Page last updated at March 10, 2010 05:39:48 PM
Corporate News
Goodyear’s Keegan Pay Packet Worth $17 million in 2009
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s chairman and outgoing chief executive of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. received a pay package worth as much as US$17.196 million in 2009. While Keegan’s “non-equity incentive plan compensation” virtually doubled from $4.6 million to $9.514 million during the period, total pay was only 5.39 per cent up on the $16.317 million he received last year. In 2008 Keegan’s package was worth $23.6 million, according...
Titan Doubling Common Stock
Titan International’s shareholders voted to double the company’s common shares offered on the stock market, reports Tire Review. The board revised Titan’s articles of incorporation to increase the number of common stock shares form 60 million to 120 million. Titan said 86 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the move. Titan chairman and CEO Morry Taylor said the new shares will “allow the company additional flexibility for possible...
Cooper Reports $52 million Net Income for 2009
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company returned to profit, reporting net income of $52 million (£34.895 million; 38.439 million euros) for the year compared with losses of $219 million (£147 million; 161.890 million euros) in 2008. Annual sales of $2.8 billion (£1.878 billion; 2.086 billion euros) for 2009, were down 4 per cent from 2008.
Down Market Gives Titan $300 Million Sales 2009 Drop
Extended OEM shutdowns and downturns in its core markets led US company Titan International to a $300 million sales fall-off in 2009, reports Tire Review. Titan posted 2009 sales of $727.6 million, as compared to $1,036.7 million in 2008. Net loss for the year was $24.6 million, compared to net income of $13.3 million in 2008.
Apollo Completes Vehicle Dynamics Workshop in Chennai
Indian manufacturer Apollo Tyres has completed its second Vehicle Dynamics Workshop in the southern Indian city of Chennai. Apollo began the Workshop two years ago as a biannual platform for auto and tyre-makers, tyre testing authorities and homologation bodies to discuss vehicle dynamics, its facets, complexities, issues being faced and ways and means of addressing them. The company says the Workshop comes at a time when regulations across the...
Continental Extends Football Sponsorship with World Cup 2014 Deal
Continental has extended its sponsorship of international football events with a deal to become the Exclusive Tyre Partner and Official Sponsor of 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. “With preparation for activation of our sponsoring of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa going ahead at full steam, we have already laid the ground for worldwide marketing communication in the next few years by renewing the FIFA partnership through 2014,”...
Goodyear Pension Plans Underfunded, Magazine Says
Pensions & Investments magazine reports that Goodyear’s pension plan is badly underfunded, and that the tyremaker will contribute between $275 million and $325 million to its global pension plans in 2010. Goodyear had contributed $430 million to its plans in 2009, the magazine reported.
Analysts Increase Michelin Share Price Target Following Second Half Results
In the wake of financial results that Michelin characterised as being “more agile than ever,” financial analysts have raised their price targets for the tyre manufacturer by 7 euros from 29 to 36 euros. The Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in their investors note that they had upped estimates from the 2010 to 2011 earnings per share from 3.15 to 4.30 and 3.90 to 4.76 respectively. At the same time they issues a new 2012 earnings per share...
Kumho Asiana Group Shares Jump Following Creditor Support
Messages of support from major creditors such as Korea Development Bank and a restructuring plan have led to shares in the Kumho Asiana Group – which includes Kumho Tire – experiencing a jump of up to 15 per cent in Tuesday trading, say Reuters reports. The state-run bank helped the company to suppress ideas that the Group could be heading for court receivership. The gains outpaced a general improvement of 0.7 per cent in the rest of the...
Watts Tyre Group Creates New Latin American Business Unit
Watts Tyre Group, the UK-based industrial tyre and wheel producer has announced the creation of Watts America Latina, a new business unit to service the Latin American market (excluding Brazil and Mexico where the group has existing business operations). Watts America Latina is headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay and is headed by director General Carlos Correia. The business services container customers across the region as well as sales from a...
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RUD-Erlau to Show Tyre Protection Technology at Bauma
RUD-Erlau, purportedly the inventor of the tyre protection chains (TPC), is to show it most advanced technology at this year’s Bauma show in Munich (19 – 25 April 2010, C2 Booth 311/406). According to the company, RUD-Erlau’s TPCs are more than... -
Are Automotive Battery Manufacturers Facing Overcapacity?
The share of electrified powertrains is expected to increase significantly in all major automotive markets as a result of marked decreases in the cost of batteries over the next decade. Yet the desire to capitalise on this growing market may lead to... -
New Generation Michelin Alpin Available H1 2010
The fourth generation of Michelin’s Alpin cold weather tyre is ready, and the French manufacturer states it will be introduced into European replacement markets during the first half of 2010 in “all regions where winter roads are generally wet –... -
Infinity Aims to 'Go Deep' with Fast Growing 'Premium Budget' Strategy
When Al-Dobowi Group executives Surrender Singh Kandhari and his son Harjeev Singh Kandhari founded Infinity tyres six years ago, they probably didn't envisage how quickly their ambitious plans would come to fruition. What began with a series of... -
TGI Adds Cosmo Truck Radials
US company Tire Group International has added a premium radial truck tyre line under the Cosmo brand name to its portfolio of products. With a range of more than 350 sizes in the Light Truck, Truck, Industrial, Agricultural and OTR segment, Cosmo Tire... -
Toyo Introduces Versado CUV for Crossovers
Toyo Tires has launched its latest addition to the Versado range in the US. The Versado CUV, designed for crossover vehicles, is promoted as being Toyo Tires’ “most efficient tyre yet” thanks to the low rolling resistance compound utilised. The... -
Pirelli Cinturato Tops Club, Magazine Tests
Pirelli’s Cinturato passenger tyre line dominated annual tests run by German auto club ADAC, Switzerland’s Touring Club (TCS) and the Austrian automobile club (OEAMTC), reports Tire Review. The Cinturato P7 and P6 were named best summer tyres in... -
Accuride Introduces OEM-Quality Chrome Wheel Accessories
Accuride Corporation recently debuted a line of OEM-quality chrome wheel accessories. This new range consists of ABS chrome front and rear wheel hub and nut covers designed to fit most class 7 and 8 trucks, trailers, and recreational vehicles. -
Bigger Tyre Changer Turntables for Increasingly Bigger Wheels
Snap-on Equipment has introduced two new tyre changers under the Hofmann and John Bean brands to meet what the company perceives as a growing need for tyre shops and garages to handle the larger wheel rim diameters fitted to an increasing number of... -
New HP Tyre ZT5 from Avon for Small and Medium Cars
Avon Tyres’ latest high-performance tyre, the ZT5 has been designed with what the company calls “the latest ‘pitch technology’ to reduce road noise for a quieter ride and to ensure that the new tyre conforms with EU noise legislation.” The...
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Tire Rack Upgrades Consumer Site
The Tire Rack has made a major enhancement to its TireRack.com consumer tyre and wheel sales website, reports Tire Review. The enhancement is “designed to make the tire buying experience even faster, easier and more efficient,” Tire Rack said, by... -
Tyremax Puts Cameo into New Premises
Tyremax has expanded its business with the addition of two new sites in Finchley and Chigwell, bringing the total number of sites to three in North and East London. As a result, it will be extending its contract with Cam Systems to introduce the Cameo... -
Acceptance of Daewoo Sale to Aid Kumho Restructuring Plan
The Kumho Asiana Group is one step closer to untying its financial knots following the financial investors of Daewoo Engineering and Construction accepted the terms for selling their share in the company. This leaves the path clear for Kumho Asiana to... -
Major Manufacturers Testing Ekoprena
Two years ago Sumitomo Rubber subsidiary Dunlop Falken Tyres Ltd releases the Enasave 97, a tyre containing only three per cent petroleum derived materials. The substance enabling this close to total freedom from synthetic rubber in the Ensave 97 is... -
Despite Reduced Sales, Pirelli Tyre Records Stronger Profit in 2009
Financial statements approved by the Pirelli & C. SpA Board of Directors on March 10 show Pirelli Tyre to have attained revenues of 3,992.9 million euros during 2009, a 2.6 per cent reduction on a year earlier. Despite this slight annual decrease,... -
Bridgestone Europe Rated a “Top Employer”
The CRF Institute, an independent research organisation specialised in labour conditions, has certified the Brussels based Bridgestone Europe headquarters a “top employer” in its Top Employers Belgium 2010 ranking. According to CRF,... -
Goodyear’s Keegan Pay Packet Worth $17 million in 2009
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s chairman and outgoing chief executive of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. received a pay package worth as much as US$17.196 million in 2009. While Keegan’s “non-equity incentive plan compensation” virtually... -
Lanxess Examining Options for Brazil Retreading Chemical Production
Some 18 million truck and bus tyres are said to be retreaded in North America each year and a further nine million in South America, and to meet growing demand for the raw materials used in retreading both within the region and worldwide, Lanxess’s... -
Aufine to Raise Prices Price 5 per cent from April
Aufine Group has announced plans to execute a 5 per cent price increased “for all the shipments from 1 April 2010” because of the increasing cost of production materials, especially rubber. Writing in a customer newsletter, company representatives... -
Conti Looking at Consumer Tyre Price Increases
Speaking to the German language automotive publication Automobilwoche, the head of Continental AG’s Passenger Car Tyre division, Nikolai Setzer, indicated that price rises are impending. Although exact price adjustments will vary from market to...
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Tire Rack Upgrades Consumer Site
The Tire Rack has made a major enhancement to its TireRack.com consumer tyre and wheel sales website, reports Tire Review. The enhancement is “designed to make the tire buying experience even faster, easier and more efficient,” Tire Rack said, by... -
Continental Launches Sime Brand 4x4 Tyres in Malaysia
Continental Sime Tyre has rolled out two tyre models of its Sime Tyres 4x4 range aimed at SUVs, pick-ups and crossover SUVs for Malaysia. The Centipede AT and HT product will be available in 25 55 to 80 series sizes. The tyres are designed for use in... -
"New Products, Innovation Key to Top Line Growth": Goodyear Dunlop at Geneva
Goodyear Dunlop has spent the last week showcasing four concept and prototype tyres featuring innovations for future use on earth and in outer space in addition to its five latest tyres for European motorists. The company said that over the course of... -
RUD-Erlau to Show Tyre Protection Technology at Bauma
RUD-Erlau, purportedly the inventor of the tyre protection chains (TPC), is to show it most advanced technology at this year’s Bauma show in Munich (19 – 25 April 2010, C2 Booth 311/406). According to the company, RUD-Erlau’s TPCs are more than... -
Dunlop New Exclusive Ducati 848 Challenge Tyre Supplier
Dunlop has been announced as the sole tyre supplier to the new Ducati 848 race series. The leading tyre manufacturer agreed a deal with New Era Motorcycle Club and Ducati UK to ensure all bikes racing in the new championship are shod with Dunlop... -
Tyremax Puts Cameo into New Premises
Tyremax has expanded its business with the addition of two new sites in Finchley and Chigwell, bringing the total number of sites to three in North and East London. As a result, it will be extending its contract with Cam Systems to introduce the Cameo... -
Brityrex Increases Aftermarket Appeal
More exhibitors from across the aftermarket have signed up for October’s Brityrex International exhibition, with familiar names and new brands seeking to capitalise on the potential offered by a post-recession tyre and equipment marketplace. Among... -
Acceptance of Daewoo Sale to Aid Kumho Restructuring Plan
The Kumho Asiana Group is one step closer to untying its financial knots following the financial investors of Daewoo Engineering and Construction accepted the terms for selling their share in the company. This leaves the path clear for Kumho Asiana to... -
Major Manufacturers Testing Ekoprena
Two years ago Sumitomo Rubber subsidiary Dunlop Falken Tyres Ltd releases the Enasave 97, a tyre containing only three per cent petroleum derived materials. The substance enabling this close to total freedom from synthetic rubber in the Ensave 97 is... -
Conti’s Tyre Plant the Key to Brazilian Market
The Brazilian tyre market is one of the world’s largest and due to its growth has been counted amongst the most important emerging markets, the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), for a number of years now. For the last five...
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Al Saeedi Adds New Gallant Truck Tyre Size
Al Saeedi Automotive TRD Co (LLC), the exclusive distributor of Gallant brand truck tyres in the Middle East and Africa, has added 1200R24 20PR GL 885 to the range of sizes it offers. The new tyre is described as an all-position radial optimised for highway and on/off road applications. According to the distributor, the special features of this tyre include ultra-high tyre bead structure and a lateral block shoulder. “These features help enable... -
Apollo’s Passenger Tyre ‘Grand Masters’ Meet in Beijing
Some 186 Apollo Tyres dealers assembled in Beijing on the first weekend of December for the tyre maker’s “Grand Master Business Partners” meeting. A total of 170 India based partners and 16 international dealers, all of whom exceeded their projected passenger car tyre sales targets over the last twelve months, attended a three-day meeting with company officials in the Chinese capital. Apollo’s strategy for the coming year was shared with... -
US Tariffs an Opportunity for Asian Manufacturers
Although the US decision to charge tariffs on consumer tyres produced in China has presented the country’s manufacturers and importers of the product with a sizeable hurdle to their business, the Kasikorn Research Center, a subsidiary of Thailand’s Kasikornbank, believes the decision presents Thai exporters with a major opportunity to increase their market share. -
Smuggling, Under-Invoicing Hurting Pakistan’s Tyre Makers
More than six million tyres are purchased in Pakistan each year, but even though local manufacturers are only capable of producing 2.5 million units annually, they are operating at under capacity. The reason for this, believes the head of one domestic producer, is the prevalence of smuggled and under-invoiced foreign brands. -
JK Tyre to Increase Exports to Central, South America
JK Tyre and Industries is aiming to substantially increase exports from Tornel, the Mexican company it acquired last year. According to the Press Trust of India the company aims to do this within a year through further expand within the Central and South American markets. -
Tire Rack Tests Yokohama’s Orange Oil Tyre in 'Real World Ride'
Yokohama Tire Corporation's (YTC) eco-friendly dB Super E-specT tyre, which is made of 80 per cent non-petrol products, scored well in a recent low rolling resistance test conducted by US retailer Tire Rack. "The Tire Rack test shows that the dB Super E-spec, which introduces new technology in tyre materials and design, is noticeably better on all-around performance," said Mark Chung, YTC director, corporate strategy and planning.... -
TGI Opens Houston Office
Tire Group International (TGI) has opened a new sales office in Houston, Texas headed by Tom Wilbur. Wilbur comes to TGI with over 12 years experience in the tyre industry, having worked for firms such as Area Wholesale Tire and Tire Dealers Warehouse. -
Hankook Evaluates Southeast Asian Sites for New Plant
Hankook Tire intends to build a new factory – its sixth overseas plant – somewhere in Southeast Asia. South Korea’s Yonhap news reports company CEO Suh Seung-hwa as stating on October 23 that Hankook may spend between US$250 million and $300 million building the new facility, which is expected to have an annual capacity of ten million units. -
Conti Sime Opens BestDrive Continental Car Centre in East Malaysia
On 18 October Bintang Ramai Sdn. Bhd., in partnership with Continental Sime Tyre Sdn. Bhd. (CST) opened the first BestDrive passenger car and Light Truck (PLT) centre in East Malaysia. The new branch is the 16th BestDrive in Malaysia, but the first in Eastern Malaysia. According to Benoit Henry, CEO of CST, the BestDrive PLT centre empowers the company’s partners with the opportunity to use its brand to position themselves as uniform,... -
Nizhnekamskshina to Commission 1.2 million Tyre All-Steel Radial Plant
Russian petrochemicals group OAO Tatneft (Kama and Niznekamshina’s parent company) said it is set to expand its tyre manufacturing capacity with the commissioning of a 1.2 million tyres a year all-steel truck and bus radial plant near its existing Niznekamshskina plant in Niznekamsk. The commissioning follows investment of around 17 billion rubles (£362 million; 388 million euros; US$578 million) in line with a plan first conceived in 2006....