FIA Considers Reinstating Tyre Changes Into F1
As Kimi Raikonnen celebrates what he has described as one of his best victories ever, the FIA is said to be considering a U-turn on its policy of keeping to one set of tyres per race weekend. Despite starting back in 17th on the grid, Raikonnen powered to victory on the last lap of the Japanese Grand Prix. Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso filled the remaining podium places. Once again, Michael Schumacher’s seventh place Ferrari was the only Bridgestone shod vehicle to score points.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Opens Hose Plant in Brazil
(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire, & Rubber Co’s Engineered Products unit opened a new oil hose plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The $13 million plant, Goodyear’s fifth in Brazil, will have 150 employees. The plant will produce floating and submarine oil hose designed to transfer crude oil and derivatives. Goodyear announced just weeks ago that it was putting the Engineered Products unit on the sale block.
Continue ReadingArvinMeritor Sells Off-Highway Brake Assets
(Akron/Tire Review) ArvinMeritor is selling the assets of its off-highway brake business to Carlisle Braking Products, owned by Carlisle Companies Inc. The business, which includes equipment and assets from manufacturing facilities in York, SC, and South Wales, UK, was sold for approximately $39 million. According to Chip McClure, ArvinMeritor chairman, president and CEO, the sale of the company’s off-highway brakes operation is in line with ArvinMeritor’s strategy to focus on its Light and Commercial Vehicle Systems unit.
Continue ReadingPirelli Raises Tyre Prices
As a consequnce of the continuing cost increase of the sectors key raw materials and energy, Pirelli Tyre has announced an increase of its list prices, differentiated by area and segment. The increase will be 4.5 per cent in Europe and North America for car, SUV and commercial vehicle tyres, and all Group brands; and 6 per cent worldwide for all Motorcycle Tyre brands.
Continue ReadingNokian 3Q Profits Down
Nokian Tyres’ third quarter profits will be lower than the previous year, the company has announced. However, a company statement on the subject did not give any further details of exactly how much profits had dropped. The company cited expenses resulting from the development of its Russian operations and from the establishment of new Vianor outlets and tyre hotels as reasons for its weakened profits. Looking on the bright side, Nokian pointed to a 6 per cent increase in invoicing and cumulative sales growth of 14 per cent. Net sales for 2005 are expected to grow by more than 10 per cent, the company added.
Continue ReadingBridgestone to Exhibit at Tokyo Motor Show
Bridgestone will run a booth at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show to be held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City from 22 October to 1 November. The theme of the Bridgestone stand this time is “Technology for People”, and will comprise three corners – Premium, Future, and Safety – and will introduce aspects of tyres and technology supporting automobiles, which are such an important part of people’s lives.
Continue ReadingDunlop Tyres Zimbabwe Shuts Down
Dunlop Tyres (Pvt) Limited, Zimbabwe’s sole tyre manufacturing firm, has shut down with the loss of 820 jobs, leading to concerns about road safety in the country. Officials at the tyre manufacturer and exporter said the firm had shut down its plant last week due to shortages of foreign currency, which has resulted in the company failing to procure raw materials, newzimbabwe.com has reported.
Continue ReadingDelphi Files Chapter 11
Automotive supplier Delphi has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. General Motors, Delphi’s former parent company will bear the brunt of the collapse because it could be liable for up to $11 billion (£6 billion) worth of pension and retirement benefits for about 25,000 Delphi employees.
Continue ReadingTruck Sales on Target
Commercial vehicle registrations are “on track,” according to SMMT statistics that have recorded 394,738 registrations for the rolling year to September. Last month’s figures were slightly down at 0.6 per cent, but the year to date is up by 1.6 per cent.
Continue ReadingBridgestone’s E-reporter Announced
The UK finalist of the Bridgestone e-reporter competition, Mike Channell, has been announced as the overall winner of its pan-European Bridgestone e-reporter young journalist competition. He attended the European Grand Prix as part of his prize and reported on the inaugural GP2 Series for Bridgestone Europe and the GP2 Series’ websites. Channell will fly to Japan for this years Tokyo Motor Show, and also received a new laptop.
Continue ReadingCooper Debt Downgraded to Junk
Cooper Tire & Rubbers debt rating was downgraded to junk yesterday by Standard & Poor, which cited pressure on the companys earnings, reports an American news source. The rating reflects poor near-term earnings and cash-flow prospects, said S&P in a statement. The downgrade to high-risk, high-yield junk affects about $720 million in debt.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Tyres for Hybrid Truck
A prototype hybrid U.S. Air Force aircraft refueller truck built on a Mack Truck chassis features a new mixed-service tyre from Goodyear. Goodyear Unisteel G287 MSA tyres (315/80R22.5) are mounted in the steer position on the 6,000-gallon refueller. Mack Trucks Inc. and the U.S. Air Force Advanced Power Technology Office developed the hybrid diesel-electric truck. Eight Goodyear Unisteel G286 tyres (12R22.5) are mounted on the vehicles rear drive axles.
Continue ReadingMAM Software for Mr. Clutch
MAM Software has just completed the installation of its Autopart v20 management system at all 44 branches of Mr. Clutch Autocentres, the national garage services chain. MAM was chosen because of its ability to meet the requirements imposed by Mr. Clutchs recent expansion of services.
Continue ReadingMixed Fortunes for US Tyre Market
There was mixed news concerning demand for tyres in the USA during September. Light vehicle tyre shipments during the month were up 2.6 per cent compared with September last year, which came as a surprise to some analysts, who were expecting sales to fall as a reaction to high fuel prices. The good news is tempered by the fact that these figures represent shipments to dealers, rather than sales to consumers.
Continue ReadingWatch Your Power Consumption
Battery manufacturer Varta has highlighted an anomaly regarding automotive batteries – with todays products vastly superior to those of a few years ago in both performance and longevity, how come the battery is still the cause of most calls to motoring organisations and breakdown service providers? The answer, says Varta, is that there are so many power consumers on todays cars that these can adversely impact on the ability of the battery and alternator to provide constant energy, particularly in winter where the nominal output of the alternator can be easily exceeded in even the shortest journey. And we are talking about modern cars with healthy batteries with comparatively low power consumers, such as lights and heaters.
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