IndyCar’s Silly Season Starts Early With Firestone Announcement
I can’t say I was surprised when my Blackberry buzzed to life late Friday with the news that Bridgestone Americas was closing the book on its IndyCar racing involvement. The writing was on the wall in January when the company passed on renewing its relationship with what’s left of American open wheel racing. And besides,
How Much Does Racing Really Matter?
‘Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday’ used to matter, but it hasn’t in a long, long time. Used to be that carmakers, parts brands and tire companies went toe-to-toe at race tracks around the country, beating up on each other on weekends in order to beat each other at the sales counter during the rest
Firestone Out of Racing? Maybe
Now that it has walked away from Formula One racing, will Bridgestone Corp. dump the Indy racing circuit? That is the hot rumor shooting through the IndyCar Series after Bridgestone Americas failed to renew its tire supply contract with the open wheel race series by the Dec. 31 deadline. Firestone brand tires will be used
SEMA Products
Hankook introduced the new Ventus V2 Concept high performance all-season tire, which the tiremaker said features a patented design and special compounds that allow it to match the performance capabilities of most summer tires, but with twice the snow traction. The tire’s “Twister System,” a 3-D wave pattern channel, removes water from the tire’s contact
Michelin 2010 Sales Jump Nearly 20%
Michelin has reported that its net sales for the first three quarters of 2010 shot up 19.4% to 13 billion euros. According to the company, the growing figures reflect increased unit sales growth across all sectors and follow a particularly sustained recovery in unit sales of passenger car and light truck tires. As a result
Kumho Goes for 6.5% Price Hike
Kumho Tire USA said it will increase pricing on all products in the U.S. by up to 6.5%. The increase, effective Nov. 1, will include in-line adjustments. Kumho joins Hankook, Goodyear, Pirelli and Cooper, which have recently announced price hikes.
ContiSportContact 3 Eeks Out Third Auto Express Win
The ContiSportContact 3 has won this year’s Auto Express test, the second time in a row a Continental brand tire has won what is arguably Britain’s most popular annual tire ranking. That said Michelin’s Pilot Sport 3 was just 0.6% off the pace in the overall results with a benchmark of 99.4, closely followed by
Online Brand Equity Rankings Show Michelin on Top
Michelin has topped Tyres & Accessories’ exclusive online brand prominence rankings for the sixth consecutive year, totting up a record high score as it went. In our second online brand equity measurement, compiled in association with the artificial intelligence experts at Cambridge-based Envisional, Michelin won-out for the third year, demonstrating the firm’s continuing dominance in
New Nexen South Korea Plant Under Way
Construction work on Nexen’s newest passenger and light commercial vehicle tire factory in South Korea’s Gyeongnam Province has begun following its groundbreaking ceremony on June 24. The 500,000-square-meter Changnyeong facility is being built with a 1.2 trillion won investment, and Nexen anticipates its output will boost the company’s South Korea and China total to 60
RMA Now Counting Shipment Data from Overseas Makers
Seeking to gain better insight into tire shipment activities in the U.S., the RMA has launched a program to collect data from a number of overseas tiremakers. As of now, five Chinese tiremakers and one Singapore producer have signed on for the program, and Taiwan’s Cheng Shin/Maxxis is considering joining the group. Now providing tire