Ford Told to Pay $29 Million in Rollover Case
(Akron/Tire Review) Ford Motor Co. has been ordered to pay a rollover accident victim $29 million. The case involved a 22-year-old Texas woman who was left partially paralyzed when a Firestone ATX on her 1999 Mazda Navajo failed and the vehicle rolled over.
Continue ReadingBekaert Acquires Delta Wire
Bekaert has acquired Delta Wire Corporation for an enterprise value of US$10 million. With almost 100 employees, Delta Wire Corporation, located in Clarksdale (Mississippi), is a major supplier of bead wire for tyre reinforcement, as well as of a wide range of specialized wire products for the North American market.
Continue ReadingEnTire Solutions Names New PR Agency
EnTire Solutions, LLC has named Bianchi Public Relations, Inc as its public relations agency of record. The announcement was made by Richard Wolfe CEO of EnTire Solutions, and James A Bianchi, president of the public relations firm. Bianchi Public Relations will provide strategic public relations counsel, media relations and promotional assistance to EnTire Solutions, which develops, markets and sells direct, driver-oriented tyre pressure monitoring (TPM) systems and related tools and services to vehicle manufacturers. The firm has been assisting EnTire Solutions on a project basis.
Continue ReadingSteelworkers Angry Over Michelin Plant Closure
(Akron/Tire Review) As expected, United Steelworkers officials in Canada and the US reacted bitterly to the news that Michelin North America (MNA) was planning to close its 44-year-old broadline tyre plant in Kitchener, Ontario, “It is outrageous that the company has never discussed alternatives with the union and simply dropped a bomb on the whole city,” said Wayne Fraser, USW’s Ontario/Atlantic director. “It is a mean-spirited, terrible way to treat workers, their families and the whole community.”
Continue ReadingYuill & Dodds Picks Bandag
Yuill & Dodds is one of Scotlands leading haulage specialists. Established in 1953, the company operates a fleet of more than 200 vehicles, ranging from long-haul artics and tipping trailers to off-road eight-wheel units. Over the past year, Eurofleet Tyres & Services, the organisation incorporating Bandags European fleet initiatives, has worked with the Yuill & Dodds team to provide retreading and reporting systems.
Continue ReadingBritish GT Lap Records Under Threat Says Avon
The British GT lap record could be about to fall, according to series tyre supplier Avon Tyres, and its tyre are set to play an important part. After close season development, the most recent test (2 February), involved teams from the GT2 and GT3 categories. Despite an ambient temperature hovering around freezing, TracksSpeed’s team manager Piers Masarati, who was testing a Porsche 911, managed to set a time 0.7 seconds quicker than last year’s pole position for the GT3 category. (Piers Maserati set a time of 1 min 11.2. Last season’s pole position time for the GT3 category was 1 min11.9.
Continue ReadingTyre Firms to Hike Prices Afresh
Indian tyre manufacturers are set to increase prices following further increase in rubber prices. The recent most recent hike is said to be 1.5-2 per cent, according to India’s Business Line newspaper. Over the last 13 months, tyre prices have gone up by 15 per cent for the OE segment, and 7 to 8 per cent for the replacement market, which mostly comprises truck tyres.
Continue ReadingBFGoodrich Cars Win Swedish Rally
Finland’s Marcus Gronholm dominated the 2006 Swedish rally by winning the first five of the day’s seven special stages. His nearest rival, four-times World champion Sebastien Loeb, won the remaining two to reduce Gronholm’s lead to 25.1sec. Gronholm, who drives for Ford, said after Loeb won stage six: “That was about as fast as I could go – the tyres were finished at the end – but I am enjoying this fight.”
Continue ReadingTVS Tyres’ £7.7 million Expansion Plans
TVS Tyres is to invest 600 million rupees (£7.7 million) in expanding its domestic and export capacity. “Our new capacities will be ready by 31 March. We currently manufacture 7 lakh tyres a month; after the expansion, we will have capacities to manufacture 900,000 tyres per month,” S Balasubramanian, vice president, marketing, TVS Srichakra Ltd told India’s Economic Times.
Continue ReadingNew MD for Kraiburg
Kraiburg has a new managing director for its retreading material division. Dr. Andreas Starnecker (40) has been managing Kraiburg Austria in Geretsberg, Upper Austria since the start of the year, and as such is also responsible for the Kraiburg production plant in Bulgaria. He has worked for the Kraiburg Group since 1997, and in 1999 was appointed managing director of the Kraiburg Elastik GmbH rubber manufacturing plant in Tittmoning, Upper Bavaria. Together with Assistant Managing Director Thorsten Schmidt, Dr. Andreas Starnecker has set himself the target of continuing the successful strategy pursued to date by the company. This means that Kraiburg Austria will continue to aim to win customers over with quality and service in the market.
Continue ReadingDoes Form Still Follow Function, or Tyre Testers?
During the course of Continental’s annual pre-Christmas event, which has now taken place for more than 10 years, the German manufacturer asked international tyre specialists from several reputed magazines to ponder the following question: “Do driver assist systems require new winter tyre testing procedures?” To summarise the stimulated discussions that took place in Ivalo, Finland, it seems development engineers at Hanover are obliged to try and serve the two masters at the same time. On the one hand, all tyre manufacturers are interested in achieving good test results for their products. On the other hand, tyre features have to be optimised according to road realities. And this is exactly where Continental has detected a discrepancy: because of the introduction of new driver assist systems some test set-ups seem to be out-of-date and could therefore generate misleading results. Driver assist systems like ABS, ESC and TCS are now common standard fitments, even on compact cars. They provide increased safety and intervene to correct driving errors. During tyre testing, however, ESC and TCS are switched off in order to test the tyres without the effects of those systems. But such test methods have now reached their limits – particularly when you consider that ESC cannot be switched off in some vehicles without interfering with the electronics. Transferability of the test results therefore also debatable because – depending on the vehicle manufacturer’s philosophy – driver assist systems have different performance parameters and so respond in different ways to different tyres grip characteristics. According to Dr Burkhard Wies from Continental, driver assist systems should also be switched on during tyre testing in the future. This would keep tyre tests in line with latest technological advances for both tyres and vehicles.
Continue ReadingBFGoodrich Top Four in WRC Debut
BFGoodrich marked its WRC debut at the 74th Monte Carlo Rally by monopolising the podium with three different partners – Ford, Citroen and Peugeot – and even clinching fourth place too. Two-time World Champion Marcus Grönholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen collected their first Monte Carlo win in a Ford Focus RS WRC06, finishing clear of triple Monte winner Sébastien Loeb driving a Citroën, with fellow-Finn Toni Gardemeister and Austrian Manfred Stohl coming in third and fourth respectively in their Peugeots. Tyre choice is even more important in the Monte Carlo Rally, the longest-established rally of them all, as it is the only event where drivers have to compete on two surfaces, asphalt and ice/snow sections.
Continue ReadingRuia Group Acquires Dunlop India and Falcon Tyres
The privately owned Ruia Group has bought Dunlop India Ltd, Falcon Tyres Ltd and India Tyres from the Dubai-based Jumbo Group for a reported 2 billion rupees (£25 million). “An agreement has been reached between Pawan Kumar Ruia and the (Chhabria) Jumbo Group to hand over both Dunlop India and Falcon Tyres,” said H Sandu, a group spokesman, confirming the development took place at a meeting in Mumbai. According to India’s United News Agency, Ruia said the figure required for revival of the company was around 1.5 billion rupees, although the National Productivity Council projected the package would be around 2.1 billion rupees. He said the liability of Dunlop stood at around 6 billion rupees and negotiations with the staff and the bank will begin shortly. The Sahagunj and Ambattur factories will be opened shortly and the redevelopment will reportedly take around two years. After visiting the factory with his family members and a group of executives, Ruia told the Business Standard that the condition of the Sahagunj plant was much better than expected. “I think, we could start production soon at the plant,” he said. However, Ruia qualified his optimism by saying he wanted to restart production in phases. Most of the production lines, which include rubber pipe and hose production equipment, are reportedly “old”, but the factory also “has a modern conveyor belt line,” the Business Standard reported. At the last count, the Sahagunj unit had 2,700 employees. Production at the Ambattur factory is expected to restart in six months time. Apart from the Ruias, Metro Tyres, MRF, Hero Honda, the Caparo Group of Lord Swraj Paul and the Sarda Group were all also in the in the running to purchase the assets. Dunlop says it aims to become a leader in the tyre industry, even if it means getting into alliances with global tyre giants keen on India, said Pawan Ruia at the first media meeting after taking over Dunlop. According to the Business Standard, the Sumitomo name was mentioned as one such company.
Continue ReadingCooper Promotes Three to Marketing Posts
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. promoted Douglas Brown, Michael Inbody and Amy Niese to positions as marketing managers. Most recently, Brown was a regional credit manager; Inbody was an advertising manager; and Niese was marketing programme analyst.
Continue ReadingCGS Promotes Semperit Brand
At the end of 2005 CGS Tyres launched its new SuperVolumeTyre (SVT) - an innovation designed to serve demanding machinery, according to the company. But it didn’t stop there. At the same time CGS launched the Semperit agricultural brand, effectively re-branding its Uniroyal line, while also releasing its 2006/2007 databook. CGS also introduced its new Semperit agricultural tyre brand in November, during the Agritechnica exhibition in Hanover. The move amounts to the re-branding of its Uniroyal products under the Semperit moniker. According to CGS, this brand is characterised in particular by an excellent price/performance ratio. Unlike the Continental brand, Semperit will be marketed exclusively through selected distributors in Western Europe. For farmers and contractors in the British Isles this means RH Claydon in Great Britain and Phillip White Tyres and Donnegal Tyres in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Accompanying the launch, CGS has created modern new advertising concepts, which are said to allude to the Semperit passenger car range. CGS will offer Semperit cross-ply and radial tyres. By offering a “large dimension range,” the company says the brand represents an alternative to other competitors in the quality segment. The Cultor-S (standard radial tyres) and Cultor-70 (70 per cent radial wide base tyres) were also presented at Agritechnica. Speaking with CGS’ UK commercial managing director, Andrew Mabin, reveals that the company is in the process of negotiating OE fitments with a number of well-known machinery manufacturers, which could be finalised in the early part of 2006. As far as the GB distributor, RH Claydon is concerned the introduction of the Semperit brand is good news. “Semperit is a good name, its an exciting brand to bring back into the market,” commented RH Claydon’s Dick Anderson. When asked how he thought customers would respond to the brand name change, he added: “We had excellent sales with Uniroyal and we expect the same with the Semperit.” Tyres & Accessories learnt that there may be one or two minor alterations to the product range, but generally the transition is expected to be smooth with most of the changes taking place with cross-ply fitments. According to Andrew Mabin six Semperit sizes are already available with another scheduled for a January 2006 release. For its part RH Claydon intends to promote the brand through the production of new Semperit brochure and show exposure, starting with January’s LAMMA show in Newark. In order to explain the reasoning behind CGS’ decision to re-brand its Uniroyal products, the recent history of the company has to be examined. CGS Tyres develops, produces and markets its own brand Mitas agricultural tyres, as well as the licensed Continental, Barum, Semperit and Euzkadi brands. The company licences these brands on a “long term basis”, as it did with Uniroyal until recently. When CGS bought Continental AG’s agricultural division in November 2004, the licensed brands came with it. However, now the time has come for the company to launch the Semperit brand. CGS says it will offer “excellent price/performance ratio” products under the Semperit name. The broader CGS Tyres business unit makes a wide range of products - from the lawnmower to combine harvester tyres. CGS Tyres is active in 11 international locations and contributes to approximately 40 per cent of the total turnover of the larger CGS-Group. These sales are said to make CGS Tyres the second-largest manufacturer of agricultural tyres in Europe, Behind Michelin. CGS agricultural products are manufactured at its Czech factories in Otrokovice, Zlin and Prague. The Otrokovice plant specialises in the production of radial drive wheel tyres. Radial tyre production there represents 80 per cent of total output. With the addition of two further production plants, CGS Tyres expects to be able to expand capacity to approximately 500,000 units in the coming years.
Continue Reading