Effective and Desirable
2014 was a hell of a year, wasn’t it? The ups and downs were familiar from past years, but there was also a growing sense of optimism pervading the country and our industry in particular. A positive feel in the business – and in people’s wallets – for the first time in quite a few
Ever Changing Tech
Tis the season when a person’s fancy turns to holiday cheer and thoughts of really cool Christmas gifts you crave this year. [Editor’s Note: You are likely reading this post-Christmas 2014 – perhaps a few days into 2015 – but it was Cyber Monday when I wrote this column. When you work on a monthly
Top 10 Goal Spurs Nexen Growth
The Heung-A Tire Co. was established in 1942 in what is now South Korea, and became that country’s very first tire manufacturer. The name today is Nexen Tire Corp., a Korean derivative of “next” and “century,” which constantly points the company in one direction – forward. With a marked goal of becoming a global Top
How Cuba, North Korea and Rosekind Can Impact on the Tire World
Never thought I’d see the day that I could travel to Cuba, or that North Korea – a country that can’t even keep the lights on at night – would actually cause knees to buckle. Welcome to a whole new world. So what does Cuba and North Korea have to do with tires and the
Random Notes From the South Side
Back from another SEMA Show/Global Tire Expo, as are a supposed 140,000-plus other people in Las Vegas for the automotive world’s biggest week. Word was that the combined SEMA-AAPEX world was up considerably from the year prior, good news coming on the back-end of a seemingly endless recession. Colleagues over at AAPEX report that it
Sorting Through the Rubble of the Apollo-Cooper Break-up
Dec. 31…twenty-eight days from this writing…will be the one-year anniversary of the epic and tragic Cooper-Apollo Break-up. And even as they began the process of unwinding a $2.5 billion arranged marriage, they continued to profess their love publicly (well, sort of) while their respective legal teams rolled up their sleeves and continued the unseen liquidation
Congress Acts! Prepares to Make Eco-Innovation Nearly Impossible
A seemingly minor legislative move in Congress (wait a minute, something happened in Congress?) could have massive ramifications to the tire industry. HR 4012 – the Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 – would force the EPA to find, access, make public and verify independently ALL scientific and technical information connected to any proposed action
Illegal Tire Problems Plague the U.K.; Was Jac’s Last Act a Bug?
It is often said that we Americans and our British cousins are more alike than we sometimes want to admit. So it is a bit worrisome to read reports in the London Telegraph that more than 2.2 million (that’s MILLION!!!) U.K. cars failed mandatory MoT (Ministry of Transportation) checks due to unsafe or illegal tires.
Restaurants and Amusement Parks, Tires are Everywhere
If you think business is hard today – where you have an established product, established customers, and an established need – try building a business with a little used product that is required by another little used product. This is how we got to the now world-renowned Michelin Star System for grading fine dining restaurants.
Nitto Expands Grappler Line, Intros New Gen
Long viewed as a niche segment player in the UHP and light truck/SUV markets, Nitto Tire USA Corp.’s focus on those segments has brought the company a lot of notoriety among enthusiasts. In more recent times, Nitto has made strides in broadening its product screen, giving its dealers more products to address a wider range
To Put This in Your Hands
While scanning a recent TIA email about its government affairs, I was dumbstruck by one statement that smacked me hard: “Currently, about 17% of tires sold are registered.” One-seven-percent, as in 17 out of 100 tires sold are actually registered so that the owners can be quickly and easily notified should there be a safety-related
2014 Top Shop Winner: Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service
It’s not any one thing with Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service. It is the sum of everything – the people, the facilities, the locations and towns, the customers, the attitude, the relationships, the merchandising and marketing, the top-level service techs, the firm understanding of what customers demand. It is all of those things and
