Pirelli OE On Aston Martin
Aston Martin has chosen the Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyre as OE for its prestigious, limited edition DB7 Zagato. Based on the DB7 Vantage, but with more power, the hand-built Zagato has uprated brakes, sports suspension and an all-new two-seater aluminium coupe body.
Continue ReadingCrash Family Sues Dunlop
In the UK Scott Harvey (14) is suing Dunlop Tyres and a family member who was driving a car when a tyre burst at 60 mph. Harvey was not wearing a seat belt in the back of the car and was thrown clear, suffering head injuries and fractures and had to have two fingers removed from his right hand. Dunlop made no comment, saying that the case was in the hands of the companys legal team.
Continue ReadingFit4Fleet Expands Into Irish Republic
Fit4Fleet, the GM-owned, UK-based network of independent tyre dealers supporting company car fleets, has announced an expansion of its activities into the Republic of Ireland. The network already has 60 centres in the Republic and the Irish Fit4Fleet operation will be headed up by Barry Eccles, who has extensive fleet experience.
Continue Reading“China Still Ideal For Manufacturing” Says Michelin
An article in Asia Times quotes Eric Jugier, chairman of Michelin (China) Investment Co. Ltd., as saying that the company still considers China an ideal investment destination for the world manufacturing industry. He is also quoted as saying that Michelin plans to turn its operations in mainland China into its biggest manufacturing base in the world.
Continue ReadingAlcoa Expands Coated Wheel Range
Alcoa has expanded the range of its Dura-Bright(r) coated aluminium wheels to 14 rims, in response to customer demand. The coated wheels have all the advantages of aluminium, such as less weight and better heat dissipation, while the Dura-Bright(r) surface treatment helps them to resist corrosion.
Continue ReadingNet Profit Up For Stamford Tyres
Shares in Singapore-based Stamford Tyres rose by over 13 per cent on news that the companys net profit had risen from S$ 2.75 million (1.39 m Euros) last year to S$ 8.18 million (4.12 m Euros) for the latest fiscal year. This comes at a time when the Singaporean economy shrank by 11.8 per cent in the second quarter, as tourism was hit by the SARS virus and the war against Iraq led to a decrease in production, said the Government.
Continue ReadingSmarTire Partner Wins Product Development Contract
SmarTire Systems Incs strategic partner, Hyundai Autonet Company has been contracted by Hyundai Motor Corporation to develop commercial vehicle tyre pressure monitoring systems.
Continue ReadingHayes Lemmerz Looks To Reduce Costs
Hayes Lemmerz, the wheel producer who recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is trying to reduce costs without compromising financial recovery. This comes in response to the expectation that US vehicle manufacturers will ask suppliers to reduce prices in order to improve the manufacturers own bottom lines.
Continue ReadingPelmar Engineering Buys Most Of Traiskirchen Machinery
Machinery at the Semperit factory in Traiskirchen, Austria, was auctioned off recently, with most of it purchased by Israeli company Pelmar Engineering Ltd.; one of the worlds largest dealers in new and used tyre machinery. The auction raised around $2 million and, among the equipment acquired by Pelmar, were off the road curing presses and tyre building equipment. Traiskirchen will continue to supply the Continental group with custom compounds, rubberised steel cord and rubberised yarns, but tyres are no longer made at the plant.
Continue ReadingBattery market under pressure
In the past we have often commented on the similarities between the battery and tyre markets, notably in the problems faced by both and their reactions to these. One such appears to be a sharp increase in the number of batteries entering the market from the Far East. It is true that many manufacturers in the tyre industry have moved their production to low-cost countries and they are not alone - witness the recent spate of press reports revealing that more and more call centres are deserting the UK and relocating to India - so why should this not be the case for batteries? After all, if all markets are faced with the same economic realities, then is it surprising that their responses are similar?Undoubtedly, there is an element of this in the figures, but no doubt some of the increase is due to products being made by companies originally based in Asia and sold aggressively on the European market.Battery imports from Asia to the EU rose last year by five per cent, to 7.3 million units. Not far behind were imports from Eastern Europe, which were up by four per cent.Most dramatic was the performance of China, which is now Europes main Asian importer, with 2.4 million batteries sold in the EU last year; an increase of 38 per cent over the previous year. But it is not only China, as batteries are coming into the EU from South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan. In the UK aftermarket, Asian battery imports now account for over 50 per cent of all UK imports.
Continue ReadingMarketing strategies for the retreading industry
Analysing some of the marketing opportunities open to the retreading industry and how it might approach a common strategy. In doing so, the retreading sector, will initially have to face the fact that as an industry it has never been in a position where it has had to design a classical marketing plan before.Retreads traditionally were taken for granted as the budget option for the tyre industry. All tyre shops stocked passenger retreads and these were automatically sold to budget oriented customers. Budget new tyres did not form a viable competition to retreads at the bottom end of the market because retreads still enjoyed a significant price advantage and many budget tyres were of poor quality. To secure a sale all retreaders needed to do was to assure good prices, good product quality and good service to the retailer. Nowadays, it is clear that these attributes alone are no longer adequate.In the truck tyre market the situation is somewhat different. Retreads have long been part of the life cycle of the tyre. The market has always been considered healthy and so the question as to whether the industrys marketing strategy was being efficient in reaching its message to as much of the potential market as it should was seldom raised. However, with pricing issues now becoming more relevant, the issue of the optimisation of the market is becoming more critical.The impact of the downturn in car tyre retreading has been particularly severe in the UK where sales by UK retreaders fell from 4.4 million units in 1995 to around a million today, with a number of high profile retreaders being forced into receivership. This situation was exacerbated by the strength of Sterling resulting in the almost overnight disappearance of vital export markets.It has to be recognised that passenger retreads are now niche products. There is still a place for passenger retreads in Europe but, unless the generic marketing of passenger retreads is improved, the fear must be that the market will follow a similar path to the United States, where it has now almost completely disappeared.To counter this, a sample marketing plan has been drawn up, the key elements of which are as follows:A scientific research programme to ascertain the performance qualities of retreads, using the results as part of a PR campaign.Direct lobbying of government departments and public bodies with a view to highlighting the environmental message that the retreading industry wishes to portray. At government level, the aim would be to persuade individual departments to accept retreading as the best practical environmental option and to include retreads in their purchasing policy.The incorporation of tyre dealer seminars and training days. This proposal generated some considerable thought as it was felt that there was not much point wasting money trying to change the views of tyre dealers and fitters whose minds were already set on opposing the sale of retreads. Instead, the idea would be to use funds to help in the training and support of dealers who had proved themselves to be positive towards retreads.Allied to this is the decision to create a Green Tyre Dealer Scheme backed up with the production of a retread buyers guide. This would allow the retreading business to channel sales through dealers who support the retreading industry, thereby reducing switch selling. A promotionally effective presence at exhibitions. This would include car and truck shows as well as events frequented by the environmental lobby.A comprehensive PR campaign is proposed, aimed at the tyre trade press, environmental magazines, motoring magazines, the national and regional press and other consumer interest groups such as womens magazines. In addition, the incorporation of a press monitoring service to measure the success of the campaign. It has also been planned to introduce a response service to react to bad press in the same way as TRIB does.For the truck and bus market an informative newsletter is suggested dealing with tyre related issues in general but, allowing plenty of scope for promoting the argument in favour of retreads. This activity is based upon the knowledge that the regular truck press is editorially light on tyre related issues and indeed rarely covers anything concerning retreads.Other activities include the design of a campaign website, the increased use of environmental newsgroups on the internet to promote retreads, the production of brochures and presentation materials for use by fleet engineers, the police, schools and tyre dealers and the production of promotional merchandising items such as cab stickers, tacho holders, mugs etc.Finally, a comprehensive but highly targeted advertising campaign focused on environmentally friendly consumers. Part of this strategy would be the promotion of the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme mentioned earlier.These are the main elements of a package which could make a considerable contribution towards improving sales of retreaded tyres.
Continue ReadingAutopromotec 2003 continues to grow
The Bologna trade fair centre was host to the 20th Autopromotec exhibition. There is little doubt that Autopromotec has become one of the most important trade shows in Europe for automotive equipment, machinery and services for the transport industry. This is borne out by the ever-increasing number of exhibiting companies. This year, there were 936 exhibitors, 662 from Italy, 184 from the EU and a further 90 from other nations. These were located in 12 halls, covering an area of 80,500 square metres, plus 3 outside demonstration areas of 10,500 square metres. In real terms, this is only a slight increase over the previous show in 2001, in terms of participation. During its five-day run 83,850 trade visitors attended Autopromotec, a small rise over 2001. Of this number, 13,464 were from abroad, which was a 5.5 percent improvement. What was significant was the visit by a record 21 official foreign trade delegations specialising in strategic markets within the automotive industry.
Continue ReadingPirelli holds its ground in the international tyre business
When Pirelli became active in the telecommunications business, there was speculation that the company might abandon tyres, or at least certain sectors, such as truck tyres.This has proved to be unfounded, however and Francesco Gori, the man responsible for Pirellis tyre business worldwide, discusses the results for the first months of this year. The Tyre Division accounts for 51 per cent of Pirellis overall turnover and, although the Tyre Division turnover in quarter one 2003 fell by 2.2 percent to 741 million Euro, the EBIT increased at the same time by 20.4 percent to 65 million Euros.Pirelli is still a mainly European tyre manufacturer. 60 per cent of its turnover (14 per cent in Italy, 46 per cent in the rest of Europe) comes from Europe. Pirellis Tyre division makes another 19 per cent of turnover in Latin America, while Northern America only accounts for 8 per cent. But this in turn shows the huge potential that Pirelli still has in the biggest single market in the world.And it is the new MIRS-plant in Rome, Georgia, that will be looked to to improve Pirellis standing in the American market.Francesco Gori can sit back and await developments because the starting point for Pirelli is much better than for that of many other tyre manufacturers. This is mainly because the UHP sector, where Pirelli sets the standards, is much more cost resistant than any other sector. And with its new MIRS-plant, Pirelli has just begun to write a long and successful history, Gori says.
Continue ReadingVan den Ban: Getting back to basics
Dutch wholesaler Van den Ban has undergone considerable changes in the past couple of years, not least of which is a change in management, with Frans van Lenten becoming managing director.The company undertook a review of all its business activities and the decision was made to concentrate purely on core activities, which in Van den Bans case meant tyre wholesaling and logistics. Van den Ban recently introduced a new private brand, called Novex, and other own-label brands will be added later this year. The company prefers private brands to exclusive, yet manufacturer-owned, brands, as the former allows Van den Ban total control and different brands can be aimed at different sectors of the market, or sold through different distribution channels.Last year the Van den Ban group sold around four million tyres and plans are under way for the construction of a new 24,000 square metre warehouse, capable of holding 1.2 million tyres.
Continue ReadingRetreading Legislation – Lack of direction from Brussels
The European Truck Tyre retreading industry is healthy and provides the transport industry with high quality products which allows them to reduce tyre cost and transport cost. However, retread products are not legislatively treated equally to new tyres, and this is a growing threat to sustained growth for this industry. The legislative problems faced by the retreading industry were outlined to T & A by Lennart Lindström - product manager at Bandag Europe - during Autopromotec 2003.The basis for the EU legislative framework is the Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) directive 70/156/EEC. This directive sets out the rules for the use and production of many vehicle parts, including tyres. Up until now, the WVTA has not taken into account the existence of retreaded tyres, nor have any of the quite numerous regulations and directives that exist for new tyres. All legislative work on tyres in the EU is solely focusing on new tyres. The WVTA does not yet exist for trucks, but work is underway to introduce this certification for trucks, and then new truck tyres must meet the same requirements.The certification principle for type approval implies that each authority grants authorisation for a vehicle, a system, a component (like tyres) and this authority remains solely responsible for the conformity of production of the certified product.For retreads ECE Regulations 108 (passenger tyres) and 109 (truck tyres) exists.Despite industry efforts to introduce ECE 108 and 109 into an EU mandatory directive, Brussels has not taken any visible initiative.In absence of the expected and desired EU directive, some member states have started to introduce ECE regulations 108 and 109 into national mandatory legislation. This is the case in France, Spain, Poland, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Other countries like the UK, Sweden and Denmark have begun the national legislative process to introduce them. This still leaves a great number of countries with no active plans to introduce these regulations. It is estimated that over 200 retread companies out of approximately 700 active companies in Western Europe have gained their ECE 109 certificate to date. Absence of equal rules creates an unfair competitive market.Bandag are suggesting that it is necessary to form a retread industry interest group, in order to proactively define potential future legislative content on matters like noise, wet traction and rolling resistance, and work in close co-operation with legislative bodies. BIPAVER and BLIC should, perhaps, take the joint initiative to the creation of such a group.The need to recruit new members to BIPAVER, including supplier members was emphasised by RMA secretariat, Sheila Ikin. This is especially relevant now that BIPAVER is focused on the interests of the retreading industry. One of the causes taken up is the unjustified ban on the importation of retreaded tyres, currently operative in 11 countries known to the RMA. There is a definite need to protect the retread industry against damaging legislation, hence the moves by BIPAVER to persuade Brussels to transpose ECE 108 and 109 from a recommendation to a directive.
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