Continental Teves to go east
The car brake production of Continental Teves is to be moved to Czech Republic. At present no-one from Conti Teves was available for comment.
Hannover-based Continental AG is a leading automotive supplier and – according to the company – is “the choice of leading car manufacturers, offering award-winning tyres that deliver responsive braking in all weather conditions.”
The car brake production of Continental Teves is to be moved to Czech Republic. At present no-one from Conti Teves was available for comment.
The tyre factories of Brisa (Bridgestone/Sabanci), Pirelli and Goodyear are all situated within a few hundred metres from one another along a road leading out of Izmit, the town so severely hit by the earthquake. Bekaert also has a production facility nearby, Continental manufactures technical rubber products not far away, and a second Pirelli plant makes cables. It will only be a matter of days until production, only partially interrupted by the earthquake, returns to full strength while the aid campaign has gone into full swing at the same time.
The management has undertaken an upward revision of the turnover and profit forecasts. Due to increased turnover all business divisions were able to improve their margins, but it seems that General Tire did not entirely come up to the expectations of institutional investors. The Teves result (half-yearly turnover: 1.278 billion euros, EBIT: 27 million euros) came as a pleasant surprise to banking circles. After the first six months group turnover reached 4.449 billion euros, and the EBIT of 263 million euros was roughly ten per cent above expectations. Stock exchange experts value the potential of the Continental share with 25 to 26 euros, which has as yet not been realised. The slightly worrying aspect is the fear that Continental could be “lumped together” with other, “normal” tyre manufacturers, e.g. Michelin, Goodyear and Pirelli, which produced rather sobering results.
September is show time in Frankfurt. This year we have just seen the IAA for cars and motorcycles, the 58th such event. Almost 1,200 exhibitors from 43 countries displayed the whole width and breadth of automotive progress on 225,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor exhibition space. The theme of this year’s exhibition, “Auto: Treffpunkt Zukunft” (“Car – Meeting-Place: The Future”) must also be understood as the industry’s programme: Car manufacturers alone offered 51 world premières, eight European and 38 German premières, not counting the numerous innovations of vehicle component suppliers, the motor manufacturers’ development partners. Apart from new production-line cars, futuristic concept cars, motorcycles and special vehicles Frankfurt showed trailers, parts and accessories, tuning products, aids for vehicle maintenance, protective clothing, traffic guidance and information systems. Tyre manufacturers with IAA stands of their own were Michelin, Continental, Dunlop and Pneumant. The second part of the 58th IAA – the commercial vehicle side – will take place from 23rd to 30th September 2000 under the theme “Nutzfahrzeuge: Für alle auf Achse” (“Commercial Vehicles: For Everybody on the Move”) and also be held at Frankfurt/Main. The organisation will also be in the hands of the Association of the Motor Manufacturing Industry (VDA).
For the launch of its two new winter tyre models, the “ContiWinterContact TS 780” and the transporter and van tyre “VancoWinter” at the beginning of October the Continental AG management chose a very special venue: Iceland. However, a blizzard that raged for days prevented practical tests of the new tyres on the selected glacier. Developers of winter tyres are always faced with the classic dilemma: Do they design for optimum grip on snow or on dry roads? The development of the TS 780 for vehicles of the compact and lower medium classes aimed at reducing the discrepancy between the two objectives. An important innovation is a sipe construction which tries to emulate the architecture of beehives with its honeycomb shape. According to the manufacturer, the honeycomb sipe has clear safety advantages when cornering on snow. A directional tread pattern and the latest silica compound technology are additional features responsible for the new tyre’s good driving characteristics in wintry conditions as well as on dry and wet roads. It is available in all European markets needing winter tyres, initially in 13 sizes from 145/80 R 13 75Q to 185/60 R 14 82T. The “VancoWinter” was specially developed for medium and heavy vans. Traction on ice and snow is provided by sipes which are incorporated in the tread blocks. To achieve a significant improvement over its predecessor, the “LMS 70”, the VancoWinter’s sipes and blocks are twice as high. Its behaviour on icy roads is to be improved by distributing the pressure on the ground more evenly. The van tyre is immediately available, at first in nine sizes (from 185 R 14C to 195/65 R 16C).
The Semperit factory at Traiskirchen is facing a cut in car tyre production from the current 2.9 million to 1.4 million units next year. That will put a big question mark over the efficiency of the plant. The works council fears erosion and medium-term closure; well above 100, if not up to 250 jobs will have to go. The threatened workforce is determined to fight this unequal treatment with all the means at its disposal and, if necessary, to create a “sea of troubles” in public. Whether that can put right the many shortcomings of the past we shall have to wait and see. Cross-border solidarity between fellow workforces is not apparent.
Although a joint venture between Continental and Pirelli could make sense in the tyre sector, observers do not believe it. The Italians, in any case, deny it vehemently. While the German group is still recovering from the enormous effort of the Teves acquisition, the Italians are about to concentrate more on entering the real estate business. An extremely nervous reaction came from Pirelli Reifenwerke managers, who do not like such talk in the market, especially since they have enough to do looking after themselves. Sales boss Röske speaks in eloquent terms of the lustre of the Pirelli tyre brand that makes his team’s “eyes shine”. The brand, he says, is stronger than “our customers sometimes want to give us credit for”. In Röske’s opinion Continental may perhaps have tried to throw dust in people’s eyes to divert attention from a potential takeover by Bridgestone. This magazine rather thinks that Conti boss Kessel wants to avert the public gaze from talks with the telephone group Mannesmann, which is possibly ready to part with its automotive division.
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