News round-up: Gov gets ready for electric cars, STAFDA breaks record, Hitachi & more

It's the end of the week so it's time for our look back through the headlines of the past few days to keep you up to date with the latest in the fastener, tool and related industries... 

First up we had reaction from the fastener industry to the changes in the automotive market – namely the UK Government’s commitment to electric cars and the end of sales of conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040. TR Fastenings said that the automotive supply chain had already begun to adapt, but echoed the SMMT's view that the industry "needs a positive approach which gives consumers incentives to purchase" electric cars. You can read the full story here.

Sticking with the world of automotive, Bulten revealed that it has signed a $5 million fastener deal with a major vehicle manufacturer, starting 2018 and running to full capacity in 2019/2020. Find the details here.

Tools shows & acquisition sprees

One of the USA’s key fastener and tool industries shows – STAFDA – has sold out, three months before it takes place. Read more on that record breaking performance here.

Elsewhere, Hitachi Power Tools (Hitachi Koki) revealed plans to become one of the top three power tools makers in the world, spending anything up to $447m in order to do so. Read the report here.

Plus there was news from Tibbetts Group, Ferdinand Gross, Toolstation’s owner Travis Perkins and more.

Elsewhere there was good news on manufacturing in the UK which handily ties into our upcoming European manufacturing feature in September. To get involved with that, email the Torque team at info@torque-expo.com

And of course we launched our latest edition of our digital magazine. If you haven’t had a look at it yet then give it a whirl here – it’s a magazine, Jim, but not as we know it.

You can stay up to date with news from the fastener, tool and related industries by signing up for our weekly newsletter, which delivers the latest headlines straight to your inbox.