More managers are leaving Viborg-Group in Germany
The Viborg-Group, which bought first Stinnes Reifendienst and later Gummi Meyer and now has more than 400 depots in Germany, is facing more departures by Managers. The relatively young managers Scharwenka, Rudolph, Roth and Lemle do not see their future within the group any longer and are leaving. As far as business in general for the Viborg-group in Germany is concerned we hear very different opinions. Viborg is asking for the deepest price and in addition to that for an overhead of 10 %, giving them a real advantage over all competitors. Strategic partners at the moment are Michelin, Pirelli and Dunlop. It is not clear whether all of them are paying the extra price of 10 %. Other tyre manufacturers can see how difficult it is for the Viborg Group to fulfil their promises despite the fact that all the warehouses are completely full. There will be a long article in a future issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG. Furthermore, Viborgs management is not willing to talk to the press and is urging employees not to talk to the press otherwise their jobs will be in jeopardy.
Continue ReadingTrouble For Minardi?
The 50m $ sale of 68 percent of the shares in Minardi F1 racing team owned by Gabriele Rumi (Fondmetal alloy wheel producer) seems likely to fail. Minardi – planning to start next season with Michelin tyres – could not find a motor supplier for 2001, so that potential purchaser Panamerican Sports Network (PSN) might withdraw.
Continue ReadingSpirit of Goodyear
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will call the newest Blimp Spirit of Goodyear in order to honour its 100,000 employees world-wide. The replacement of the former Blimp became necessary because the Spirit of Akron crashed at the end of October.
Continue Reading‘Show Me The Logo’
Michelin has embarked on a major new marketing programme that is designed to further enhance their position as the leading tyre brand in the UK. The campaign involves a series of television commercials using the catchphrase Show me the logo which will centre around customers demanding the Michelin brand when purchasing tyres.The campaign will be supported through dealership promotion.
Continue ReadingBMW US Factory Expands
The BMW factory at Spartanburg (South Carolina), in which in addition to the Roadster ever more X5 off-road vehicles are produced, will soon face production capacity problems. A higher vehicle output could also benefit American wheel suppliers such as Superior Industries or Alcoa/Reynolds.
Continue ReadingSpeedline As An Aftermarket Brand
Speedline is a well-known producer of light alloy wheels for original equipment. However, the Italians want to improve their position in the aftermarket and thus a sales company has been formed for Germany in Ravensburg: SL Corse.
Continue ReadingMichelin Results 1999
Consolidated net sales of the Michelin group climbed to EUR 13.763 million in 1999. Successful areas were North America (+12%), Asia-Pacific, with the exception of Japan, (nearly +9%) and, despite economic problems, South America (+6%). Europe (+1%) remained stable.
Continue ReadingISO 14000 Certification For SUOFTEC
The joint-venture aluminium wheel plant SUOFTEC of Superior Industries (Van Nuys/USA) and Otto Fuchs Metallwerke (Meinerzhagen/Germany) in Tatabanya (Hungary) has been awarded the ISO 14000 certification for Environmental Management Standard.
Continue ReadingContinental Changes Agricultural Tyre Organisation
Werner Flebbe has been made responsible for Continentals entire agricultural tyre business. Marketing and sales worldwide will be managed by Thorsten Bublitz and OE business worldwide by Fritz Reupert. Reuperts successor for aftermarket business is Rainer Lüpkes.
Continue ReadingSuccessful 1999 Year for ContiTech
The ContiTech division of Hanover-based Continental AG experienced the most successful business year of its history in 1999, according to the company.The year 1999 marks a big step forward – in results, globalisation and concentration on core businesses, was the way the year was summed up at a press conference by Manfred Wennemer, board member of Continental AG with responsibility for the ContiTech division and chairman of ContiTech Holding GmbH. In 1999 ContiTech increased its turnover to 1.72 billion Euro (previous year: 1.70 billion Euro), a plus of 0.7 p.c. This would have been about 2.5 p.c. but for changes in the contributing units,some of which were sold. Turnover per employee amounted to 112,000 Euro, approximately four per cent higher than the 107,000 Euro of 1998. In non-automotive sections the general economic situation led to some decline, but business with Europe’s car makers was approximately four per cent above the previous year’s level. The 1999 ContiTech turnover was made up about 64 p.c. in the automotive sector and 36 p.c. outside it. Operating profit (EBIT) also improved. The strong growth can be attributed, among other things, to a significant reduction in the extraordinary items and reserves for restructuring, which had depressed the 1998 result. On the contrary, the 1999 year saw one-off profits, especially from sales of individual segments. Wennemer emphasised that these positive effects on the results were caused by ContiTech’s restructuring measures. Read more in NEUE REIFENZEITUNG 5/2000.
Continue ReadingPrototype Wheel By Bridgestone And Topy
Tyre producer Bridgestone and wheel producer Topy Industries (both Japan) have announced the development of a prototype wheel for automobiles that contains a special rubber between wheel rim and disc to reduce noise and increase comfort.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Announces US Price Hike
Bridgestone is to join Goodyear, Continental, Michelin, Cooper, Pirelli, Yokohama and others in raising tyre prices in the USA to compensate for raw material price increases. Effective June 1st, Bridgestone tyre prices will rise 4%. Historically, Bridgestone has taken advantage of other manufacturers price increases in order to gain market share, so this latest announcement seems to indicate that this time the price rises will stick.
Continue ReadingSave Gas With Goodyear
Goodyears Chief Engineer of Product Design has warned of the economic cost of tyre under-inflation as gasoline prices reach a new high in the USA. Petrol consumption and tread life are adversely affected. A Goodyear survey showed up to 28p.c. of vehicles had seriously under-inflated tyres.
Continue ReadingEuropean Down-trend Halted: Michelin With New Product Lines And New Strategies
Since the early 90s, French tyre maker Michelin has continuously lost market share year on year in the passenger car and light truck sectors. The company used to have a 25% market share Europe-wide and this had fallen to 17% last year. According to Michelin, prices were too high vis-a-vis those of major competitors and were no longer competitive, as the end user is prepared to pay only around 10-15% more for a premium product. The necessary price cuts can only be achieved if the company is able to increase productivity. Market experts are convinced that the productivity of Bridgestone/Firestone exceeds that of Michelin by 40%. Michelin is currently undergoing a restructuring programme which will lead to the job losses – or at least early retirement – of around 10% of the European workforce over the next three or four years. Jean Michel Coulon (52), head of the passenger and light truck tyre division in Europe expressed confidence in talks with this magazine that the erosion of market share has now been halted once and for all. Coulon made it clear that he is not aiming to gain market share – his goal is to stop the erosion of market share, to implement an effective multi-brand strategy, to improve the product mix and, finally, to avoid a price war.
Continue ReadingHigh Performance Growth Predicted By Michelin
Michelin recently described the V/Z sector as the most dynamic sector in todays market, increasing by the rate of 15% per year in Europe and growing five times faster than the overall market. By 2003, Michelin estimates that 35.7 million tyres will be sold in this sector, accounting for almost one quarter of the replacement tyre market.
Continue Reading