England 19/07/2013 – After a couple of quiet years, during 2013, the commercial truck tyres industry is undergoing change.
Few people realise that, in the UK, over 84% of all freight is moved by truck. Naturally, people are aware that there are a lot of trucks on the UK’s roads. However, few people stop to think very much about this. They rarely, if ever, consider what it takes to keep a commercial truck rolling. They certainly do not give much thought to commercial truck tyres. However, there are over 480,000 trucks of the UKs roads, and to keep them going requires the use of over 1 million tyres.
A range of manufactures provides these tyres and most provide tyres for other vehicles too. Therefore, their development budget is split between several sectors. As a result, at times, not a lot happens within the commercial truck tyre industry. However, this year several major manufacturers have announced changes, which will have a significant impact on the choice truck owners, have when replacing their tyres.
Continental, who are one of the smaller, but still important commercial truck tyre suppliers have just announced that they will expand their European operation. Last year, there was speculation that they would leave the European market. However, in fact they plan to invest a further €100 million in their Slovakian tyre plant. This is mainly because they see the opportunity for growth in the Eastern European, Middle Eastern and African markets.
Goodyear announces two new types of commercial truck tyre
In addition, Goodyear have announced that they are about to release a range of new truck tyres. Suppliers such as Kirkby Tyres, particularly welcome this news. They have been selling Goodyear tyres for many years now and they are still one of the most popular brands. Therefore, the announcement that they have released a new range is a very welcome one, because it will further boost sales. The two new ranges will become available in the European market from September 2013 onwards. These two new ranges should be popular, because they have been developed to help truck owners to run their vehicles more economically, something that, in today’s competitive market, is more important than ever before.