Beaurepaires Indroduces ‘Climate Neutral’ Tyres to Australia
One of Australia’s largest tyre retailers, Beaurepaires, is calling on motorists to help reduce the environmental impact of their cars and tyres through the use of climate neutral tyres. For the first time, Australian motorists can purchase climate neutral tyres at no extra cost thanks to the Beaurepaires Climate Neutral campaign the retailer is running across its 300-store national network during October. If the 11 million passenger vehicles on Australian roads were fitted with climate neutral tyres, more than 10.5 million tonnes of CO² emissions could be prevented from entering our atmosphere. This is equivalent to the volume of 2.3 million Olympic sized swimming pools or more than 1.6 million households switching to clean energy for one year. Beaurepaires has also produced a set of tips to help motorists reduce the environmental impact of their cars and tyres on a day-to-day basis. Managing director and CEO of Beaurepaires, Judith Swales, urged motorists to do their bit to lessen the environmental damage caused by their vehicles.
Continue ReadingReorganisation will Reduce Michelin’s Capex, says Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank has provided comment on the recently announced Michelin closures and restructuring. According to the bank’s Equity Research division, the closure of Michelin’s factory in Toul, France and the passenger tyre division of its Lasarte, Spain plant will allow the company’s Capex in Europe to be lowered by 30 per cent while tackling the pressing issue of labour costs, which are currently 50 per cent higher than Michelin’s global average. A reported 830 workers will lose their jobs as a result of the Toul closure, and a further 500 layoffs will take place when PCR production ends in Lasarte. According to Deutsche Bank the Michelin reorganisation in Europe will ultimately lead to a better equilibrium between production and sales for the continent – at present Europe represents 70 per cent of the group’s production but only 50 per cent of sales. The closures and restructuring will also in part address the imbalance of scale faced by Michelin’s European facilities, which are two to three times smaller than what is considered optimal – 8 to 10 million units for a PCR factory and 2 million units for one producing truck tyres.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Heads onto the Field as Official NFL Tyre
Tyre sponsorship of motorsport events is nothing new but ‘official tyres’ are generally less common in sporting codes that don’t actually involve the use of cars. However the absence of vehicles has proven no handicap to the National Football League (NFL) in the US, who has signed Bridgestone up as its first “Official Tire of the National Football League.” The multi-year marketing and promotional agreement between the NFL and Bridgestone Firestone North America will see the Bridgestone brand involved in a number of promotional opportunities including title sponsorship of the first regular season NFL game to be played outside of North America. Under the agreement, BFNT and the Bridgestone brand will join with the powerful NFL brand through numerous exclusive promotional opportunities, including title sponsorship of the first-ever regular season NFL game to be played outside North America. The game, known as the Bridgestone International Series, will be played on October 28 between the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Philippines Plans Factory Upgrade, Seeks Retail Investors
Manufacturing facilities at Goodyear’s operations in the Philippines are likely candidates for an upgrade, according to the president of Goodyear Philippines David Morin. At a press conference on October 4 Morin said that additional equipment would be purchased for the Las Pinas Goodyear factory in Manila, and he outlined plans to introduce a number of new products for export to Asean markets. Goodyear’s Las Pinas plant exports 50 per cent of its production to Southeast Asian countries, including China and India, however as the facility is already operating at full capacity no new staff will be added to its complement of 700 workers as part of these improvements. In addition to this planned upgrade, Goodyear Philippines is urging potential Filipino distributors and retailers to invest in the tyre industry. According to Morin the company has plans to expand its retail outlets in 15 to 20 untapped markets throughout the chain of islands.
Continue ReadingBekaert Announces US Lay Offs
In the US Bekaert Steel has laid off 23 employees at its Rome, Georgia facility, a result of stronger competition from manufacturers in China. The factory, which produces steel cord used in tyre production, began laying off staff on October 1. “We hope this is short lived,” plant manager Gary Downey told local newspaper the Rome News-Tribune. “The market is slow right now, but we fully anticipate that it is going to return.” In late August the company also announced the closure of its joint venture steel cord facility in Geelong, Australia, quoting cheaper production costs in other regions as a factor in this decision.
Continue ReadingMichelin Malaysia Appoints New MD
Michelin’s Malaysian operation, Michelin Malaysia Sdn Bhd, has announced the appointment of a new managing director. Former sales development manager for Michelin Asia Pacific Yves Pouliquen began in this role on October 1, taking over from Ronald Sutardja, who is leaving the company. Pouliquen started his career with Michelin in 1998 as a supply chain manager for the Asia-Pacific region before becoming a territory account manager in 2001.
Continue ReadingVan den Ban Takes on Beijing Capital Tyres
Netherlands based wholesaler Van den Ban (VDB) has completed an agreement with BCT (Beijing Capital Tyres) which will see it initially offer three patterns of this Chinese tyre in their portfolio. The PCR S600 line will have the following sizes in the range 155/65/TR13 – 195/60/HR15, the Ultra High Performance S800 will be available in 205/40ZR17 – 235/35/ZR19. The High Performance a-symmetric pattern S900 will be sold in 185/55/VR14 – 205/55WR16. All the described sizes are available from November. VDB has plans to extend the range of sizes next year and towards the end of 2008 with the addition of a Light Truck and M&S programme also being added to the BCT range. VDB also recently extended its Novex range on two fronts: a new SUV/4x4 range has recently been introduced under the ‘SUV Speed’ name, along with a new range of winter tyres called ‘Snow-Speed’. The SUV Speed initially offers 16 sizes whilst the Snow Speed consists of 56 sizes which also incorporates light truck patterns as well.
Continue ReadingVicki Gets into Gear for Tyre Safety
UK online tyre retailer etyres has teamed up with Vicki Butler-Henderson – the face of Tyre Safety Month – to produce two tyre safety videos showing the dangers of driving on worn tyres. Both are now available to view on the eTyres website www.etyres.co.uk or through the TyreSafe website, www.tyresafe.org. The dramatic videos, which were shot at the Motor Industry Research Association in Nuneaton, clearly and graphically depict how dangerous braking in the wet can be in a vehicle fitted with worn tyres. As Vicki says in the video, stopping on a wet road with 1.6mm tread can extend the braking distance by 8 metres compared with new tyres! Research by TyreSafe has also shown that almost three quarters of all cars on the UK’s roads have tyres that are under-inflated, and during Tyre Safety Month the organisation seeks to hit home the message that vehicle handling can be adversely affected by under-inflated tyres, leading to a potential accident.
Continue ReadingMicheldever: Focused on Independent Tyre Retailers
Despite broadsheet gossip that Micheldever was bidding to buy National Tyres at the end of the second quarter, Micheldever executives remain clear that their focus is on selling to independent dealers and that any such speculation was completely unfounded. Instead they would much rather that attention fell on pioneering developments such as the release of the first all-terrain 4x4 tyre in the world capable of H-rated performance with an 18-inch diameter - 255/60hr18 General Grabber AT2. Micheldever Tyre Services’ core strategy remains the same as ever, according to wholesaler director, Alan Baldwin. And the company continues in it clear mandate to provide “the widest possible range of products at the most competitive prices to the independent tyre retailer.” Further significant investment has been made by the company in additional warehouse capacity and delivery vehicles, says Baldwin, explaining that the company runs eight strategically positioned warehouses that hold the largest multi-brand tyre stocks in the UK.
Continue ReadingIreland Introduces new Tyre Recycling Regulations
As of January 2008 greater responsibility for waste tyres will be placed upon tyre manufacturers, suppliers, traders and retailers in the Republic of Ireland. This increased accountability comes courtesy of a new piece of legislation, the Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations 2007, signed by Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, on October 4. Approximately 3 million tyres make their way onto Ireland’s roads each year and an estimated 35,000 tonnes of waste tyres are generated annually. “It is time that we had a proper database on this waste stream and I believe the new system that my Department has agreed with the tyre industry will effectively address that deficiency,” commented Mr. Gormley. “These new regulations will now provide a proper regulatory framework for comparing quantities of waste tyres arising with the amounts placed on the market and for tracking the movement of waste tyres from the time they are discarded until they are either reused or processed for recycling.”
Continue ReadingMichelin Tables Plant Re-Organisations & Closures for France, Spain
Michelin has outlined plans affecting the company’s operations in France and Spain. These plans, according to the tyremaker, constitute a new phase in Michelin’s industrial strategy in the two countries, and are aimed at strengthening the group’s competitiveness in Western Europe. Michelin adds that “significant investments” have been earmarked for plant modernisation projects.” As part of the strategy, production at the company’s factory in the French town of Toul is scheduled to cease in 2009. The facility produces mid-range passenger car tyres, a market experiencing intense competition from low production cost countries that have massively invested in this specific segment during the past five years. Michelin claim that, in spite of significant investment into the operations at Toul in recent years and the streamlining of industrial processes, production costs at the plant are 50 per cent higher than those of the French manufacturer’s competitors, therefore Toul is no longer a competitive site. The company adds that the market currently has an overcapacity in the tyre sizes manufactured in Toul.
Continue ReadingDunlop India Confirms Aero Tyre Plans
Dunlop India has reiterated its intention to re-enter the aero tyre market. In July the company’s vice-president Dhrubojyoti Nandi reported Dunlop India was “focused to take advantage” of the country’s aviation boom, and in recent months it appears that the company’s factory in Sahaganj, in the state of West Bengal, has been earmarked for this purpose. We hope that it will start production in another two months, chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia told The Times of India. The newspaper printed reports that the company aims to achieve an output of 90 tonnes per day at the Sahaganj facility by the end of October and 130 tonnes by the end of March 2008, the close of India’s current fiscal year. Further comment was also made on the group’s intention to gear up for OTR tyre production through its Falcon Tyres operation. These products, if and when they are produced, will be marketed under the Dunlop brand, not under the Falcon Tyres label as previously reported. The latter brand name will continue to see use exclusively on tyres for two and three wheeled vehicles.
Continue ReadingPirelli’s 2008 WRC Tyre Hits the Asphalt
The beginning of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship and Pirelli’s involvement as official tyre sponsor lies only a few short months away, and the Italian tyremaker reports that approval for its new asphalt tyre for the series has recently been granted by its own technicians and the FIA. Fine-tuned with experience gained over numerous test sessions, the new tyre is said to contain, according to Pirelli, “a number of innovative features.” The Italian firms technicians recently signed off the asphalt tyre, after an intensive and detailed series of tests with reigning Italian Rally Champion Paolo Andreucci and the Bozian Racing Peugeot 307 WRC used by Gigi Galli on a number of WRC events throughout 2006,” the company reported in a statement. These tests, conducted by Pirelli and Andreucci in France, Spain and Sardinia, enabled the FIA to place their seal of approval on a tyre that possesses a number of new features and pre-empts upcoming environmental legislation by two years.
Continue ReadingNTDA to Sponsor Brityrex 2009
The NTDA has signed a sponsorship agreement with Brityrex 2009 organisers ECI International for the next exhibition, scheduled to be held at Manchester’s G-Mex centre between September 22 and 24. As part of the agreement, the association’s annual dinner and TAFF Awards presentation will be held alongside the show, as was done successfully this year. The dinner and awards ceremony will take place on September 23. “We feel the exhibition is vitally important to our members, and the industry as a whole, and we are delighted to be providing our active support to the event,” commented the NTDA’s national chair Peter Gaster. “The 2006 exhibition was a great success for my company, KRT. We have already booked our space for 2009 and I look forward to providing my backing in the run-up to 2009.”
Continue ReadingIndian Domestic Manufacturers Hit by Strong Rupee
The growing strength of the Indian rupee against the US dollar has been squeezing the export margins of tyremakers in the subcontinent for some time. A more recent development, however, is the strain India’s increasingly robust currency is placing on companies producing tyres for the domestic market. Imports have become cheaper with each rise in the rupee, and those domestic market products with cut-price overseas equivalents have struggled to remain competitive. This phenomenon is not restricted to the tyre industry; the Hindu Business Line reports that a number of manufacturing sectors, including chemicals, textiles and automotive components, have been affected. The Indian financial daily quoted Ashish Bharat Ram, managing director of SRF Ltd, as saying, “the rupee appreciation is adversely impacting those domestic manufacturers where the product is substitutable by imports.” This even applies to imported raw materials. “Imports of raw material from China, for instance, are of special concern as the yuan has not been revalued, and this puts pressure on margins even further.”
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