into Best Drive with one storetrading by the name, Jody’s Tyres.

The Jody’s Tyre Group has beenoperating since 1991 and is now 100per cent owned by ContiTrade Africa.According to Rolf Lensch, chief executi-ve officer of ContiTrade Africa, Jody’sTyres staff will retain their jobs and willnow benefit from the development andtraining opportunities offered by thecompany.

Lensch added that Conti TradeAfrica stores offer a full and diverserange of services for passenger andlight commercial vehicles. “Our storesservices extend beyond the fitment oftyres. They will have access toContinental Tyre South Africa’s productoffering for passenger, 4x4, light truck(radial and bias), truck radial and specia-lity tyres. In addition to tyres, the pro-duct assortment will extend to car partsand related fitment services,” Lenschsaid.

Since opening the first franchisestore in December 2012, ContiTradeAfrica will have close to 20 outlets bythe end of this year. “We have beenstrengthening our distribution networkthroughout South Africa and we arepleased with the overwhelming respon-se from interested business owners inthis new concept,” said Lensch.

As subsidiaries of German-based,Continental AG, ContiTrade Africareports that it will work closely withContinental Tyre South Africa. cja

Cutting the Pirelli-coloured ribbon at the Driver cen-tre opening



Groundbreaking held for Yokohama’s US plantON 23 SEPTEMBER, a total of 350guests joined executives from YokohamaTire Corporation, including YokohamaRubber representative director HikomitsuNoji, and state and local officials in WestPoint, Mississippi to break ground onYokohama’s first greenfield manufacturingfacility in the United States. During theofficial groundbreaking ceremony, the firstsod was turned on a plant that is schedu-led to enter production in October 2015and manufacture up to one million tyres ayear, mostly for the domesticmarket.Yokohama’s initial investment inthe facility amounts to US$300 millionand the company anticipates creatingapproximately 500 jobs during the firstphase. The roughly one million square foot(92,900 square metre) factory, to be con-structed on more than 500 acres (202hectares) of land, will include production,warehousing and operations facilities.Potential future expansions are projectedto increase the company’s investment tomore than $1 billion and to raise employ-ment to 2,000 jobs.

“Today is a very exciting day as

Yokohama prepares to begin constructionof its very first US manufacturing facilityto be built from the ground up,” saidGovernor Bryant.

In April, the Mississippi Legislatureapproved a total of $130 million in incenti-ves to assist with the project, $70 millionof which was allotted for the initial phaseof the project. Part of the funding wasused toward the purchase of the 500-acresite for the facility, and the remainder isbeing used for site preparation, infra-structure needs and workforce training.

In addition to formally introducing

Tadaharu Yamamoto as president ofYokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi,during the events leading up to the WestPoint groundbreaking ceremonyYokohama Tire Corporation discussed itsrecently-opened operational headquartersin the Thad Cochran Research, Technologyand Economic Development Park inStarkville, Mississippi. The companymoved into its new headquarters inAugust and the new site houses severalbusiness functions, including administrati-ve, human resources, informationmanagement and planning.

US tyre demand showing ‘signs of recovery’TYRE DEMAND is picking up in the , according to analysts andindustry associations alike. Industry body RMA (RubberManufacturers Association) estimates that US light vehiclereplacement tyre shipments increased 7.1 per cent year-on-yearin August. US replacement commercial truck tyre volumeswere estimated to be up 3 per cent year-on-year.

When you compare this with the share drop reported thesame time last year, this is clearly an improvement. However,financial analysts were still optimistic of what this may indica-te, despite the fact that is coming from a low base.“Comparison from last year of -9.7 per cent was fairly easy;however, we still view the light vehicle statistics as stronggiven one less shipping day (22 days in August 2013 versus 23in August 2012),” Deutsche Bank’s Rod Lache wrote in an inves-tor’s note dated 10 September.

As a result, the analysts estimate light vehicle shipmentswere up around 11.4 per cent year-on-year. When you considerthe third quarter-to-date, the estimate is that light vehicle tyreshipments were up 10.0 per cent, while replacement commer-cial tyre volumes were down 0.8 per cent quarter-to-date.

Any recovery is good for US tyre makers

This is said to be good news for any domestic tyre makers.Specifically this makes Deutsche Bank’s estimates thatGoodyear will increase its North American replacement tyrevolumes 3 per cent in the third quarter “increasingly conserva-tive”. Indeed “we believe that stronger industry volumes, andthe associated improvement in the industry’s supply/demanddynamic, should mitigate concerns on the industry’s price dis-cipline”, the analysts wrote.

Therefore their view is that tyre companies such asGoodyear “will continue to generate surprisingly strong profita-bility”. Moreover, “we continue to view Goodyear’s recent USWcontract, which resulted in a deal to freeze and fund their pen-sion, as transformative, as it should ultimately enable Goodyearto direct the majority of their US$650-$700 million per annumof free cash flow towards measures that create value for sha-reholders” they concluded. cja

These first shovelfuls will be followed by some two years of construction and installation work at the WestPoint plant

V



Kumho opens new R&D headquarters

Vipal opens additional US distribution centreVipal is opening a new distribution center (DC) in the US city ofLos Angeles. The company reports that it will serve theWestern regions of the United States and Canada. Vipal alrea-dy has two other DCs in the US - one in Florida and another inVirginia. With the addition of this new investment, Vipal willhave a structure with a capacity of 1,500 positions for pallets.The Los Angeles DC is being run by local partner JASForwarding (which also operates the Florida DC).Vipal descri-bes the move as a way of boosting its presence in the country,which will enable further growth in the world's largest marketfor retreaded tyres, the US.

"Vipal has been in the United States for approximately 20years, with its operation focused on the South and the EastCoast, where 60 pe cent of the country’s retreading market isconcentrated, and also on eastern and southern Canada. Wehave built a strong name in this market and thus our productsbecame known in the West," says Plínio de Luca, director ofsales and marketing at Vipal. He points out that, given the levelof maturity the Vipal brand has achieved, the company decidedto enter this market which is highly demanding due toCalifornia’s regulations in terms of the environment, such asSmartWay [North American public-private collaboration pro-

gram that reduces transportation-related emissions by creatingincentives to improve fuel efficiency in the supply chain].

"Vipal is prepared for this and, as a result, will consolidate itsobjective to internationalise its products and solutions. Thisoperation will add an additional volume in a short period oftime, which could double our market share," he says.

Global positioning

In addition to its three factories in Brazil, Vipal has six other dis-tribution centres in countries abroad: Spain, Germany, Slovenia,Australia, Mexico and Colombia. It also has branches in ninelocations besides the United States: Spain, Germany, Slovenia,Australia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and VipalOverseas (Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia). All this enables thecompany to provide excellent global service, with an efficientand dedicated structure that only a company with 40 years ofexperience could offer.

"Participating in important events and trade fairs in the seg-ment, dedicating one of our Nova Prata factories to export pro-duction and developing products with a focus on foreign mar-kets, contribute to this result," asserts Plínio de Luca. cja

ON 2 SEPTEMBER, Kumho Tire opened anew research and development centrenear the South Korean capital Seoul.Located in Yongin City and built over thecourse of five years, the centre covers a34,873 square metre land area with atotal floorspace of 22,823 square metres.This space is shared by a research buil-ding and testing facility. Approximately600 researchers from Korea and abroadwill be employed at the site and workwith supercomputers, physical testingequipment, chemical and instrumentalanalysis equipment, performanceresearch equipment and more to developnew products.

In addition, the centre will serve asthe central control tower of Kumho’s glo-bal R&D network, which is made upof the Kumho Tire AmericanTechnical Center in Akron, US(KATC), the Kumho Tire EuropeTechnical Centre in Frankfurt,Germany (KETC), the Kumho TireChina Technical Centre in Tianjin,

China (KCTC), and the Kumho TirePerformance Center (KPC) in Gwangju,Korea. The newly-completed centre willserve as the main R&D centre and assuch will take charge of all basic researchand product development. The existingGwangju facility has been transformedinto a performance centre for the evalua-tion and quality monitoring of finishedproducts, and will be permanently staffedby technical support personnel in chargeof these quality assuring evaluations andfacility operations.

The Yongin city area is also home tothe technology research institutes ofHyundai KIA Motors, Renault Samsung,and Hyundai Mobis, amongst others. Thearea is also an automotive/parts industry

cluster with support infrastructure for theKorean automotive, parts, and aftermar-ket industries.

“The most sure way of becoming aglobal tyre company is to secure world-class technical prowess,” stated KumhoTire CEO Kim Chang-Kyu in relation to thecentre’s opening. He added that Kumhowill “continue to strive to improve itscompetitive power with expansion ofoverseas factories and increasing OEsupplies to overseas automobilemakers, with the completion ofthe new R&D centre.” sg

The Yongin City facility will serve as the centralcontrol tower of Kumho’s global R&D network


“IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS, Dr. Elmar Degenhart has consi-derably helped to bring Continental AG back into the fold ofDAX 30 companies and make it more sustainable as an inno-vative technology supplier. The members of the Super-visory Board unanimously honour his outstanding perfor-mance and reaffirm their trust," said Supervisory Board chair-man Professor Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle, referring to the reap-pointment. "In Frank Jourdan, we have entrusted a very expe-rienced, innovative, and internationally focused manager withoverseeing the Chassis & Safety division. We have every faiththat he will succeed in following the successful path of profi-table growth mapped out by Dr. Ralf Cramer in the past fewyears."

Degenhart has been Continental’s Executive Board chair-man since 12 August, 2009. His present term ends in August 2014. "I am delightedto be able to continue putting all my strength and energy into the journey we're on,”he commented. “The Continental team has already proven time and again thepotential that it can bring to bear. I am convinced that we can and will successful-ly tackle the challenges that lie ahead of us as an industry, increase our own com-petitiveness, and help shape the future of personal mobility with our innovative sys-tems and technologies."

Frank Jourdan joined Continental in 1988 and his professional career includesstints both in and outside of Germany. Between 2000 and 2003, he set up the production of wheel speed sensors for electronic brake systems in Silao, Mexico,for Continental Automotive Mexicana. Back in Frankfurt, Jourdan managed thenewly created Sensorics product area as of 2003. From 2006 through 2009 he puthis career at Continental on hold to serve as general manager for operations atKeiper GmbH & Co. KG. He returned to Continental as executive vice-president ofthe Electronic Brake Systems business unit, a business renamed Vehicle Dynamicsin September 2013 following the merger of the Suspension Systems and ChassisElectronics segments into the business. sg

Jourdan joins Conti board

The NTDA has announced that after over 25 years as

director of the NTDA, Richard Edy is to retire from the

post at the end of January.

EDY BEGAN HIS CAREER as journalist. After seven years wor-king in the press, he moved into Public Relations His first invol-vement with the tyre industry was in 1972, when he joined theBRMA, as it then was, as Press and Information Officer. He

spent seven years in this post, before leaving to become depu-ty director of the British Plastics Federation. Finally, he becamethe director of the NTDA in January 1988, taking over fromMervyn Thomas.

No decision has yet been made on who will replace RichardEdy, but the association has confirmed that the recruitmentprocess is already underway. An advertisement for the role hasalready been published. cja

NTDA director Richard Edy retiring in January

New Falken Tyre Europemarketing manager,Thomas Fatho

Falken Europe appointsFatho marketing managerSince the start of August Dr. Ralf Cramer has been headquartered in

Shanghai as head of Continental China. Replacing him as chairman of

the Management Board for the Chassis & Safety division is Frank

Jourdan, who has also joined Continental’s Executive Board. Jourdan’s

appointment to the board was confirmed at Continental’s Supervisory

Board meeting on 25 September, together with the renewal of Dr. Elmar

Degenhart’s tenure as Executive Board chairman for a further five years.

Falken Tyre has strengthened its

European team with Thomas Fatho

appointed its new marketing mana-

ger. Most recently working at

Mitsubishi Deutschland, he assu-

mes responsibility for all marketing-

related areas in Europe.

Fatho’s appointment follows the recentannouncement of Markus Bögner assales and marketing director. YukioYoshida remains in charge of the overalloperative planning and development acti-vities as corporate planning director.

“Falken Tyre Europe already enjoys anextremely credible marketing mix led byits motorsports campaigns,” says ThomasFatho “Falken is a fantastic and positive-ly charged brand with huge potential. Iam very happy to be working to realiseand expand this potential by raising thelevel of brand recognition even furtherthroughout Europe.” akb

Frank Jourdan


A new management role, that of ‘general manager operations’, has

been created at Pirelli, and Gregorio Borgo has been appointed the

first incumbent. Borgo, currently head of Pirelli’s Asia-Pacific reg-

ion, will report directly to company chairman and chief executive

officer Marco Tronchetti Provera in his new position.

The tweaking of Pirelli’s management structureand creation of the general manager operationsposition was approved by the Italian firm’s Boardof Directors on 26 September. In a statement,Pirelli wrote that the reorganisation “aims to maxi-mise oversight of the business and geographicalcoordination of all operational activities linked toproduct development and management.”

Reporting to the general manager operationswill be the organisational units linked to operationsmanagement (industrial operations, supply chain,product and original equipment aftermarket andmarketing), the Industrial and MotoBusiness Units, as well as the diffe-rent Regions (Africa, Middle East andIndia, Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, North West Europe, South Europe,Latam, Nafta and Russia and Nordics). According to Pirelli, the goal is to“reinforce industrial and commercial synergies to better support commerci-al development, in the context of ever more competitive markets. Withregard to overall governance and coordination, the Regions will continue toreport directly to the chairman and CEO.”

The general manager operations is one of two key positions reportingdirectly to Tronchetti Provera; the other is the chief technical officer. As chieftechnical officer, Maurizio Boiocchi’s direct reports include the areas of pro-duct, processes, quality, original equipment and motorsport, all parts of thebusiness Pirelli considers strongly linked to research, innovation and homo-logation with car makers, the last of these being key to the implementationof the company’s premium strategy. These areas will also report to the chieftechnical officer at the various country levels.

This change in management structure at the national level is a moveaway from existing practice and was decided upon “to spread and consoli-date best practices between headquarters and the regions”. As a result ofthis evolution, the role of chief commercial officer, currently held by AndreaPirondini, will disappear from Pirelli’s management structure. Mr. Pirondini’scareer at Pirelli, which began in the UK in 1989, draws to a close at the endof 2013; in a statement, Marco Tronchetti Provera and Pirelli’s Board ofDirectors conveyed their “deepest thanks to him for his fruitful work.”

Gregorio Borgo joined Pirelli in 1992 and has held a variety of roles wit-hin the company, in particular in the marketing and commercial areas. Hiscareer in the group has included work in the Car and Truck business units, aswell as the opportunity to develop his experience at Pirelli’s headquarters inMilan and at the international level, from North America to Japan to China.He has served as CEO of Pirelli’s Asia-Pacific Region since 2011. sg

Pirelli names Borgo its first ‘generalmanager operations’

Gregorio Borgo

Autoparts has announced two new

appointments: Paul Rooney is its new

product manager and Graham Mont-

gomerie will take charge of the Kil-

marnock branch. The former was pro-

moted from roles within the company,

while Montgomerie takes up his new

role having moved from Arnold Clark.

Paul, 41, has worked at Autoparts for 10 yearsand in his new role will be responsible for iden-tifying new product opportunities and liaisingwith suppliers on range extensions and costanalysis.

Autoparts group factor manager, CraigMcCracken, said: “As Autoparts continues togrow the appointment of Paul to the buyingteam will ensure we are in the best positionpossible to work effectively with our suppliersto bring to garages the highest quality productsat competitive prices.”

Meanwhile, Graham Montgomerie hasbeen with Arnold Clark for 12 years and has anexcellent insight into the parts aftermarket,which he will bring to his new role as branchmanager for Autoparts Kilmarnock.

Commenting on his new role at Autoparts,Montgomerie said: “The market is very com-petitive but Autoparts has a very good proposaloffering added value at every opportunity.” akb

Paul Rooney has beenappointed Autopartsproduct manager

Autoparts appointsproduct, Kilmarnockbranch managers

DWWW.TYREPRESS.COM92 TYRES & ACCESSORIES 10/2013

FEDERAL-MOGUL CORPORATION has appointed

Andrew Bevington as managing director, Vehicle

Component Solutions UK & Ireland. Bevington

previously worked at EXIDE technologies, where

he has honed his skills and expertise over the

last five years. During this time he has develo-

ped a number of key relationships in becoming

a well-known figure in the marketplace, and is

relishing the opportunity to apply his insight to

the continued delivery of excellence for Federal-

Mogul’s established distributor customers.

“The successful servicing of the aftermarket provides aunique set of challenges in a quickly diversifying environ-ment,” says Olivier Legrand, Federal-Mogul’s vice presi-dent Aftermarket Europe. “Andrew has significant expe-rience of these challenges, and has specialised in brin-ging a strategic view of partnerships for the benefit ofpartners and stakeholders. He is ideally placed to identi-fy future trends and areas for potential growth in theaftermarket, while ensuring that Federal-Mogul remainsa market-leading supplier.”

“I have long-since admired the brand portfolio ofFederal-Mogul, which features many market-leadingnames such as Ferodo, Champion and Moog,” saidBevington. “Aftermarket expectations are expanding andwe must continue the development of innovative waysto service this demand. I look forward to working withour valued customers to help drive forward their volumeand margin targets with Federal-Mogul’s quality brandportfolio.”

“We would like to take this opportunity to not onlywelcome Andrew Bevington to Federal-Mogul, butthank his predecessor Mark Page, who has contributedstrongly to advancing Federal-Mogul’s extensive after-market business,” Legrand concluded. cja

Andrew Bevington is Federal-Mogul's new managing

director, Vehicle ComponentSolutions UK & Ireland

Federal-Mogul appointsVehicle ComponentSolutions UK & Ireland MD

Maxam Tire, the Luxembourg-based manu-facturer of industrial, construction and OTRradial tyres, has announced a key appoint-ment to its management team. Peter Kraus(47) joined the company at the beginning ofSeptember as business development mana-ger for Germany, Switzerland and Austria,responsible for the entire Maxam productrange.

Kraus is no stranger to the tyre industry,having spent six years working at one of themajor wholesalers in continental Europe.While there, he oversaw the introduction ofnew brands and of a project for retreadingtruck tyres.

He also has extensive knowledge of thetyre industry in his new geographical area ashe worked for Bandag for six years, withresponsibility for Germany, Switzerland andAustria.

Peter Kraus is relishing the challenge ofworking with Maxam's key dealers and intro-ducing the range of products to end users.What attracted him to Maxam in the firstplace? Said Kraus: "Firstly, the quality of theproducts is outstanding and secondly, theteam spirit at Maxam is phenomenal – every-body works together to make sure that thecustomer not only gets a great product, butalso the best possible service." pg

Maxam business develop-ment manager forGermany, Switzerland andAustria Peter Kraus (47)joined the company at thebeginning of September

Yamamoto to head Yokohama’sUS plantPrior to breaking ground on its new US factory, over the

weekend Yokohama Tire Corporation formally introduced

Tadaharu Yamamoto as president of Yokohama Tire

Manufacturing Mississippi.

During the plant’s construction period, Yamamoto and Yokohama TireManufacturing Mississippi will be headquartered in the ThadCochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park innearby Starkville, Miss. When the West Point plant enters operation,YTMM will be the entity responsible for operations at the plant.

Before taking on this new role, Yamamoto served as executivevice-president and administrative division manager at Yokohama TirePhilippines. sg

Maxam strengthensmanagement team

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Breakdown Serviceswww.itdn.org.uk

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WEB DIRECTORY

Softwarewww.mamsoft.co.uk/tyres

To appear in thisWebsite Directory for 12 months – whichwill include hyperlinked entries on the Tyres & Accessorieswebsite – please contact: [email protected]

www.inter-sprint.nlwww.kenda.com.twwww.kingdavidtyres.co.ukwww.kirkbytyres.co.ukwww.kumho-euro.comwww.lassa-europe.comwww.lexanitire.comwww.lctyres.iewww.lytire.comwww.maitechtire.comwww.marangoni.comwww.mastercrafttyres.co.ukwww.matador.skwww.midlandmobiletyres.co.ukwww.micheldever.co.ukwww.mickeythompson.co.ukwww.mrftyres.comwww.nankang.com.twwww.nete.co.ukwww.nexentire.co.krwww.northwesttyres.comwww.pirelli.co.ukwww.sd-international.cnwww.sentaida-international.comwww.silverstone.com.mywww.sintontyres.co.ukwww.southam-tyres.co.ukwww.starco.comwww.stapletons-tyres.co.ukwww.techkingtires.comwww.toyo.co.uk

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The fast and direct way to your homepage:Web Directory in Tyre & Accessories & the Link section in www.tyrepress.com

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WEB DIRECTORY

Wheelswww.afan-tyres.co.ukwww.elitedirect.comwww.imagewheels.co.ukwww.mswuk.comwww.overfinch.comwww.performancealloys.comwww.tsw-wheels.co.ukwww.trelleborg.com/wheelsystems-ukwww.wheelwright.co.uk

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www.bkt-tires.comwww.bridgestone.eu/truckpointwww.conti-online.co.ukwww.coopertire.comwww.dunloptyres.co.ukwww.eptyres.comwww.hankooktire.eu

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Vintage Tyreswww.grouptyre.co.ukwww.longstonetyres.co.uk

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PREVIEW

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

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I Fleet business I

Two ongoing concerns for fleet operators are costsand regulations – both of which are wont to changeevery so often, and never in a way that makes life anyeasier. Therefore, any means of keeping expenses toa minimum and optimising total cost of ownership,while ensuring compliance with the latest regulations,is warmly welcomed by progressive fleets. You willnot be surprised to hear that tyres play a role here.And next month, Tyres & Accessories looks at fleetbusiness from a tyre perspective. Pick up yourNovember magazine for all the details.

I Green tyres IIt was not so long ago that the only people known fortaking an active interest in the ecological perfor-mance of their tyres were the Scandinavians. Thencame a raft of new European legislation pointingtowards a bright green future of tyres – this came inthe shape of rules such as the clean oil legislationwhich took effect in 2009 and of course the now[in]famous European labelling rules. It is a differentworld now and tyres have never been greener –however, while the upstream suppliers and the manu-facturers have made great strides in terms of ecologi-cal development – has customer and ultimately con-sumer demand kept pace?

I Motorsport Review ITyres have shouldered many burdens in the 2013motorsport season. In Formula One they wereexpected to help a series in danger of becoming aprocession to stay compelling for fans, which they did– until it all got a bit too exciting at the British grandprix. Not long after visiting Silverstone another tyremanufacturer showed Tyres & Accessories the dama-ge drifting competitors could do to their tyres in fewerthan 10 laps – this time on purpose. This story andmore from motorsport tyre suppliers’ seasons will fea-ture in the November issue.

Our language is tyres.

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traffi

c.de

falken-europe.com facebook.com/Falken.Motorsports From race t rack to road .

The Husky among winter tyres.

For years, huskies have beenloyal companions in the icywinters of the frozen north.Dynamic starters, sure-footed and

with boundless endurance, huskiesare the ideal symbol for the newEUROWINTER HS449. Safe andsecure through ice and snow!

Tyres & Accessories | October 2013

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Transcript of Tyres & Accessories | October 2013