Bridgestone to Build Fourth Tyre Plant in China
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Corporation is planning to invest about $300 million in the construction of a fourth tyre plant in China, the company recently announced.
Now one of the largest tyre-producing countries in the world, China has an indisputable influence on the direction of global tyre trade. The home of both fast-growing up-and-coming brands as well as a burgeoning domestic market, this tag chronicles China’s involvement with the tyre business.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Corporation is planning to invest about $300 million in the construction of a fourth tyre plant in China, the company recently announced.
(Akron/Tire Review) Federal Tire Co. has appointed Henry Lin as vice president of sales and marketing. Mr Lin had previously worked for Federal before leaving and then formally rejoining the company in March.
The last year has been eventful for Cooper Tire & Rubber. First the company sold its Cooper Standard business, then it bought an 11 per cent stake in Korean manufacturer Kumho Tire, now the company’s management is optimistic that it is “in the middle of a transformation.” Tire Review’s Jim Smith met Cooper president and CEO, Tom Dattilo, and found out his thoughts on the diverse diverse subjects of emerging markets, run-flat technology and how Cooper can enhance its position as a global player.
(Akron/Tire Review) The Royal Dutch/Shell Group said it has teamed up with Shanghai Automotive Group Co to launch a car maintenance service for motorists in China. The 50-50 joint venture, called Anji Jiffy Lube Automotive Services Co Ltd, will build a network of fast lube service outlets modeled on the Jiffy Lube chain in the US.
It will invest around $23 million for the project, which will initially involve 10 pilot outlets in Shanghai within the first year of operation. Anji Jiffy is targeting to open more than 600 branches by 2015 in China, which currently has around 23 million vehicles on the road. In terms of new car sales each year, China is now the third largest in the world, after the US and Japan.
(India/Rubber Asia) Cheap imports from China and to a lesser extent from Thailand and South Korea, coupled with rising raw material costs are posing a serious challenge to the Indian tyre industry, Apollo Tyres chief operating officer Mr Neeraj Kanwar has said.
Feedback from the fourth Automechanika Asia trade fair, held in Kuala Lumpur in early April, has been voted a success by visitors and exhibitors.
There were 126 exhibitors from 17 countries (Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, PR China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and USA).
Next month sees the much anticipated return of Brityrex. After an eight year absence the show is returning to Harrogate as Brityrex International and the organisers, ECI International, are determined to deliver exactly what they promised from the beginning – an exhibition dedicated to the tyre and related industries. Tyres & Accessories caught up with event organisers, Paul Farrant and Rowena Suthers, of ECI international, to discuss the up and coming event, in this, the final countdown to the show.
There hasn’t been a UK tyre trade show for years, so why re-launch the show?
“The UK is an important market and it should have its own tyre show,” enthused Rowena Suthers, when asked about the company’s decision to revive the show. Brityrex dates back to 1979 and was seen as the only opportunity for the UK tyre industry to get together and exhibit its wares. Tyre Exhibitions held the last show in 1997, an exhibition that Paul Farrant and Rowena Suthers, now ECI International, were originally involved with. As well as having first hand experience of the show itself, the organisers also bring with them the knowledge gained from running the successful exhibition, Tyrexpo Asia. Together the pair have 38 years of experience in organising exhibitions and as frequent exhibitors themselves they know what exhibitors want as well as what the tyre trade wants.
“UK legislation is changing and shows like Reifen and SEMA can’t satisfy the needs of companies present in the UK market. Brityrex was never intended to be a Reifen or a Sema but it was meant to be as important to the UK market as they are to their respective markets,” explained Rowena. And what about demand for a UK show? “As the second largest market in Europe there is demand there, it’s an important market, it has always had its own event and it deserves to have its own show.”
It would be something of an understatement to say that high raw material costs, the weak dollar and unprecedented competition from the Far East is affecting UK alloy wheel manufacturing. But, in the cases of the selection of companies that Tyres & Accessories spoke to, it is more a question of ingenuity triumphing over adversity. So, in the face of such pressing circumstances, how are UK manufacturers holding firm? Work smarter, not necessarily harder, they say.
Cooper has reported a sharp drop in profits as it feels the effect of the month long strike at its Arkansas plant. Publishing its first quarter results the company said is made $5.2 million or 7 cents per share for the period ended 31 March, compared with $24.3 million (32 cents per share) the year before.
(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire Co has completed the expansion of its Nanjing, China tyre plant, more than doubling its annual production in China. The Nanjing plant, along with a new Kumho tyre factory in Tianjin, will result in an expected annual production capacity of 18 million tyres a year by 2007, according to Kumho. The Nanjing plant currently produces 5 million tyres a year, and the expansion will boost annual capacity to 12 million tires. Kumho also said it was considering building a third plant in China.
Pirelli is to build a new tyre plant in Romania, The Cumberland News has reported. The new Romanian tyre plant will reportedly be of a comparable size to the Pirelli factory at Cummersdale near Carlisle and will initially produce 4.5 million tyres a year. However, unlike the Carlisle plant, which specialises in 4×4 tyres, the Romanian plant will produce the full range of Pirelli products, the newspaper reported.
A forecast by the China Minmetals & Chemicals Import and Export Chamber of Commerce says that demand from the tyre industry will be the major factor in a rise in the price of rubber and growth in the Chinese Rubber Industry in 2005.
(Akron/Tire Review) The US International Trade Commission voted 4-2 yesterday to retain tariffs on steel imports, saying that removing the duties would further hurt the struggling US steel industry. The tariffs specifically cover steel from Japan, Brazil and Russia. Duties on flat-rolled steel range from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, and were imposed about five years ago.
According to a report from Bloomberg, foreign direct investment in China rose by 9.5 per cent in the first quarter. It attributes this to companies such as Avon Products and Goodyear Tire & Rubber that are expanding in the market and furthering their attempts to tap rising demand in Asia’s second-largest economy.
By Alex Law
MacLeans magazine
“Nunc est bibendum.”
Horace originally meant that to be a call to merriment, or, in a more literal translation, “Now is the time to drink.”
When Michelin first used the phrase decades ago on an advertising poster, it was the tagline to a sketch of a man made out of tyres (now known as Bibendum) who was looking down a stretch of pavement filled with the kind of debris normally found on the world’s roads at the time. The message then meant, “I can handle all that.”
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