National Tyres and Autocare is a tyre and automotive parts retailer based in Stockport in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and owned by

Halfords Halfords Group PLC is the UK's largest retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom. Halfords Group is listed on the Lon ...

. They are commonly referred to as just 'National Tyres' although the limited company is still National Tyre Service Ltd (trading as National Tyres and Autocare).

History

National Tyres and Autocare was formed in August 1970 under the name National Tyre Service Ltd. It brought together a number of companies to form the UK's first national network of tyre fitting centres. The components were Marsham Tyre Service, Briggs Tyre Service and Gorrills Tyre Service were owned and merged by Dunlop Ltd. In 1985 National Tyre Service Ltd was purchased by

BTR plc BTR plc was a British multinational industrial conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1924, grew strongly by acquisition under Sir Owen Green's leadership, and merged with Siebe plc in 1999 to form BTR ...

. In May 1991, National Tyre Service Ltd was bought from BTR plc by German tyre manufacturer Continental AG. At the same time Continental AG also purchased Smiley Tyres & Exhausts (who subsequently merged with National Tyre Service) and tyre wholesalers Birkenshaw International and Viking Tyres. Birkenshaw International and Viking Tyres later merged to form Viking International. In December 2001, under a management buyout, National Tyre Service Ltd was transferred to their current parent company, Axle Group Holdings Ltd for £24m. In August 2006 the Leicester branch of National Tyres was almost completely destroyed in a large fire. The branch was subsequently rebuilt and still trades today. In December 2021, the National Tyre and Autocare garage chain merged with

, a competitor in automotive part sales. As a result, Halfords possessed a combined total of 604 garages and 235 Halford Mobile Expert vans across the UK, providing all types of garage services such as tyre fitting, MOTs, repairs and servicing.

British Superbike sponsorship

National Tyres sponsored the Suzuki superbike team in the 2000

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom, and was once widely acknowledged as the p ...

. Their main rider, Chris Walker, came close to winning the Championship that year, only engine failure with three laps remaining allowed Ducati rider

Neil Hodgson Neil Stuart Hodgson (born 20 November 1973) is a British former motorcycle racer, who won the 2000 British Superbike Championship, and the 2003 Superbike World Championship titles. He then went on to have a moderately successful four years in t ...

to pass him and take the title.

References

External links

National Tyres and Autocare HomepageNational Tyres Fleet Website
{{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom Automotive companies of the United Kingdom Automotive part retailers Automotive repair shops Companies based in Stockport Online retailers of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1970 Retail companies established in 1970 1970 establishments in England