EDINBURGH, Scotland-A tire maintenance study conducted by two motoring organizations in Scotland generated some disturbing findings and prompted police to launch a two-week safety campaign in which thousands of motorists will be stopped at roadside checkpoints for tire inspections, according to a report in The Scotsman. Among the study's findings, released Oct. 2:
One in four Scottish motorists have a bald spare tire;
More than half don't know when they last checked their tires;
One-third do not know the correct pressure for their tires;
Only 12 percent had checked their tires during the week of the survey; several said they had never checked their tires.
A spokeswoman for one of the organizations said the investigation had turned up several ``horror stories'': ``We have seen holes in the tread, wires sticking through and tires so smooth they would not look out of place on a Formula One car.''
EDINBURGH, Scotland-Kwik-Fit Holdings P.L.C., Europe's largest independent tire dealership network, had record sales and profits in the first half of its fiscal year, ended Aug. 31.
Kwik-Fit saw first-half profits climb 18.1 percent to $23.4 million on a 20.9-percent jump in sales to $343.3 million. (Amounts converted from British pounds at prevailing rates.)
The company added 59 retail outlets during the six months, for a total of 846 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. It also operates 117 mobile tire-mounting vehicles in the U.K.- a venture it plans to expand.
A telemarketing unit launched in mid-1995 now contacts nearly 4,000 Kwik-Fit customers a day to inquire about their satisfaction with the company's service.
HONG KONG-China Tire Holdings Ltd. overcame a competitive market environment in China to post significant gains in sales and earnings for the first half of 1996.
For the six months ended June 30, China Tire's net income leapt 43.4 percent to $2.17 million, compared with the 1995 half, as sales grew 10.6 percent to $154.2 million. (Amounts converted from Chinese renminbi at prevailing rates.)
The company cited Chinese government figures that showed 22 of 54 domestic tire makers surveyed finished the six months in the red, while another 16 generated profits of less than 1 million renminbi (just over $120,300).
Based in Hong Kong, China Tire has a controlling interest in five tire manufacturing concerns in mainland China.
SEOUL, South Korea-South Korean exports of tires and tubes boomed in the first half of 1996, but prospects for the remainder of the year are less rosy, according to the Korea Tire Industry Association. Exports of all types of tires and tubes were worth $909 million in the first seven months of 1996, up 16.1 percent from the comparable 1995 period. The strongest growth came in the passenger tire segment, where exports shot up 19.7 percent in the period, to $779 million.