Welcome to the latest edition of MTD Hotwire. Today there's another consumer tire price hike to announce, as well as an OTR conference update from the Tire Industry Association and news from Bridgestone on a new tire business unit for mining tires.

The next edition of our MTD Hotwire will be out on Thursday. Meanwhile, check out the latest news on www.moderntiredealer.com.

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Yokohama Tire Corp. announced today it will increase prices by up to 8% on all of its consumer tires sold in the U.S., which include passenger, performance and light truck tires. The increase will go into effect March 1, with some in-line adjustments announced at a later date.

The Tire Industry Association's Off-The-Road (OTR) Tire Conference has added break-out sessions to its upcoming 2012 event Feb 15-18, 2012, at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa, Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations has formed an integrated mining tire business unit and reorganized its Bridgestone Commercial Group.

Apollo Tyres Ltd. produced its millionth truck-bus radial (TBR) this week at its manufacturing facility in Chennai, India.

Following what appears to be a record year, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. held its 2012 Dealer Conference in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 29-31. Modern Tire Dealer Editor Bob Ulrich was on hand for all the new product announcements, plus some fleet HQ announcements.

Nitto Tire U.S.A. Inc. has expanded its digital footprint by creating an original premium content channel through a new online destination: Driving-Line.com.

Michelin North America Inc. reports BFGoodrich Tires has introduced the g-Force Sport COMP-2, the newest tire in the BFGoodrich ultra-high performance tire lineup.

Tenneco Inc. has expanded its line of Monroe Quick-Strut replacement strut assemblies to cover nearly two dozen additional popular light truck and sport-utility vehicle models.

President Barack Obama has proposed to congress a $48 billion legislative package to aid small-business growth.

International Marketing Inc. (IMI) has hired Patrick Carrell as its new regional sales manager for the northwestern United States. IMI develops and markets automotive and trucking maintenance products and equipment.

Mitchell 1’s video on its forthcoming ProDemand information product is now available for viewing on YouTube.

The broadly held definition of the difference between small business ownership and entrepreneurism boils down to a single word: “growth.” Increasing sales is not, by itself, growth.

What began as a chance meeting at Autopromotec in 2008 has become a partnership between ITDG and point S.

I made my annual pilgrimage to the SEMA Show in November. With only a few exceptions, almost every tire dealer I spoke with said: a) business remains challenging, and b) they plan to buy very cautiously in the coming months.

Are you taking the direct route to customer satisfaction?

Following what appears to be a record year, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. held its 2012 Dealer Conference in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 29-31. I was on hand for all the new product announcements, plus some fleet HQ announcements.

No president has talked about tires publicly more than Barack Obama. That is both good and bad.