ATS EUROMASTER MARKS FIRST DAY OF SPRING WITH ITS LARGEST COLD WEATHER TYRE ORDER TO-DATE
20 March 2012
It may only be the first day of spring, but ATS Euromaster has today announced an initial order for more than £10 million worth of cold weather tyre stocks for winter 2012/2013 – its largest winter tyre order to date.
It follows less than two years after the company became the first national tyre service provider to launch a fully-managed cold weather tyre service forUKfleets, and represents an increase of more than £4 million compared with orders placed in 2011.
The national tyre and fast-fit specialist says rising European demand coupled with limited manufacturing capacity means it is essential for both tyre distributors and fleets to secureUKstocks promptly.
Peter Fairlie, Group Sales Director at ATS Euromaster, says: “Last year we assessed customer demand early in 2011 to ensure we ordered the exact sizes of cold weather tyres our fleet customers required.
“It’s a strategy which is particularly crucial for larger fleets, which may require anything from several hundred to several thousand cold weather fitments of a particular brand and size at the same time. You simply can’t cater for that level of demand without planning ahead.”
Despite a relatively mild winter in theUKcompared with previous years, ATS Euromaster says cold weather tyre sales rose significantly – with the strongest demand from home-shopping retailers, blue light operators and utilities providers.
“These three sectors have been amongst the first to recognise the added benefits that cold weather tyres deliver when the temperature drops below 7° Celsius. It’s not just about guaranteeing mobility in the event of snow and ice – there’s a far wider road safety and duty of care issue at stake,” he explains.
Modern rubber compound technology and advances in tread pattern design mean that today’s cold weather tyres deliver considerably shorter stopping distances on both wet and dry roads at low temperatures, in addition to their impressive traction credentials on snow, slush and ice. They also ensure increased longevity compared with summer tyres during winter motoring; conditions which would normally see tyre life reduced by up to 20 per cent.
Commenting on the order, Fairlie adds: “Today’s announcement is geared towards securing initial stocks to meet forecasted customer demand. We’re not ruling out additional orders over the coming months, but these will be subject to available manufacturing capacity.”
ATS/359/12
About ATS Euromaster
ATS Euromaster is part of the Euromaster Group, which operates in fifteen European countries with 10,700 employees in more than 1,800 service centres. Established in the UK since 1961, ATS Euromaster has 370 service centres (comprising a mixture of retail, comprehensive and truck sites), approximately 1,000 mobile service vans and employs over 2,700 people, providing national coverage of the UK. It is the largest comprehensive tyre distributor supplying tyres for everything from cars and vans to trucks, coaches, forklifts, agricultural tractors and even construction plant. In 2010 ATS Euromaster became the first national tyre expert to be accredited by both SAFEContractor and the Contractors Health and Safety Scheme (CHAS). The company’s technicians are amongst the most highly trained in the fast-fit industry, offering a comprehensive range of products and services including tyres, fleet inspections, nitrogen inflation, brakes, batteries, shock absorbers, oil, exhausts, fault diagnostics, air-conditioning servicing and MOT testing. Further information is available from www.atseuromaster.co.uk
Note to editor: For press information please contact James Keeler on 020 8647 4467.
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