USWA contract at Asheboro
Officials at Goodyears wire plant in Asheboro (North Carolina/USA) reported Tuesday that an arbitrator has completed his confidential review of union authorisation cards from employees at the facility. Based on the review, which followed a 90-day union campaign at the Asheboro manufacturer, the arbitrator determined that a simple majority was achieved. Thus, the USWA is recognised as the exclusive representative of the Asheboro bargaining unit employees, as defined previously by the union and the company. Over the next several weeks, Goodyear and USWA officials will meet to discuss the bargaining process going forward.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Delays Business Report’s Release
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. on Tuesday again said it needed more time to finish a financial report for federal regulators because of its probe of accounting problems at overseas operations. The company said after the markets closed that it would tell the Securities and Exchange Commission that its annual 10-K report will be delayed because of the investigation of accounting problems in Europe and elsewhere. Goodyear shares plunged more than 5.6 percent, or 44 cents, in extended trading Tuesday, after closing at 7.84 dollars, up 26 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. However, after-hours trade climbed on the news of the delay, rising 3.5 per cent to 8.12 dollars on INET.
Continue ReadingCooper Tire to Launch Avon Tyres in the U.S. & Canada
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company plans to launch AVON Tyres USA, a new collection of performance passenger, light truck, sport truck and motorsport tyres. Completely new to the U.S. and Canadian markets, the AVON Tyres USA line is the first ever to have been designed and engineered from consumer feedback data. All data was collected and analyzed by The Tire Rack, the country’s largest independent tyre tester, through its web site, www.tirerack.com.
Continue ReadingAcquisition Rumours Regarding Michelin/Gajah Tunggal Unfounded
Tim Chesney, the Managing Director of Romney International Limited, the exclusive distributors of GT Radial brand tyres in the UK and Ireland, would like to state unequivocally that the recent story about PT Gajah Tunggal Indonesia (GT) being acquired by Michelin, is untrue. This story first appeared earlier this month in the US based Modern Tire Dealer magazine. It was subsequently reported on the Internet sites of other trade press. Tim Chesney says that this account is without foundation and it should be disregarded. The extent of the inaccuracy of the story is shown in the supposed facts given by Modern Tire Dealer magazine. They quoted Gajah Tunggals daily radial tyre production capacity as being just 12,000 pieces when the correct figure is around 25,000 pieces, says Tim Chesney. He goes on to say that the reality is Gajah Tunggal has embarked on a major and exciting expansion programme. This will see the introduction of many new sizes, series and tread patterns, including the all new GT Champiro BAX asymmetric series and the Champiro BXT.
Continue ReadingNokian to terminate joint venture with Amtel
Nokian has announced its intention to terminate the Joint Venture with Russian company, Amtel. Under the terms of the agreement Amtel produced Nokians intermediate brand, Nordman. Nokian has established its own logistical centre in the Moscow area and is now concentrating its marketing strategy on the Nokian brand alone. The company is building a new tyre factory close to St. Petersburg. It is expected that this factory will commence production in 2005.
Continue ReadingMichelin expect strong growth in China
According to the Shanghai Daily, Michelin will continue to expand its Chinese venture by investing several hundred millions of US dollars in automobile tyre production plants. Expansion efforts are expected to continue for five years, at which annual production capacity will top several million units of tires, said Eric Jugier, chairman of Michelin (China) Investment Co Ltd. In 2001, Michelin established a joint venture with Shanghai Tire & Rubber with an investment of 200 million US dollars in exchange for a 70 per cent stake. Michelin also plans to add up to 200 retail shops in China this year. Jugier said he expected Michelins business to grow much faster than that of the industry as a whole. The Chinese tyre sector is expected to grow by about 30 per cent annually for the next five years. In 2003 there was a 36.7 per cent increase in vehicle manufacture and China is expected to produce 125 million tyres in 2004, one-third of which will be exported.
Continue ReadingSmarTire Signs Agreement with Lexani Wheel Corp.
SmarTire Systems Inc. has signed a distribution agreement with Lexani Wheel Corp., a premier manufacturer of luxury alloy wheels based in California. Lexani will bundle SmarTires tyre pressure monitoring system with its innovative Johnson line of custom wheels. Lexani wheels are sold through an extensive dealer base and are well known in the American automotive aftermarket, boasting a prestigious list of clients and countless award-winning show vehicles. A purchase order accompanied the distribution agreement.
Continue ReadingBridgestone perform well in German tests
Bridgestone tyres have headed the rankings in comparative tests conducted by German ADAC motorwelt. Reports published in the March issue place the B330 Evo 165/70 R 14 T and RE720 205/55 R 16 W at the top of their respective categories in side-by-side evaluations of summer tyres from competitive suppliers to the European marketplace. Both brands, Bridgestone and Firestone, were highly placed. With a VW Polo as the test vehicle, the Bridgestone B330 Evo emerged ahead of 15 rivals. The Firestone F590 FS also occupied a high position on this list. In the 205/55 R 16 W class, the Bridgestone RE720 ranked first among a line-up of 15 tyres put through their paces on an Audi A4. Here too, the Firestone brand fared well, with the Firehawk TZ 200 filling third place in the points total.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Completes Private Secured Notes Offering
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced that it has completed a private offering of 650 million dollars of senior secured notes. The proceeds of the notes were used to repay the remaining amount outstanding under the companys U.S. term loan facility, to reduce its 750 million dollars U.S. revolving credit facility to 680 million dollars and for general corporate purposes. This financing, along with our recently completed 650 million dollar term loan, have enabled us to meet our goal of refinancing the U.S. Term Loan before April of this year and avoids the milestone fee that would have been payable under our restructured credit facilities put in place last April, said Robert W. Tieken, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Continue ReadingContinental To Invest In Brazil, Malaysia
Continental AG plans to invest more than 250 million euro in building a new tyre production facility in Camacari (Bahia/Brazil) and expanding capacity in Malaysia with joint venture partner Sime Darby (car tyres in Alor Setar, truck tyres in Kuala Lumpur).
Continue ReadingBridgestone-Firestone to pay 149 million dollars
A Texas state court judge has approved a 149 million dollar settlement of 30 class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of tyre owners against Bridgestone-Firestone North American Tire.
Continue ReadingSchroeder is Cooper Tire’s Financial Director
Gary C. Schroeder has been appointed director of financial planning and analysis for Coopers global tyre operations. Schroeder came to Cooper Tire from the Cooper-Standard Automotive where he had been serving as global director of cost and reporting since 2002.
Continue ReadingWal-Mart drives Goodyear to RFID tagging
Wal-Mart has announced that its top 100 suppliers must comply with a requirement to Radio Frequency Identification each case and pallet delivered to its stores by 2005. 25 other suppliers including Goodyear have volunteered to join the project. RFID chips give each tagged item a computer readable signal that identifies it precisely. It is a process that has been in use in the defence sector to identify friendly aircraft since the 1940s. As the only tyre company actively participating in a large retail- customer-driven RFID program, Goodyear is leading the way to overcome the challenges involved in using this technology with consumer tires. Attaching the tag to the tyre is a complex task and their method of transportation and storage raise other problems which Goodyear will need to address. In the interest of consumer privacy, all radio frequency tags applied to tyres by Goodyear will be designed to be disabled at the point of sale.
Continue ReadingBridgestone flexes muscle at Maxiprest
Maxiprest (South Africa) yesterday announced the resignation of three executive directors, including chief executive Colin Brown. This follows the resignation last month of three non-executive directors, who suggested in a letter released after their resignations that there was a conflict between the board of Maxiprest and its management. They said that executives of Bridgestone SA had conceded during a meeting that they intended to replace the existing management of the company with Bridgestone SA employees. There is conflict between Bridgestone SA and Maxiprest. The future of Maxiprest is now uncertain, but there is speculation that Bridgestone may buy out the remaining shareholders and delist the company.
Continue ReadingPilot Travel Centers go Michelin and Goodyear
Michelin Americas Truck Tires and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company have announced agreements with Pilot Travel Centers LLC, the largest truck stop network in North America, to begin supply Michelin, BFGoodrich and Goodyear truck tyres at its travel centres. Pilot Travel Centers is a leading interstate retailer, operating 264 travel centres coast-to-coast. The company operates its travel centres in 38 states. Goodyear will supply a variety of truck tyres for Pilots store network, including the G395 LHS steer tyre. The new Pilot Truck Care Centers will also feature a full line of Michelin and BFGoodrich tyres including the Michelin X One wide single tyre line.
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