Ninth Member Signs Up For RubberNetwork
RubberNetwork.com LLC, the global electronic purchasing and procurement network, has signed up its ninth member; Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook Tire. The organisation went live earlier this month and US, European and Asian launches will follow this year. The other eight members are Continental, Cooper, Goodyear, Michelin, Pirelli, Sumitomo, Toyo and Yokohama.
Continue ReadingHanover Motorbike Tyres: Continental Very Ambitious
Continental AG is going to increase its involvement in motorbike tyres and the OE-market. So far, the Hanover group has concentrated mainly on passenger car, truck and industrial tyres. All this is now subject to change. The fact that, after belonging to the commercial tyre business unit, two-wheeler tyres were merged with the groups passenger vehicle tyre unit from January, 1st this year, could be an indication for the companys reborn interest in the motorbike tyre market. As stated by Continental, the group achieved a 50 percent increase in turnover of motorbike tyres last season, and according to their motorbike tyre marketing leader Jörg Essiger, entering the radial ply tyre segment with the ContiForce would be another step in the right direction. The new two-wheeler tyre had already been presented to public at the Intermot fair in Munich last autumn, and was officially presented to the press at the Contidrom fair in May. Essiger explains, the ContiForce offers both excellent handling and a very reasonable price, which is 10-15 percent lower than the competition. He says, that ContiForce would be the appropriate tyre for sports-bike riders, and real sportsmen can also demonstrate their efficiency on it. Who knows, whether with their next new motorbike tyre the Hanover group might enter into the pure sport machine segment. Already next year, the tyre manufacturer will probably put another newly-developed motorbike tyre on the market; so said Jörg Essiger at the Contidrom presentation – however no further details were forthcoming.
Continue ReadingRe-organisation For Goodyear Dunlop Europe
Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe has announced the appointment of three managing directors for France, Germany and the UK. Sylvain Valensi will head up France, Gerd Grünenwald takes control in Germany and Marco Molinari returns to the UK for his second stint as MD. Goodyear GBs current MD – Steve MacDonald – will retire after 27 years with the company.
Continue ReadingCar Fleet Business
The car fleet servicing market in the UK is a very tough business. The size of this segment become evident looking at new car registrations in the UK last year, 57% of more than two millions were fleet vehicles. In absolute figures the German market surpasses the British, but the proportion of fleet cars is less. The potential is enormous: Industry sources say that the average fleet car needs 1.8 tyres replaced a year, which gives a total market of 9 million tyres in Germany. And it should be remembered that fleet cars are normally newer than the average, travel more miles per year and fitment rates of winter tyres are higher than for private cars. A fleet service provider knows how much he has to pay for tyres per mile. It should be routine to ask whether the fleet has the right cars and the most suitable tyres, but could another model of car be more appropriate to the needs of the fleet because of how it is used? Car fleets need a mobile fitting network wherever the cars are driving. The tyre dealer carrying out the service on behalf of a leasing company must know the state of the tyres, has to ensure that they are at the correct pressure, has to identify the reasons for unbalanced abrasion patterns and has to fit the car with winter tyres before the first snowflakes fall. Whoever wants to participate in the growing market segment of car fleets has to be fully professional – and he has to invest money. For example, an integral component of car leasing or full service fleet management systems is the use of the Internet. All those involved in the package use the Internet as a communication platform and they want to reduce the costs for the fleet parc. Customers are very interested in quality; the package they anticipate is more than only good tyres. Car fleet servicing might be an opportunity, but not a cheap one.
Continue ReadingEU Fine For Michelin
The European Commission has fined Michelin 19.89 million Euro for abusing its dominant position in the French heavy vehicle replacement tyre market from 1990 to 1998. In a statement, the EC said that Michelins complex system of quantitative rebates, bonuses and other commercial practices illegally tied dealers and foreclosed the French market to other tyre manufacturers. This applied to both new and retreaded tyres and the Commission took a serious view of events, as it said that this was the second time that Michelin had engaged in such anti-competitive behaviour in Europe.
Continue ReadingStronger Than Expected Profit For Trelleborg
Trelleborg, the Swedish industrial conglomerate has reported a stronger pre-tax profit than expected for the first half. Although only returning a figure of 439 million Kroner, a fall from the 789 million Kroner reported for the same period in the previous year, the profit exceeded the expected 431 million Kroner. Sales rose from 6.59 billion Kroner to 9.62 billion Kroner over the same period, and operating profit, excluding once only items, stood at 619 million Kroner, 100 million above the same period for the previous year.
Continue ReadingRestructuring at Ohtsu and Sumitomo
The Ohtsu Tire and Rubber Co has released a plan to restructure. The plan involves back-office functions being integrated with those of parent company Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. There will be a subsequent reduction in the workforce.
Continue ReadingMoroccan Tyre Manufacturer In Insolvency Proceedings
Moroccan tyre manufacturer General Tire has begun insolvency proceedings, following the collapse of a restructuring plan. The company, in which Continental AG has a 34.2 per cent stake, has a deficit of 61.9 million Dirhams (6.07 m Euro) – up 14 per cent on last years figure. General Tire has invested 400 million Dirhams (39.25 m Euro) since 1995 but the domestic market is suffering from illegally-imported used tyres, which, it is estimated, now account for 60 per cent of the market.
Continue ReadingContinuing Satisfaction From Michelin In J. D. Power Study
In the US, The J.D. Power & Associates 2001 Replacement Tire and Retailer Customer Satisfaction Study has rated Michelin as the brand offering most customer satisfaction among both passenger vehicles and light truck owners. This is the tenth year of the study and Michelin has taken top spot for the last seven years (light trucks) and the past three years for passenger vehicles. Light trucks include pick-ups, SUVs and full-size vans, passenger vehicles, cars and compact vans. Customers mentioned reliability, durability , performance and handling above price.
Continue ReadingNew Managing Director For Bridgestone In Brazil
Bridgestone/Firestone Brazils former vice president of legal and government affairs has been promoted to the managing directors post upon the retiral of Vito De Florio on 1st October.
Continue Reading8th Tyres/Chassis/Tracks Conference in Hanover
Home match for Continental: Not enough that the company’s head of Tyre R&D and Process Engineering, Heinrich Huinik, had been the chairman of the organising committee for the 8th VDI (association of German engineers) Tyres/Chassis/Tracks conference, the tyre manufacturer, which, after the reorganisation process in recent years regards itself as a whole service supplier, had been on the agenda for both several specialised and the two plenary lectures too. Thus, it was no surprise when, using the sloganGlobal Chassis Control, Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart, member of Conti’s Executive Board, again picked out their system network as a central theme in his plenary lecture. Another main topic of the conference in Hanover was the specialised field of System Integration which had twice the number of lectures than all other specialised meetings, titled Track-Tyre-Interaction, Tyres, Tyre Modelling, Chassis Simulation and Chassis Systems.
Continue ReadingGreater Share In Stomil For Michelin
Michelin has gained another 2.88% stake in Stomil-Olsztyn and now holds 65.78% of the company shares. The remainder of the shares are held by eight to ten owners as opposed to the 40 additional shareholders that existed at the beginning of September. This new structure, according to Michelin, clarifies the structure of the company.
Continue ReadingRecommendation For Goodyear Shares Also
Deutsche Bank analysts have upgraded Goodyear shares from Market Perform to Buy. They are of the opinion that Goodyear has made significant progress in reforming its cost structure and this, coupled with lower raw material prices, will mean much better-than-expected profits. The analysts also believe that Goodyear can capture many Firestone dealers in February next year, when their contracts with Firestone expire.
Continue ReadingNew Tyre From Debica: Passio
Their latest product, the summer tyre Passio with a T-speed rating was presented to the European press and public at the end of January. This tyre is intended to succeed the Debica Vivo. For Zdzislaw Chabowski there is no doubt that in future his factory in Debica will be very important within Goodyear’s integrated production system all over the world. This article presents the new product, the company and the management. The product is a summer tyre, a so called bread and butter tyre, with speed index T, being developed in Goodyear’s research and development centre (GTCL) in Luxemburg. Afterwards it will be comprehensively tested on gravel roads, motorways and also on the race track in Vallelunga, Italy. According to the manufacturer, comfort and driving conditions on both wet and dry roads have been improved. Noise levels have been reduced, and compared to its predecessor, Passio should be able to reduce the braking distance on both dry and wet surfaces. Passio is a tyre for both the original equipment and the replacement market which soon will be available in nearly every European country. Debica Tyres was founded in 1939 and transformed into a public limited company in 1991, whose shares have been traded at the Warsaw stock exchange. The Polish government found a strategic investor in Goodyear at the end of 1995, who, in two steps, has increased its financial interest in the company and has become the majority shareholder meanwhile.
Continue ReadingHeavy Truck Tyres Rolling Slowly In The USA
The prospects for manufacturers of heavy trucks in the USA are rather gloomy for this year, as experts are expecting a decline of up to 30 per cent. Despite this, analysts are not pessimistic about the prospects for Michelin, as the turnover from OE sales of truck tyres is only about 3 per cent of total group turnover. Better results than for 1999 are expected too for Goodyear, due to the downward trend in raw material prices and, last but not least, the recently-announced tyre price increases look like they will stick.
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