Part Of Its Plastics Division To Be Sold By Cooper
Cooper Tire is to sell a part of its automotive plastics division for an undisclosed cash sum. The purchaser is Plastech Engineered Products. The plastics division accounts for around 4% of company turnover.
Continue Reading100 Years Of Firestone
Harvey Firestone established his sales company for tyres and technical rubber products in the summer of 1900 and began production of tyres in Akron, Ohio, three years later. Thanks to a big order from Ford for the famous model T, the company was immediately successful and grew rapidly. In the twenties, Firestone was, for some years, the biggest tyre manufacturer in the world. Due to a badly-managed recall in the late seventies, the company ran into extreme difficulties; it tried to avoid the recall, but eventually its hand was forced, severely damaging the companys reputation as a result. After this episode, the Firestone management was forced to sell assets every year to plug the biggest holes in the balance sheet. John Nevin was appointed CEO, but despite his extremely strict guidance, which was focused purely on shareholders, he did not manage to turn the company around. In 1988 Bridgestone acquired Firestone, turning the Japanese company into a true global player overnight. This was Firestones only realistic hope for survival. Today, Firestone is once again a world-famous and accepted tyre brand, very successful in the US and also in Europe. The revitalisation of the brand was made possible through its involvement in motorsports, especially the Indy series in the US. In May, the famous Indianapolis 500 race was won by a car fitted with Firestone tyres - this was the 51st such victory for Firestone in the history of the Indy 500. Full details can be found in the June edition of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.
Continue ReadingBetter First Quarter Results For Pirelli
The Pirelli group has increased its turnover in the first quarter of this year by 18 p.c. The cable division achieved to a turnover of 1.05 billion Euro and an Operating Profit of 52 million Euro. The tyre division turnover increased by 12 p.c.up to 700 million Euro and the Operating Profit was 54 million Euro. Despite of fierce price competition Pirelli could achieve a 17 p.c. increase units and evidently win market shares.
Continue ReadingBRV Agrees To Cooperate With ZDK
During its 14th annual meeting, the German tyre dealers association BRV voted for an intensified cooperation with the association of the German passenger car dealers and manufacturers (ZDK). The aim of this cooperation is to increase the political influence and to enlarge the knowledge base. The BRV currently has 1,150 members and the ZDK has 48,000.
Continue ReadingOlaf Papke Succeeds Manfred Riemer
After working for Vredestein for 30 years, Manfred Riemer – responsible for agricultural tyre sales for the past 15 years – has retired. His successor is Olaf Papke, who was already engaged in the agricultural tyre business at Trelleborg before joining Vredestein.
Continue ReadingAll-Time Records For Superior
Superior Industries (Van Nuys/California), North Americas Leading oe supplier of aluminium wheels, announced record revenues of more than 331 m US-$ (+13.5%) and record net income to more than 40 m US-$ (+16.3%) after tax.
Continue ReadingShares In Bridgestone Fall Again
The bad news for Bridgestone continues, as shares in the company on the Tokyo stock exchange declined by another four percent. This means that the value of Bridgestone shares has been halved since the Firestone recall began.
Continue ReadingGhosn Stands By Bridgestone
President of Nissan Carlos Ghosn has said that the company will continue to use Bridgestone/Firestone as an original equipment tyre supplier.
Continue ReadingInternet And Tyre Dealers
Tomorrow already, today will be yesterday – there is hardly anything else coming so close to this fact than the internet. Whereas two years ago in Germany, the percentage of people being connected to the internet was around 9 per cent, this figure went up to 16 per cent in the last quarter of 1999 and achieved more than 20 per cent, i.e. 13.4 million online users by the end of March 2000. And, relying on market researchers, the peak is still far away. It is supposed that in Germany another 10 million people will use the internet by the end of the year. Thus, probably the number of people with particular homepages will continue to rise very quickly. Meanwhile, this fact has also got about in the tyre business, which can be underlined by the variety of companies who presented their websites on the REIFEN 2000 in Essen. Would it now be possible – after books, software and music – to download tyres, too? Of course, tyre dealers still have an advantage: there must always be someone for mounting the tyres. For certain reasons tyre dealers do not really want to get to like being in this position, as they often feel to be degraded to service operators. In this case, however, they should realize the opportunities of the internet for being able to distinguish themselves as service operators, although there is hardly anyone today, who can foresee the development of the tyre dealers’ business over the next five or ten years. Find out more in the November issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.
Continue ReadingExpert “Was Aware Of Firestone Problems In 1999”
A tyre expert hired by Bridgestone/Firestone has identified cracks in the belt skim – the rubber compound used to bond steel belts – as the cause of problems with some Firestone tyres. However, another tyre consultant, Rex Grogan, said that he told the company back in April 1999 that he had found the same problem. He blamed the use of inexperienced personnel working at the Decatur plant during a labour dispute.
Continue ReadingMAHA Acquires Slift
The German supplier of various items of equipment for the tyre shop, MAHA (Maschinenbau Haldenwang), has acquired lifting platform specialist Slift. With this acquisition, MAHA staff numbers increase to 1,000.
Continue ReadingPolish Opening For Kwik-Fit
In two weeks time, Kwik-Fit will open its first fast-fit centre in Warsaw, Poland. Another six, purpose-built centres are scheduled to be opened in Poland in the near future.
Continue ReadingCarlyle wants to aquire Beru
After procuring 26.25 percent of Beru’s shares, the Carlyle Group has now made a buyout offer. Carlyle offered 30 Euros per share but Beru has rejected this take-over attempt, which Carlyle calls. Beru management believes this undervalues the company and has quoted 40 Euros as a realistic share offer for a company worth around 500 million Euros. Some months ago Beru AG, of Ludwigsburg, Germany, acquired AMI Doduco, Europes leading company in tyre pressure control systems.
Continue ReadingPneumant Up For An Oscar
East German tyre manufacturer Pneumant has been nominated by an international jury for the Milestones Award.The award is given to companies in recognition of their enterprising approach to innovative achievements.
Continue ReadingContiTech and Behr
The ContiTech group, part of Continental AG, will cooperate on certain projects with Behr GmbH of Stuttgart, which specialises in air conditioning equipment and in engine cooling. As part of the cooperation Continental will take from Behr a 51 p.c. holding in the Kühner company (making hoses, principally for original equipment in Oppenheim). The company will be integrated into ContiTech Fluid, giving Continental the industrial leadership.
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