Cafco and Lucas in Braking Partnership

The CAFCO Group, one of the UK’s largest automotive components distributors, has announced that it is to stock Lucas friction and hydraulic braking products in an agreement worth in excess of £1 million per annum at resale prices. According to Richard Abadee, Sales and Marketing Director for the CAFCO Group, which operates through 23 outlets in Southern England, including HAE (Hampshire Auto Electrical Ltd), PRC (Piston Rings and Components) and Radial Ltd, the deal involves CAFCO making Lucas their number one supplier for brake shoes and pads, hoses, wheel cylinders and master cylinders. In addition, as a group, the company supports a number of Brakecheck Centres, Lucas’s fast-fit braking concept. Abadee is pictured here (right) with Lucas Area Sales Manager Ron Edwards. (7/99)

AP Borg & Beck Introduce Telephone Helpline

Clutch manufacturer, AP Borg & Beck has announced that it has established a telephone helpline for mechanics in need of assistance with clutch fitting problems such as those arising when dealing with a new model or application. The helpline allows mechanics to speak to experienced technicians who will either talk through any particular problem on the phone, or fax through a data sheet on the vehicle, listing the tools required alongside useful fitting tips.

Calls to the AP Borg & Beck clutch fitting helpline, on 0800 389 4104, are free and are open from Monday to Friday as well as on Saturday morning (7/99).

Filtrauto Complete Air Filter Plant Investment

Filtrauto UK, theLabinal subsidiary and manufacturer of the Crosland filter brand, has completed a multi-million pound investment in a new air filter plant in Nottingham. "The plant", says Bob Shuttleworth, Filtrauto Sales and Marketing Director, Aftermarket Northern Europe, "is now one of the finest in Europe. The investment has dramatically increased our capacity to manufacture panel air filters." (7/99)

Meritor and ZF in Transmissions Joint Venture

Meritor Automotive Inc and ZF Friedrichshafen AG have announced their intention to form a joint venture, ZF Meritor LLC, to produce technologically advanced medium and heavy duty transmissions for heavy vehicle original equipment manufacturers and the aftermarket, for the United States, Canada and Mexico.

ZF and Meritor will each own 50% of the new venture, which will be based at the Meritor transmision manufacturing plant in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Meanwhile, sales and service of the joint ventures’s product range will be handled by Meritor’s 100 strong sales force, including its North American field operations and aftermarket teams. A 60% interest in Meritor Clutch Company will also be included in the joint venture. The transaction, expected to close in July 1999, is subject to customary regulatory approvals. (7/99)

ATS Attendance Up

The SMMT has reported substantial increases in visitor attendance at the recent Automotive Trade Show, held at the NEC in June. According to the Association visitor levels at the show were at their highest levels since 1989 totalling 19,718 people, 7.5% up on the 1995 figure. Overseas visitors were up even more impressively, rising 14% to 701.

Roy Kishor, Joint Show Chairman commented; "This year’s ATS has been excellent. Despite consolidation in the aftermarket industry reducing the number of companies in the business and the tough conditions we’ve all faced in the last two years, recording such significant growth is a fantastic achievement.

The next Automotive Trade Show takes place from 29 April to 2 May 2001, also at the NEC (7/99)

Don Makes Move on Asbestos Ban

In view of the forthcoming European legislation against asbestos replacement brake materials, Do has decided to pull out of asbestos friction materials with a structured plan taking effect immediately.

EU Directive 98/12 on replacement brake materials states hat "with effect from 1 October 1999 Member States shall prohibit the entry into service of vehicles fitted with brake linings containing asbestos." In response, Don says it will be running a series of promotions on asbestos liners to deplete its asbestos stock levels while building its asbestos free stock. No asbestos friction materials will be available after 1 October. (7/99)

Lucas Appoints Specialist Test Equipment Network

Lucas has announced that it is appointing a sales network to demonstrate and sell its range of hand-held diagnostic test equipment including the Laser 2000, Laser 1500, oscilloscopes, multimeters, ignition modules and signal testers. According to Lucas, Kevin Cooper, Hickley Valtone, Shorts, Camberley Auto Factors and CLS Solutions have already been appointed although the company is looking to extend the network, particularly in the North and East of the country. (7/99)

Faurecia Receives Supplier Award from Audi

Faurecia has announced that it has received the "Audi Quality Award" for its front-end module which is supplied for the Audi A3 and A4 models by Faurecia’s Ingolstadt plant in Germany.

Faurecia produces three of the main components of the front-end module itself: the front-end carrier – composite or hybrid (plastic/metal) – the cooling fan system and the bumper. This involves the application of specialist plastics technologies including hybrid injection as well as expertise in design and simulation.

Faurecia claims a position as a leader in Europe in the area of front-end modules, main customers being Citroen (Xsara), Peugeot (306) and Audi. Volume production has been introduced for two new manufacturing processes for lightweight front-end carriers – the XRE injection process developed by the group and the hybrid injection process developed in collaboration with Bayer. Acording to Faurecia, the new processes have enabled the company to secure new orders for front-end cariers from Peugeot, Rover and VW. (7/99)

Champion Spark Plug Promotion

Spark plug manufacturer Champion, now part of Federal-Mogul, is currently running a major promotion on its Double Copper, Multi-Electrode and Platinum spark plugs in order to capitalise on the Book of Life, Champion’s bible of spark plug applications which has now been received by over 55,000 garage technicians.

In the promotion, which runs until the end of July, garages have been receiving a mailer featuring questions relating to the Book of Life. All correct answers are to be entered into a prize draw o win £1,000 of garage equipment with every entrant receiving a wall-chart specifying Book of Life details for popular vehicle applications. Respondents will also receive a follow-up offer which provides the opportunity to win a further £5,000 of garage equipment. (7/99)

Don in New Truck Racing Sponsorship

Friction material manufacturer Don has extended its involvement in European truck racing with two sponsorship deals for the 1999 race season.

Firstly, Don has renewed its sponsorship of the caterpillar-TRD racing team in the European Supertruck series and, as the team’s sole supplier, will be providing Caterpillar with its 7450 friction material for a second season. The company will also be sponsoring Fabien Calvet’s team for the first time in this year’s European Truck racing Cup in conjunction with France Tambour. The team’s MAN truck will be supplied with drums and shoes by France Tambour while Don will provide brake linings and technical support including brake profiling. (7/99)

Tetrosyl on the Web

Car care specialists Tetrosyl have announced the launch of their new website. The site, live since the beginning of June, features the seven companies that make up the Tetrosyl Group with emphasis on Car Plan. Features of the site include a unique paint cross referencing system to find the exact paint match for your car, a stockist database, video clips, technical information and an exclusive internet competition page. The site can be found at www.tetrosyl.com (7/99)

Meritor Strengthens Aftermarket Operations

Following the recent acquisitions of the Lucasvarity Hevy Vehicle Braking Systems business and Euclid Industries, Meritor is initiating a major reorganisation of its former parts and Service operations into a newly formed integrated Aftermarket operation.

A new centralised European Aftermarket operation will be based at the company’s Maudsley manufacturing site in Warwickshire where a purpose-made new facility is now being built for a European Call Centre and operational staffing of up to 40 people. The operation will concentrate on improved distribution and logistics and product range expansion and was aimed to be fully operational by the end of June. (7/99)

Champion in Hyundai Deal

Champion has announced that it is now supplying its spark plugs as original equipment on over 40 Hyundai models, with almost 50% of production being destined for export. Wirral based Champion now has 100% OE fitment on all vehicles entering the European market in such models as the new 800cc Atoz (using the RC10YC4 plug) to the new 2.5 litre V6 Delta engine using the platinum tipped RC10PYP4 which is used to achieve a service interval of 100,000 km.

Meanwhile, Champion’s technicians at the company’s European Technical Centre have changed the insulator cap end diameters of both the RC10YC4 and the RC10PYP4 at the request of Hyundai and the new type plugs are now being delivered to the Korean manufacturer at the rate of 35,000 per month for the RC10PYP4 and 50,000 per month for the RC10YC4. (7/99)

New SKF Promotion from GPA

Parts distributor GP Automotive and KF have joined forces for a summer promotion on SKF’s range of wheel bearing kits. Motor factors who buy SKF wheel bearing kits can accumulate points and exchange them for gifts with one pint being awarded for every kit purchased. A wide selection of prizes from mountain bikes to personal organisers are up for grabs in the promotion which runs from May 1 until September 30. The promotion is part of a national campaign by SKF to encourage instalers to replace wheel bearing its in pairs.

Further incentive promotions are being planned by GP Automotive in the coming months on new product ranges including Cifam brake hydraulics and Trico wiper blades. (7/99)

Team Premier Wins Approval

Nottingham based filter manufacturer Filtrauto has launched an ongoing loyalty scheme to its Crosland customers called Team Premier. The scheme is only available to a maximum of 200 customers with membership being based on pre-committing to certain sales criteria.

According to John Prince Crosland’s UK Sales Manager, 50 companies have already signed up for the scheme which offers prizes ranging from a mug to a VIP trip to the Monaco Grand Prix.

Existing Crosland customers who wish to join Team Premier should contact their Crosland Filters representative. Those not currently stocking Crosland but are interested in the promotion, should contact the Crosland sales tam on 0115 929 1145. (7/99)

New Fitting Centre for Elite

Elite Automotive, the air conditioning specialist, has opened a new fitting centre on the Lichfield Road Industrial Estate in Tamworth. Dedicated to fitting and servicing automotive air conditioning systems, the new centre, aong with the company’s assembly facilities and warehousing, will enable Elite to provide in-house service alongside the supply of OEM and Dealer Fit Systems.

Elite’s main business is in the design, development and assembly of air conditioning systems for a wide range of vehicle applications with the company being able to handle projects needing between 500-3000 units per annum, too low for the larger suppliers. The new centre, however, is aimed primarily at individual dealers who require a one-off or a small contract due to the rising demand for air conditioning systems in the aftermarket. (7/99)