Continental helps youngster share love of football with the world
For Continental, supporting football isn’t just about brand exposure in packed stadiums. The company’s US operation has recently donated 1,000 new footballs to a 15-year old who shares his love of the beautiful game in developing countries.
Continue ReadingMichelin to buy Germany’s largest tyre wholesaler
According to information available to Tyres & Accessories, major European wholesaler Ihle Baden-Baden AG may soon belong to Michelin. The French tyre maker is said to be planning a 100 per cent acquisition of parent company Ihle Holding AG, whose assets include some 20 companies. Ihle Baden-Baden AG, which is headquartered in the spa town that serves as its namesake, is Germany’s largest wholesaler and enjoys an annual turnover of around €175 million (2012). German and other European authorities are conducting merger control proceedings.
Continue ReadingMichelin geocaching contest begins
Last month, Michelin announced that as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations it would conduct a geocaching treasure hunt in the US. The contest began on 8 September and in this first phase, geocachers are voluntarily distributing the nearly 1,500 Bibendum, or Michelin Man, tyre gauge trackables – each has a unique alphanumeric code –throughout the country. When this task commenced, Michelin said all trackables will be hidden and logged “within days”.
Continue ReadingGroundbreaking held for Continental’s performance tyre, technology facility
Yesterday, Continental officially broke ground on its new High Performance Technology Center (HPTC), a new “factory within a factory” at the company’s Korbach plant in Germany. The HPTC is being erected on a 12,000 square metre site and the building is expected to be completed by the end of May 2015, with operations at the completed facility scheduled to begin in July 2016.
Continue ReadingBASF brings Antwerp butadiene plant into service
A new butadiene extraction plant at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium has entered operation, the company reported today. The plant is the second BASF butadiene extraction plant in Europe – the other being its 105,000 tonne per annum Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany – and its 155,000 tonne a year capacity more than doubles the firm’s butadiene production capacity in the region.
Continue ReadingEvonik gains additional precipitated silica capacity in the US
A 20,000 tonne expansion to Evonik Corporation’s precipitated silica plant in Chester, Pennsylvania officially opened on 9 September, and has boosted the company’s global capacity for precipitated and fumed silica and matting agents to around 550,000 tonnes per annum.
Continue ReadingNo renewal of China’s rubber anti-dumping duties
Eleven years of Chinese government anti-dumping duties on imports of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) from Russia, Japan and South Korea ended on 8 September, the country’s Ministry of Commerce reports. The products had attracted duties of four to 38 per cent, however the ministry decided to remove them as these imports were deemed no longer a threat to China’s domestic tyre and rubber industry.
Continue ReadingCitexpo 2014 opens its doors to record crowds
Citexpo 2014 opened its doors today to what looks like will be record breaking numbers of visitors by the end of the week. According to Reliable Exhibitions (the show organiser), China International Tire Expo, as it is more formally known, saw at least 5,200 visitors pass through the doors of the Shanghai Everbright Exhibition Centre during the course of the opening day. Inside, visitors found large, modern stands from the shows 348 exhibitors (up 13 on last years total) spread across four halls for the first time in the shows 12-year history.
Continue ReadingEuropean Commission says Hungary to host Apollo’s new tyre plant, endorses proposed investment
Apollo Tyres hasn’t officially announced where its planned European factory will be built, but it looks as if the honour has gone to Hungary. Today the European Commission confirmed that a proposal to give Apollo Tyres (Hungary) Kft. €95.7 million (approximately HUF 29 billion) in regional investment aid for the construction of a tyre plant in Gyöngyöshalász is in line with European Union state aid rules. The Commission found that the aid granted by Hungary favours regional development, while any distortions of competition will remain limited.
Continue ReadingTransaid receives record £1.83 million grant
Transaid has been awarded funding of £1.83 million from Comic Relief to run its largest ever project, which will provide vital access to maternal health services in Zambia. It follows just months after Transaid secured its first ever grant from Comic Relief; £1 million to set up a five-year Emergency Transport Scheme in Adamawa State, Nigeria.
Continue ReadingBridgestone exploring options for larger US headquarters site
It appears Bridgestone Americas is looking for a larger place to call home. The Tennessean reports that Bridgestone’s US subsidiary is looking for a 400,000 square foot (37,000 square metre) premises in downtown Nashville. This is around double the floorspace the company now occupies in the city’s airport area. The lease at Bridgestone Americas’ current headquarters site expires in 2017, and the shortlist for potential new properties is said to include a high-rise office tower that will be built as part of a redevelopment project at the old Nashville Convention Center.
Continue ReadingGlobal football stars join F1 drivers on Pirelli tyre charity auction
Formula One’s drivers were joined by some of the world’s leading names in football as signatories on the Pirelli competition tyre auctioned on the Fondazione PUPI’s Ebay channel. On the occasion of the Inter Religious Match for Peace at Rome’s Olimpico stadium yesterday, the tyre was signed by Diego Maradona, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy […]
Continue ReadingNo tyre making comeback for Goodyear’s home town
Goodyear has confirmed what many must have already realised – tyre makers build factories in economically favourable sites. The US doesn’t top any list of low-cost locations, and therefore the bid its home town launched to host a new factory planned for the Americas was always going to be a long shot. Akron City Council nevertheless declared itself “willing to do what it takes” to host the new plant – but its hopes have now been dashed by Goodyear’s chief financial officer, who has sent word that Akron – where Goodyear last produced car tyres in 1977 – is considered too costly.
Continue ReadingMichelin Italy names new CEO
Starting 1 September, Lorenzo Rosso is the new president and chief executive officer of Michelin Italy Spa. Rosso takes over from Jean-Paul Caylar, who has returned to France after five years in the role.
Continue ReadingIAA debut supporting Infinity’s growing European activities
Its presence in the European commercial tyre segment is increasing, and therefore Infinity Tyres says it intends to step up development and sales activity in 2015. And to promote these initiatives, the company will present its range at IAA Commercial Vehicles 2014 show in hall 25, stand A02.
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