Sixteen tires of 175/65 R 14 T size were tested on the ADAC summer tire test 2014. Continental ContiEcoContact 5 was the top tire, satisfying all the criteria. To follow it, was Hankook’s Kinergy Eco 425 K, just marginally behind ContiEcoContact. Pirelli Cinturato P1 Verde, Bridgestone Ecopia EP 150, Falken SN832 Sinera Ecorun and Nokian
February 2014 saw an increase in demand for new passenger cars in the European Union for the sixth consecutive month. Sales were up 8 percent on the same period a year ago. Though in absolute figures, the total of 861,058 units registered was the second lowest result for a month of February since 2003. Spain
Production and sales of automobiles in China experienced double digit year on year growth of 21.5% and 17.8% respectively in the year to February. However, production was down 21.7% and sales fell by 26% when compared against February 2013. Accumulated sales for the top 10 auto companies accounted for 90.9% of the total sales in
European tire wholesaler Van De Ban announces the launch of Gripmax which will be an addition to its SUV/4×4 range. Van De Ban said it will be providing a complete range of Stature HT for the upcoming summer season. Some of these are already in the market. The company will also come up with a
Hankook Tire has been awarded investment aid of euro 57.9 million from The European Commission for the construction of a new tire plant in Racalmas, Fejer County, Hungary. This project will involve a total investment of € 305.5 million. It will be adjacent to the company’s existing plant in Hungary. According to the commission’s investigation,
Darren Wells took over from Arthur de Bok as head of Goodyear’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) operations toward the end of last year. Since then some big decisions have been taken. The Amiens dispute has been resolved; a racing tire plant in the UK is to close and Goodyear Corporate has announced plans
As always, the Geneva Motor Show 2014 was a great place to meet people. Neeraj Kanwar of Apollo told me that despite some newspaper reports to the contrary, he does not rule out working in China at some stage in the future. In common with Continental, Hankook, Kumho, Goodyear and others, however, he says Apollo
Hankook is the latest tire maker to produce a concept tire which relies on mechanical strength of plastic materials to carry load, rather than pneumatic pressure. The iFlex was shown at the Frankfurt IAA. I chatted with the engineers and their story was a little different from that which has been trumpeted by other publications.
The use of solution-polymerised styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) will affect the tire industry in many ways. Most important it will help tire makers to deliver higher-performing tires. Not on its own, but in combination with other materials and technologies. Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) was one of the first synthetic polymers to be developed back in the
Anno Berkowsky, head of the Lanxess subsidiary Rhein-Chemie said at the opening of the new pre-dispersion production facility in Russia, “Rhenogran – which we will produce at the new site in Lipetsk – is one of our most established and important brands, and has a leading position in polymer-bound rubber additives. It can significantly shorten mixing
A weekly newsletter of developments in the China tire industry including news reports and David Shaw’s expert commentary and analysis.
Monthly English & Chinese language newsletter bringing together global news stories covering retail, strategy, sustainability and legislative issues.