Continental Sells Agricultural Division to Czech Rubber Group
Tyres and Accessories have been reliably informed by industry insiders that Continental has sold its agricultural tyre division to Czech Rubber Group. The Czech company has refused to give official confirmation but a Continental spokesperson is due to release a statement later today.
Continue ReadingYokohama to License Tyre Inner Liner Technology to ExxonMobil
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced that it reached an agreement to license ExxonMobil Chemical Company, a division of Exxon Mobil Corporation of the United States, technology in connection with the Yokohama Advanced Liner (YAL), a new patented inner liner for automotive tyres. In addition, Yokohama and ExxonMobil Chemical are combining their respective expertise in the field to improve and advance the performance of YAL. The agreement also grants ExxonMobil Chemical rights to commercialize and globally market YAL related materials in the future.
Continue ReadingLenders Extend 10-Q Filing Requirement
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced today that the lenders under its principal United States and European credit facilities have amended the terms of the facilities to extend until June 30 its deadline for filing its Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2004 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, the delay in filing its first quarter financials will not prevent Goodyear from accessing the credit facilities or obtaining letters of credit.
Continue ReadingBridgestone ready for European Grand Prix
Bridgestone Motorsport has its sights set firmly on providing its four teams with the most competitive tyres for the European Grand Prix at the German Nürburgring circuit (28-30 May). With Monaco just a few days beforehand, all testing for the specifications to be used at round seven was done in the weeks beforehand. Located in the Eifel mountain range, the Nürburgring is likely to throw up a few weather surprises and two of the keys to success will be tactical flexibility and having competitive tyres for both dry and wet conditions – something Bridgestone is confident it can supply its teams with. “I expect the European Grand Prix to be a hotly contested race and no doubt there will be plenty of support as we arrive at what is ‘home’ grand prix for two of the Bridgestone drivers: Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld. There is always a fantastic atmosphere at this race and this will help to keep the momentum going on what can be a tiring couple of weeks when you have two races back to back,” said Hiroshi Yasukawa, Bridgestone’s Director of Motorsport.
Continue ReadingKevin Kramer Joins Alcoa as President, Alcoa Cast Auto Wheels
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced that effective immediately Kevin B. Kramer, 44, has joined the company as president of Alcoa Cast Auto Wheels. He is responsible for the development and growth of Alcoas cast auto wheel business worldwide. Alcoa currently produces cast aluminium auto wheels at plants in the U.S., Canada, Venezuela and Italy. Alcoas cast auto wheels are found on numerous automobiles and light trucks worldwide. Kramer will be located at the Alcoa Automotive, Aerospace and Commercial Transportation office in Cleveland, Ohio.
Continue ReadingPorsche to reach record earnings
Order intake and volumes of the current Porsche 911 versions have developed far better than the company expected. The company highlights the strong mix and the positive impact on margins, also Cayenne volumes are running strong. New 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S 911 will come to the market mid July at the same time. Porsche is on track to reach record earnings this year, and analysts are confident to see another strong increase in earnings next year.
Continue ReadingMore Toyota capacity at Burnaston
Toyota will increase capacity at its UK plant in Burnaston to 285,000 vehicles by 2005 (220,000 at present). The addition investment will total 50 million pounds. The Japanese car maker has begun a program of increasing capacity in Europe to 645,000 vehicles from 500,000 previously.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Names Kramer CFO, Tieken to Retire
Richard J. Kramer, senior vice president, strategic planning & restructuring for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer effective June 1. Kramer (40) replaces Robert W. Tieken, who will retire on May 31. Tieken (65) has been Goodyears CFO since May 1994.
Continue ReadingBERU increases revenues by more than 16%
In the 2003/04 financial year (ending March 31, 2004), BERU Aktiengesellschaft (Ludwigsburg) increased its sales revenues by 16.4% from €304.5 million to €354.5 million.
Continue ReadingSmarTire: $15 Million Standby Equity Distribution Agreement
SmarTire Systems Inc. (OTCBB: SMTR) announced that the Company has signed a $15 Million Standby Equity Distribution Agreement with Cornell Capital Partners LP. This financial instrument replaces the $15 Equity Line of Credit arranged by HPC Capital Management in 2003. SmarTire also announces that it has arranged a second $750,000 unsecured, promissory note with Cornell Capital.
Continue ReadingMichelin is looking forward to next Formula One race at Nürburgring
Seven days after Monaco, May 28-30 Formula One is poised to return to another of its traditional venues – Germany’s Nürburgring. Michelin is approaching the seventh race of the season in a positive frame of mind: Jarno Trulli (Renault) and Jenson Button (B·A·R-Honda) scored a memorable one-two for the company in Monaco and Ralf Schumacher (BMW WilliamsF1 Team/Michelin) won at the Nürburgring in 2003, when he led team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya across the line. “We know the Nürburgring well and have achieved some good results here in the past,” says Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director. “We finalised our tyre options for this race a couple of weeks ago, because there hasn’t been time to test since our tremendous victory in Monaco last Sunday. We will have three dry-weather compounds available and these all come from the softer end of our range, because the Nürburgring isn’t especially abrasive. It is what I would call a ‘balanced’ track. The loads on the front and rear tyres cancel each other out during the course of a lap so the wear rate tends to be very even,” adds Michelin F1 Programme Manager Pascal Vasselon. “It is always vital to have a suitable tyre compound at the Nürburgring, because conditions are very changeable, and I am confident Michelin will provide us with exactly that,” comments Ralf Schumacher with regard to the tyre set-up.
Continue ReadingNew EU Rules Warning from Ford
New EU directives on vehicles are likely to add 5,000 Euros (3,340 GBP) to the price of an average car. Speaking at the Birmingham Motor Show, Roger Puttnam chairman of Ford in Britain, warned that manufacturing margins were already thin and that mounting regulatory costs would have to be passed on to the consumers. Puttnam singled out new rules on vehicle recycling, the control of chemicals and safety, all of which are to be implemented by 2008.
Continue ReadingHankook Tire Supplies Ford with Performance Tyres
Hankook Tire has concluded a 3-year agreement to supply Ford Motor with 140,000 VR-rated (up to 240km/hr) K105s tyres annually. The tyres will be mounted on the Ford Mondeo, a high-quality family car, and will bear the Hankook Tire logo. The export price, to include replacement tyres, will total 22 million euros over three years.
Continue ReadingGoodyear aircraft tyres are recommended
In an ambitious test project, the american consumer magazine The Aviation Consumer has undertaken, the magazine bought 11 aircraft tires and subjected them to 200 simulated landings, plus a skid test. Sometimes the cheapest tire isnt the best deal. What matters most is tread depth and the more, the better, the magazine said. In tread depth alone, Goodyear’s “Flight Custom III” was the winner in the June issue.
Continue ReadingWarnair part of SRI
Since 1st of January 2004 the business field Deflation Warning System DWS (Warnair) belongs to Dunlop-Tech GmbH, a 100% daughter company from SRI. So DWS is not part of the joint venture Goodyear Dunlop.
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