Michelin says it has implemented a partial share buyback scheme and under this will acquire up to one million Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin shares. The company says it has “called on the assistance of an Investment Services Provider to meet certain objectives” of the share buyback programme authorised at Michelin’s Annual Shareholders Meeting on 17 May 2013.
Donald Sterling, owner of the US basketball team Los Angeles Clippers, is in a lot of hot water over a recorded conversation in which he allegedly told his girlfriend not to bring black people to games played by his team. Even President Barack Obama has described the comments as being “incredibly offensive racist statements”. Team sponsor Yokohama Tire Corporation has also responded to the incident, placing a question mark alongside its future association with the Clippers.
Kumho Tyre Australia has become the new naming rights sponsor for the Australian Junior Rally Challenge, further expanding the company’s backing of the ECB Australian Rally Championship. Kumho is already the championship’s official tyre supplier. Announcing the company’s participation as naming rights sponsor, Kumho Tyre Australia’s national marketing and training manager, David Basha, said “Kumho believes in the future of the Australian Rally Championship and backing the Junior Challenge is all about nurturing the future stars of the sport who will help build interest in the championship overall.
Continental’s newly-published provisional key figures for the 2013 fiscal year show the tyre and automotive component maker achieved an adjusted EBIT margin of 11.2 per cent, comfortably beating the target of at least 10.5 per cent set last November. Year-on-year sales increased slightly, rising from €32.7 billion to €33.3 billion.
With already high levels of OE TPMS fitment increasing as the 1 November 2013 fitment mandate approaches, Laser has launched a set of tool designed to assist in the aftermarket servicing of these products.
Rainer Binder, one of the two founders of online tyre dealer Delticom AG, was appointed to the company’s Supervisory Board, effective 1 January 2014, by the district court (Amtsgericht) in Hanover, Germany. At its meeting on the following day, the Delticom Supervisory Board elected Binder its chairman. He has swapped roles with Andreas Prüfer, who on 1 January 2014 rejoined the company’s Management Board and was appointed co-CEO.
The latest batch of UK vehicle production statistics covering the month of November 2013 was released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) just before Christmas.
UK car production rose 4.5 per cent in first 11 months of year to 1,424,023 units, the SMMT reports. This means that output looks set to pass 1.5 million units in 2013, the first time this has occurred in six years.
Lanxess has celebrated 50 years of butyl rubber production at its Zwijndrecht plant in Belgium. Festivities surrounding the milestone were rounded off by a plant visit from board member Rainer van Roessel on 17 December.
In late November, a Bridgestone Australia-sponsored AU$9.5 million (£5.3 million) patient accommodation village designed to support regional blood cancer patients and their families was officially opened in Adelaide’s north-east. The Bridgestone Australia Leukaemia Foundation Village offers free specialised accommodation and support services to patients and their families, mostly those from regional areas who often have to spend months away from home while undergoing treatment.
Total commercial vehicle registrations were up strongly in November, rising by 22.7 per cent to 28,057 units in the month says the SMMT. The year-to-date CV market is up 10.9 per cent at 294,991 units and on track to top 300,000 units for first time in five years.
With 26 days till the end of the year, the latest year-to-date new car registration figures collated by the SMMT show that that registrations have been strong across the UK, but especially in Wales. Every country in the union registered near double-digit growth, with the slowest growth (9.48 per cent) taking place in bar far the largest part of the market – England. Here registrations in the period totalled 1.781 million from 1.627 million last year.
At the end of November Andreas Giese, who held the position of marketing manager at Giti Tire Deutschland GmbH since the start of 2010, left the company. Until a successor is appointed his duties will be carried out by the company’s ‘DACH’ region general manager Rainer Harter.
A full grid of 32 entries will compete for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship again in 2014, the headline sponsor and tyre supplier has confirmed. All 32 available TOCA BTCC Licences (TBLs) were allocated during the pre-registration process, which closed on 30 November. TOCA, the series organiser, has introduced TBLs for next year with the goal of providing teams with longer-term stability and security.
The Facebook page set up by Continental Tire the Americas’ Sumter facility has announced the plant’s early production start. Production was originally scheduled to commence in the beginning of 2014, however plant manager Craig Baartman wrote on 24 November that production was underway at the new South Carolina plant. Baartman thanked employees and Sumter economic leaders “for their help in getting us to where we are today.”
