By Alex Kapadia

Hankook tyres bucked the industry trend during 2009 and saw sales soar to record heights, according to company executives.

While most of the world’s largest tyres manufacturers have reported lower sales during last year, the Korean company boomed.

Focusing on North America, the company reported that in spite of the economic recession and dramatic decline in new car sales, its tyre sales grew 8.3 percent to $844.3 million.

Soo Il Lee, one of the company’s top executives, said their US-based subsidiary anticipates the trend will continue, with sales expected to exceed $900 million in 2010 and reach $1 billion in 2011, Mr. Lee said.

Broken down, Hankook’s North American passenger tyre sales rose 5.3 percent last year to $575.2 million, while light truck tyre sales grew 26.2 percent to $159 million. Truck tyre sales improved 2.2 percent to $110.1 million.

Mr. Lee attributed the company’s success to the partnerships it has forged with its dealer network and stressed that even in the slow economy Hankook’s mission and focus remains the same: to “deliver market-driven, high-quality products that provide exceptional value for the consumer and a profitable, competitive edge to our dealers.”

Hankook also was helped in the past year by “a kind of trading down,” he said, as many consumers moved away from expensive tyres to more reasonably priced ones with good quality.

Todd Hershberger, senior vice president of sales and marketing, added: “What consumers are really looking for is value and that’s really what’s helped us in a difficult economy. That’s what we represen - a great quality product.”

Two Bridgestone tyres chiefs have been airing their thoughts on the start of the 2010 Formula One World Championship ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, director of Motorsport for the tyres company, said: “This will be our fourteenth season in Formula One and we are anticipating a fantastic year ahead of exciting racing.

“We will be welcoming new teams, the return of Michael Schumacher after three seasons away and the introduction of regulation changes, all of which will play a part in making Formula One a fascinating sport to follow this year.

“For Bridgestone, the sport will continue to play a strong role in providing our sales companies with strong promotional and marketing opportunities and the Middle East, being a strategically important market for us, is an excellent place to start the season.”

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, added: “There are both technical and logistical challenges for Bridgestone in 2010.

“No refuelling means we have modified the tyre construction and have all new compounds of dry tyres.

“As well as cars which will be approximately 100kgs heavier at the start of the race, we will see different pit stop strategies this season and the top ten cars starting with their qualifying tyres brings many strategy considerations for teams too.

“In terms of logistics we have new teams and 19 races.

“The Sakhir circuit layout is different this year, with an additional eight turns, and this will have an impact on tyre wear and car set up.

“We have the super soft tyre, which is from our lower temperature working range, and the medium, which is from our higher temperature working range.

“All this sets us up for a very exciting opening race to the season, especially with only relatively limited running in pre-season testing.”

By Alex Kapadia

Pirelli is set to concentrate more efforts on its tyres-related business after reporting a return to profit in 2009 helped by restructuring.

The news has paved the way for the Italian tyres manufactures to spin off its non-tyre activities.

The company announced in a statement: “In the course of 2010, the group will concentrate further on its core business and become more of a pure tyre company.”

Pirelli’s share price has more than doubled in a year, benefiting from prospects for increased focus on its core tyre business even though a planned merger of its Pirelli Real Estate unit with Italian peer Fimit fell through in January.

No details were forthcoming from the company about plans to split the real estate side of the business from tyres.

However, one analyst said he expected a proposal in April with the most likely option a distribution of shares in Pirelli RE to shareholders in the parent company.

Like many other tyre manufacturers, Pirelli hiked the prices of their tyres this year to offset higher raw material prices.

The company said it expected a 6 to 8 percent rise in its tyre unit revenues this year with an EBIT margin in line with 2009 taking account of higher raw material prices.

Surrey has been named as the pothole capital of the UK as potholes are becoming more prevalent across the country, according to a new survey.

The average repair bill from damaged caused by potholes is around £750, with split tyres, scratched alloys and suspension failure being the most common complaints.

The survey, carried out by Kia Motors UK, has identified that 1,998 potholes afflict Surrey’s 450,000 motorists, a figure that comfortably beats second placed county Hampshire, where drivers have logged a still significant 892 potholes.

The report follows previous pothole research and was inspired by Kia dealerships who, this year, have reported a 150% increase in pothole related repairs.

A major contributing factor to this figure has to be the coldest recorded UK winter in 30 years, but this is little consolation when the average repair bill for such impact is averaging £750.

Here are the top 10 offending counties in detail:

1. Surrey (1,998 reported potholes)
2. Hampshire (892)
3. Kent (857)
4. Hertfordshire (855)
5. Oxfordshire (796)
6. Lancashire (733)
7. Essex (734)
8. West Sussex (680)
9. Buckinghamshire (678)
10. Gloucestershire (655)

Existing etyres customers who suffer a puncture are entitled to free repairs, however, if they need to replace the damaged tyre, etyres prices are up to 40% cheaper than the leading high street tyre depots.

Oliver Hall, Operations Team

By Alex Kapadia

Bridgestone tyres are revving up for the first race of their final season as the official tyre supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship.

They are bringing their super soft and medium 2010 spec dry slick tyres to the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain this weekend.

The tyres have gone through a few changes for the new season, starting with a narrower front tyre, to give a more even grip balance front to rear.

Modifications have also been made to the tyre construction and compounds, due to the heavier cars and different strategy options brought about by the ban on refuelling.

Two compounds of dry tyre will be available for every grand prix, with the requirement that both are used in the race.

Although Bridgestone’s range of dry tyres for the season retain the same names of hard, medium, soft and super soft, the compounds are changed from those used in 2009.

In a change to the regulations, the number of tyres available per driver for each grand prix is reduced from 7 of each compound to 6 of the ‘prime’ compound and 5 of the ‘option’.

The wet tyre range remains as before, with the wet and intermediate tyre available at every race, with 3 sets of the wet and 4 of the intermediate available for each driver.

etyres has published its monthly tyres price comparison list - and as usual we’re miles cheaper than other leading high street tyre chains.

Our Price Check list, which is popular with the motoring media, compares our prices for premium tyres, like Bridgestone and Michelin, with the traditional depots.

We try to ensure that the prices displayed are fair, representative and accurate.

All the etyres prices include include fitting at a location of the customers choice - at home or work - balancing, valve and scrap casing disposal.

In the case of competitors who do not have listed prices we obtain telephone quotations from their branches. We always display prices for exactly the same brand, tread pattern and speed rating. If a competitor does not list the exact same product we list n/a.

etyres was the first on-line tyre company in the UK to provide a tyres price check facility. Customers can click on ‘Price Check’ at the top of the page to see the results.

The latest list was collated on February 2010.

Alex, Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Pirelli tyres is scheduled to report its fourth quarter results tomorrow and analysts anticipate a rise in revenues due to an increase in sales.

Deutsche Bank Equity Research estimates the Italian tyres manufacturer saw a 15 per cent increase in unit sales compared with decreases in the previous nine months, according to Tyres and Accessories magazine.

It also reports on the negative price mix (a price mix of -2% vs. 6.9% in Q1, 5.6% in Q2 and 4.7% in Q3) has allowed Pirelli to gain marketshare on the continued discipline of manufacturers and a 2% positive foreign exchange impact.

Deutsche Bank predicts margins should benefit from low raw material prices, as the large price increases for these commodities took place in 2010.

The bank anticipates consolidated sales of 1,112 million euros, 46% more year-on-year after more than 20% decline in the first half of the year, and organic debit of 80 million euros.

Net income is expected to be 1.8 million euros, as compared to a loss of 296 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2008. Restructuring costs during the quarter should be 45 million euros, as opposed to 95 million euros in the final quarter of 2008.

Word-of-mouth recommendations are vital for any business and we are always delighted when our tyres customers tweet about our service on Twitter or sing our praises in chatrooms.

And this week another happy customer has been recommending our mobile tyres fitting service on the popular 4Networking website.

Mark Adams, who uses our South Bristol branch, had this to say to fellow members of the site: “Guys this dude is so good you just have to use him! I have used Joe in the past and the service was awesome! So when my elderly neighbour had 2 punctures and was struggling outside his house to change a tyre I just said “leave it to me”. I called Joe (this was 5pm) and he answered whilst walking around Somerfield. He promised to get to my neighbour for 10am the next day with 2 spanking new tyres - my neighbour was over the bloody moon, and I couldn’t of been happier.

“Joe will not let you down, and pulls out all the stops to get a job done! Brilliant stuff Joe, cheers!”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Alex Kapadia

The development of fuel-efficient tyres helped Goodyear through the recession, according to the company boss.

Robert Keegan, chairman and CEO of Goodyear tyres, said: “We made the right decision late in 2008 to launch a record 62 new products in 2009 despite poor industry conditions. Others may have made a different decision.”

He pointed to the launch of the Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tyre in North America as a “prime example of an impactful new product launch”.

The tyre was the most successful high value-added new product launch in the history of the company, taking just seven months to sell more than one million tyres and going on to sell a total of two million.

Keegan said the reason for the company’s success was it struck the right note with consumers, offering innovative products and mid-tier pricing.

He said: “With fuel-efficient tyres, we have created a major new growth generator for our company and for our customers.

“My comment to our customers has been consistent and clear. Don’t underestimate the market’s appetitie for fuel-efficient tires. It is likely to exceed all our expectations.”

Pirelli’s Cinturato passenger tyre line dominated annual tyres tests run by leading three European motoring clubs.

The Cinturato P7 and P6 were named best summer tyres in their categories for their “balance of ecological aspects with performance” in the eagerly-awaited results of the tests by German auto club ADAC, Switzerland’s Touring Club (TCS) and the Austrian automobile club (OEAMTC).

The Cinturato P7, an eco-friendly tyre developed for mid- to high-range cars, had the best overall rating among 17 different tyre models in the tests, and was listed as was “highly recommended” by ADAC, which said “very well-balanced summer tyre; good on wet and dry; low fuel consumption; the tyre with the lowest noise level.”

The Cinturato P6 was also ranked high in the ADAC tests of 19 lines, and also earned “highly recommended” status, according to the report in Tyre Review.

The Cinturato line also starred in independent tests run by German automotive media. The Cinturato P7 was “highly recommended” in tests run by Auto Zeitung, and as “good” by VW/Audi magazine Gute Fahrt.

Denna Bowman, Head Office