Cooper Tire & Rubber Record Figures
Cooper Tire & Rubber, the US tyre and rubber manufacturer, announced sales of US$ 2.2 bn, which is an increase of 17% compared with 1998. Net income was US$ 135.5m. This figure is 6.7% up on 1998.
Continue ReadingUSA Replacement Tyre Market – Michelin To Raise Prices
Following price increases of between 3 and 5% by Cooper, Goodyear, Pirelli and Yokohama in the US market, Michelin is increasing its prices of passenger car and light truck tyres by 5%. Tyre manufacturers need a minimum price increase of 3% merely to compensate for the 8% increase in raw material costs (rubber, oil, carbon black).
Continue ReadingMichelin Introduces New Truck Tyre Brand
Michelin is introducing its Riken brand into the truck tyre market. The newly-developed tyres will be produced by subsidiary company Taurus in Hungary.
Continue ReadingAt the beginning of April the sixth
At the beginning of April the sixth round-table conference about tyres and tyre technology organised by the Tip Top Stahlgruber company took place in Munich. This year’s 85 participants came from many varied backgrounds: There were tyre dealers, retreaders, material suppliers, representatives of associations (ADAC, BRV, DEKRA, TÜV etc.), scientists and representatives of the vehicle and tyre manufacturing industries. Some of the highlights of the event included Hans-Jürgen Drechsler, deputy managing director of the BRV (Association of Tyre Traders and Non-Industrial Vulcanisers), speaking about development tendencies in the tyre trade with plenty of figures to back up the claim that the general tendency to concentration in the tyre trade is accelerating and manufacturer dependence or orientation also on the increase. Dieter Hatzfeld, formerly Michelin, now in a leading position with RuLa GmbH, the truck tyre cold cure retreader, spoke about the lop-sided pricing policy in the truck tyre field. The gist of his talk was: The price relation between new and retreaded tyres is no longer right. The subject of Mobile Fitting was also under discussion. Long-term participation in the truck tyre business means participation in the large fleet business and offering comprehensive service schemes, Drechsler said. Norbert Schygulla (Deutsche Goodyear), Michael Zoeppritz (Bridgestone/Firestone), Dr. Bernd Löwenhaupt (Dunlop), Ludwig Nelke (Michelin) and Hugo Verschoore (Butler Engineering) then introduced their own companies’ tyre run-flat systems (EMT, DSST, PAX) complete with practical fitting and maintenance suggestions. All in all, the range of subjects was far-reaching, offering something interesting for each of the guests present. Read more in NEUE REIFENZEITUNG 5/2000.
Continue ReadingAWI Plant Closes
Alloy Wheels International (AWI), a subsidiary of South African company Murray & Roberts, has closed its Cardiff plant because of an expected fall in demand from oe customers Rover Cars and Land-Rover and reduced competitiveness because of currency problems. 250 jobs are lost.
Continue ReadingWheel Producer Accuride On The Way To Europe?
North Americas Accuride Corp. (Evansville/Indiana) is an enormously profitable producer of steel and aluminium wheels for trucks and recorded a record jump in sales to more than 500 million US-$ in 1999. Founded by Firestone in 1905, the company was sold in 1986 to Phelps Dodge Corp., cooperated with Goodyear 1992 and was sold again in 1998 to investment group Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts (KKR). Now the automotive supplier has its eyes set on the European market for investments, maybe also in aluminium wheels for cars.
Continue ReadingJ.J.M. Baudoin Leaves Vredestein
The Supervisory Board of Vredestein NV has accepted the wish of J.J.M. Baudoin to leave the company on 1 June 2000. Rob Oudshoorn will be the sole Managing Director of the Dutch tyre maker.
Continue ReadingMay results of German tyre retailers by BRV
The monthly census of the German tyre dealers association BRV showed the following results for May 2000: Compared to May 1999 the turnover of German tyre retailers decreased 0.9%. In the passenger car tyre segment the decrease was 5.4% and retreading business had to face a decrease of 9.6%. Only the light truck and truck tyre segment showed an increase (+ 2.7%).
Continue ReadingGeneral Motors Honours Meritor
Meritor Automotive has been honoured by General Motors as one of its Supplier of the Year and also received the Best of the Best in South America award for its steel wheel business.
Continue ReadingSuit Against Concorde Tyre Supplier?
A San Francisco-based specialist law firm is exploring the possibility of filing a lawsuit against Goodyear in Ohio and is contacting dependants of the crash victims. Goodyear has been the exclusive tyre supplier for Air France Concordes since 1995. Therefore the which crashed recently was equipped with Goodyear tyres, too. Whether or not a blown tyre caused the disaster is still not known and a Goodyear spokesman said its way too early to make any assumptions or comments.
Continue ReadingRacism At Goodyear Warehouse?
At a Goodyear warehouse in North Brunswick (N. J.) members of the all-white management discriminated against black employees, The Akron Beacon Journal reports, quoting court documents and statements of two Goodyear managers. The eleven workers have been in court for two years in order to get more than 100 m US-$ compensation for discrimination. Goodyear has denied the claim.
Continue ReadingFord’s Behaviour Examined More Critically
Ford has conceded that it was aware of problems with Firestone tyres in Venezuela as long ago as 1998. Ford CEO Nasser admitted two weeks ago that, in Venezuela, not only had the tyres been changed, but modifications had been made to the vehicle suspension. Analysts said that attempts to place the entire responsibility upon Firestone have failed.
Continue ReadingNew Exhibitor Record For Automechanika
Automechanika – the International Trade Fair for Car Workshop and Service Station Equipment, Automobile Spare Parts Accessories – has set a new exhibitor record: 3,909 exhibitors occupied all of the approx. 300,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor exhibition space to present their latest products and technical innovations. The almost three percent increase in exhibitor numbers was the result of growth in the number of German exhibitors. 67 percent of all exhibitors came from outside Germany. The top five exhibitor nations were Germany and Italy, followed by Taiwan, the USA and Great Britain. The exhibition ran from 6 to 10 September 2000 and Messe Frankfurt welcomed around 150,000 trade visitors from all over the world during the five days of the fair, where exhibitors took many orders and transacted a lot of business. In contrast to this positive attitude at the trade fair, the background situation of the market does not look that good: The car boom of previous years came to a sudden end this year. The EU-Commission in Brussels is thinking about ending the exclusive distributor networks of car retailers. Parallel to this the car manufacturers - especially Ford and Mercedes-Benz – are restructuring their distributor networks, which means that they are reducing the number of their retailers. The pressure on the suppliers exerted by the car producers continues to increase and as a result they are showing a stronger interest in the aftermarket business. Furthermore Goodyear/Dunlops daughter company Pneumant was the fist tyre producer for several years to have a booth at the Automechanika. However, it is doubtful that this is the first example of a growing trend, as the Reifen exhibition, central event of the European tyre world, was held just a few months ago and it is to be considered that - in contrast to the alloy wheel business - the target audience of the tyre manufacturers is most probably not those who attend the Automechanika. In NEUE REIFENZEITUNG 10/2000 we review the show.
Continue ReadingFondmetal Boss Sells the Majority of His F1 Racing Team
The owner of the well-known Italian aluminium wheel factory, Gabriele Rumi, with 68% has sold the majority of the Minardi Formula 1 racing team to US-media conglomerate Panamerican Sports Network, but still retains 30% of the shares.
Continue Reading“No Defects Found In Recalled Tyres”
Bridgestone/Firestones chief executive in the USA, John Lampe, has said that the company has not found a defect in its recalled tyres, but he did say that there was a safety issue with a small percentage. Lampes definition of a defect is something you can point to and say there is the cause and we havent been able to find a cause or combination of causes. He added that he believes the tyres only pose a safety problem when fitted to Ford Explorers.
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