Tyre Offer Pulls In The Crowds For Kwik-Fit
Kwik-Fit GB has resumed its press advertising campaign, offering four tyres from 60 Pounds (two for 35 Pounds), excluding valve and balance. For certain H-rated sizes, four tyres are available for 100 Pounds. Over the Easter week, a record number of customers visited the groups centres and 21 centres recorded their best-ever week for sales.
Continue ReadingRio De Janeiro To Get Second Michelin Plant
The governor of Rio de Janeiro has announced the intention of Michelin to open a second tyre plant in the city. The new plant will complement and duplicate the existing 1.5 million production facility. The new facility is required to meet demand for Michelin tyres in South America, the Caribbean and Cuba.
Continue ReadingBusiness Between Ford And Bridgestone/Firestone Cancelled
Finger pointing between Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone is continuing and has reached the point where the tyre manufacturer has terminated its business relationship with Ford after 100 years. In a written statement, BF-boss Lampe said we believe that the auto maker is attempting to divert scrutiny of the vehicles by casting doubt on the quality of Firestone tyres. The tyres are safe and as we have said before, when we have a problem we will acknowledge that problem and fix it. We expect you (Ford) to do the same. The assumption that Fords Explorer is a problem-car seems to be based also on the fact that Ford felt forced last week to recall more than 50,000 Ford-Explorers equipped with Michelin and Goodyear-tyres, avoiding the word recall but calling it a Customer Satisfaction Program. While the business with Ford accounts for only five per cent of BFs total turnover, virtually everything depends on the success of the Explorer for Ford; the companys best selling car for years and its cash cow.
Continue ReadingTrust in Michelin Shares
Deutsche Bank AG sees potential in Michelin shares, which lost about 10 % at the stock exchange last week, and they recommend these as a buy. On the one hand analysts foresee cheaper raw material prices and on the other hand they believe that, as Michelin is focussing on the high end of the market, the company will be the winner because American consumers are making a flight to quality after the recall of Firestone tyres.
Continue ReadingTyre Distribution At Car Dealers and Workshops
No doubt about it: distribution of passenger car and truck tyres is undergoing a dramatic change in Germany. With the (re)-organised workshops and fast fitters a lot of new distributors of passenger car tyres have entered the market in recent years, attacking the monopoly of the professional tyre retailers, which had been successfully preserved over the past decades. In addition, the tyre distribution channel of car dealers has grown continuously over the last few years. Approximately every third car tyre is sold through this kind of distributor nowadays. The speed of this process will increase because all leading car manufacturers have developed programmes to accompany the customers with a lifelong full-service, which includes tyres and wheels. How threatening is all this for tyre retailers? It would be possible to have a nice discussion about these trends but we wanted to take a look on the concrete, everyday tyre business situation at car dealers and car repair workshops. For this we visited a total of ten companies in Hamburg. Who is selling tyres? Under which conditions are they sold? What about the competence and motivation of the employees? Do they give advice to customers? If so, how good is this advice? Where are tyres neglected as a product? How professional is the marketing? Which companies could be regarded as serious competitors to tyre retailers? The variation in the results of this report could hardly have been wider! In general the trend is that most of the car dealers and workshop stations are miles away from a professional tyre marketing operation. There is always a big difference between the stated goals and the actual achievement in real life. In the end the conclusion is that, on the one hand the importance of these new distribution channels should not be underestimated, but on the other hand, their professional performance should not be overestimated by tyre retailers.
Continue ReadingTelecom Italia Falls To Pirelli/Benetton Bid
Pirelli and Benetton have joined together to win control of Telecom Italia and the mobile phone company TIM. Control was secured by a cash payment of 7 billion Euro to Bell for its 23 per cent stake in Olivetti; the company which controls TI. TIs market capitalisation value is 55 bn Euro.
Continue ReadingPortrait Of Marangoni Tyre GmbH
The German subsidiary of the Italian tyre producer Marangoni was founded six years ago in Wedel near Hamburg. The foundation of Marangoni Tyre GmbH took place at the beginning of May 1999, with General Manager Dirk Rohmann and Area Manager Martin Werner the only two people to work for the German company daughter up till now. One of their most important tasks is to increase the low awareness and attention the tyre brand receives from the end users at the moment. It was for this reason that the company held an international press conference in Rapallo in March 2000 that was attended by more than 100 journalists from all over Europe. The effect was a very positive one; Marangoni tyres have been represented in some summer- and winter-tyre-tests of international magazines, in which they performed quite well. The number of countries that are managed from Germany has increased from 16 to 22 in the previous one and a half years. New countries are: Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Romania. The present market share in Germany amounts up to one percent – representing 400,000 tyres. The products are delivered directly on trucks from Italy. Twelve distribution partners handle the local distribution in Germany. In the western part the coverage is more ore less complete, whereas in the eastern part there are still some holes, that are due to be filled by spring next year. Furthermore Rohmann and Werner want to employ a third person who will keep a close contact with the 250 German tyre dealers where Marangoni products are sold.
Continue ReadingRun-flats Primed To Satisfy J.D. Power Consumers
More Goodyear run-flat tyres are on the road than any other. A study by J.D. Power and Associates says that nearly seven out of eight consumers place run-flat tyres at the top of their list of desired features. The report shows that consumers want safety-related features more than sophisticated entertainment systems or other convenience features in their new vehicles.
Continue ReadingOne Million EMT Sales In 2002
Goodyears EMT (Extended Mobility Technology) tyres are the most popular run-flat tyres sold as original equipment. For next year, Goodyear is expecting new record sales of one million EMT tyres to car manufacturers.
Continue ReadingEMT Runflat Tyres By Goodyear Are #1 Worldwide
Goodyear, supplying nearly 50 original equipment runflat tyre fitments to eight manufacturers, is the world leader in runflat tyres. The latest EMT (Extended Mobility Technology) fitment is on the Mini, a new product from the BMW Group which will have the Goodyear Eagle NCT5 EMT runflat tyres as an option. The company has runflat manufacturing capability in Fulda, Germany, and at plants in the USA.
Continue ReadingArvinMeritor European Director
Thierry Leblanc (41) is joining the ArvinMeritor group as European Sales and Marketing Director for the Light Vehicle Aftermarket division (shock absorbers, exhaust systems, catalytic converters and filters). Mr Leblanc joins from Valeo Windscreen Washing Systems where he was Aftermarket Director. He succeeds Fabrice Rosi, who remains a consultant at sales and marketing level to the ArvinMeritor Light Vehicle Aftermarket division.
Continue ReadingLoss In Market Share Not Without A Fight
The management of Bridgestone/Firestone USA has made it very clear that it will do everything in its power to revitalise the Firestone brand and losses in market share will not be accepted without a fight. It is expected that the company will embark on one of the biggest advertising and marketing campaigns in the groups history.
Continue ReadingWhich? Report On Fast-Fits – What Do You Think?
In a report in its magazine Which? the Consumers Association criticises UK fast-fits, accusing them of recommending unnecessary work on customers vehicles. What do you think? Is such criticism justified? Is dishonesty rife in the fast-fit trade? Or is Which? overstating the problem? Whatever your connection with the tyre trade, or if you are a customer, we welcome your opinions and ideas. Read our article (PDF file, size: 44.5 kbytes, Adobe Acrobat Reader required) first and e-mail us your comments – this is a matter which has profound implications for the image of fast-fits and this is your chance to have your say.
Continue ReadingThree-Year Racing Tyre Agreement Between Michelin And Porsche
Michelin and the Motorsport Division of the Porsche Club Great Britain have signed an agreement whereby Michelin will supply all tyres for the Porsche Cup and the Porsche Classic motor racing championships for the next three seasons. Cup competitors will use slick and wet racing tyres, while Classic racers will use specially-developed, road-legal Pilot Sport Cup race tyres.
Continue ReadingNew Engagement In Agricultural Tyres By Continental Group
Over the last 20 years, agricultural tyre business has not been very important for the Continental group, and at times, the whole segment was in question. Later they got over this with off-take-agreements, when Eastern European companies were allowed to produce tyres with the logo of the prancing horse, in order to maintain market representation. Has this all gone by now? It seems so, because since they have been producing agricultural tyres in Otrokovices new plant where some new machines have been installed, price and quality go together again, hence Werner Flebbes (55) managers in Hanover feel to be able to cope with the world-wide competition. However, Otrokovice is just a production site from where the agricultural tyre section can order, but it is an important one. Today, Continental certainly is the groups first choice, offering the widest assortment and being distributed most efficiently. But already, the Barum brand, with its impressive variety, is being called a volume brand, and incidentally, in the radial tractor tyres segment, including the 75 series, it bears a remarkable resemblance to the Continental Contact. While Conti tyres are being sold throughout the whole trade, it was Flebbes idea to distribute Barum tyres in Germany only through some core dealers. Six big dealers (Wennekamp, Vergölst, Ihle/Günzburg, Schwarz, Semex and Brock/Weilerswist) have been given the exclusive right to promote Barum tyres, which means that they can sell to both trade and consumer. However, Hanover went a step further: The Uniroyal brand, which could have been placed very easily on the German market, has been offered exclusively. In an interview Thorsten Bublitz, responsible for marketing and sales of Conti’s agricultural tyres, assured, that by now Meyer Lissendorf has nearly all important sizes available, and it is planned to offer the complete range, with 68 sizes altogether, in September.
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