STARCO Huanmei, a wheel manufacturing operation in China founded in 2007 as a joint venture with Kenda, is moving to an entirely new production facility that provides the scope to greatly increase output. The new plant is located in Zhejiang Province, some three hours away from Shanghai. Following a traditional Chinese opening ceremony two weeks ago, STARCO anticipates the factory achieving full operation by mid-October.
In October 2020 GKN Wheels & Structures was acquired by Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA. The new owners announced that the acquisition was completed on 26 November 2020 and since then, the company has been “planning for our future”. This means “listening to [its] teams internally as well as our external stakeholders-working to look at how we can work better and smarter together as we move forward”. But in practice the most noticeable immediate development is the decision to rename the business as Moveero.
Reporting on its response to the fire that broke out at its plant in Manresa, Spain on Monday, Maxion Wheels shares that the company’s Incident Management Team is on site today to “oversee fire damage restoration.” Depending on circumstances, some production may resume there as soon as next week.
Conflicting reports on the damage to Maxion Wheels’ Manresa plant in Spain are currently circulating. While local news sources suggest that the fire that broke out in the facility on Monday has completely halted production and will affect it for some time, comment from Maxion Wheels challenges the veracity of these reports. The wheel manufacturer intends to issue an official statement on the matter in due course.
Firefighters have extinguished a blaze at the Maxion Wheels light vehicles steel wheel plant in Manresa, Spain. According to local media sources, the fire service received a call to the site at 6:45pm yesterday afternoon. They had brought the fire under control by 8:30pm. While there are no reported injuries, four pieces of plant machinery are apparently affected. The factory building’s roof has also sustained some damage.
One of the world’s largest manufacturers of steel wheels for the off-highway and mobile crane industry has gained the royal seal of approval. Titan Steel Wheels has been awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade for Outstanding Short-Term Growth in overseas sales.
Titan International, Inc. has reduced its shareholding in steel wheel manufacturer Wheels India Limited. It sold, via a wholly-owned subsidiary, a 10.4 per cent stake in Wheels India on 3 October, thereby dropping its share in the company from 34.2 to 23.8 per cent. Titan International intends to use the net proceeds of approximately US$19 million received from the transaction to pay down outstanding indebtedness.
When tourists visit Croatia, they don’t come to Beli Manastir. The sleepy town of around 8,000 inhabitants is about as distant as you can get from Croatia’s bustling beach resorts and still stay within the country’s borders. But Beli Manastir’s lack of package holiday cred doesn’t matter a jot to STARCO – instead of bringing the world to Beli Manastir, it is taking Beli Manastir to the world.
The USA has determined the rate of anti-dumping and countervailing duties it will charge on steel commercial vehicle wheels imported from China, and the levels set are high. This month, the US Department of Commerce announced final anti-dumping duties of 231.7 per cent and countervailing duties of 457.1 per cent.
India’s Tata Motors has become the latest car maker to select Maxion Wheels’ VersaStyle steel wheel as an original equipment rim. Maxion Wheels will deliver 150,000 VersaStyle wheels a year for fitment on the Tata Tiago, a city car sold in the Indian market. Supply to Tata comes on top of the approximately three million VersaStyle wheels that Maxion Wheels produces annually for other customers.
Following an investigation covering the period from 1 July to 31 December 2017, the US Department of Commerce has issued a preliminary determination that steel wheels from the People’s Republic of China were (or were likely to have been) sold in the United States at less-than-fair-value. It now invites interested parties to comment on this preliminary determination.
Under a joint venture contract signed on 22 June, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe will partner with Chinese companies to produce steel wheels, including lightweight hot-formed models, for the local automotive industry. China’s leading steel wheel manufacturer, Jingu Wheel, will hold a 51 per cent share in the joint venture, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe 34 per cent and Ansteel Iron and Steel Group 15 per cent. China’s competition authorities are now examining the tie-up, and thyssenkrupp anticipates the deal’s finalisation within the next few months.
Consolidation within Europe’s commercial vehicle steel wheel market is coming, but three will remain the magic number when it comes to suppliers. Some ten months after the proposed deal was first announced, the European Commission has granted its conditional blessing for Accuride Corporation to acquire steel wheel manufacturer Mefro Wheels GmbH.
Accuride Corporation has entered into an agreement to buy Mefro Wheels GmbH. Headquartered in Solingen, Germany, Mefro Wheels is a privately-owned supplier of steel wheels to the European and Asian passenger car, light vehicle and commercial vehicle industries and maintains manufacturing operations in Germany, France, Turkey, Russia and China.
The small village of Cookely, near Kidderminster, in the rolling Worcestershire countryside isn’t necessarily where you would expect to find a leading manufacturer, but this is exactly where leading OTR wheel supplier to the yellow goods market, Titan Steel Wheels, is based. The subsidiary of Titan International distributes its niche products mainly into Europe, meeting the specifications of end-users in the construction, industrial, mining and agricultural sectors with a wide variety of part numbers, largely comprising three- and five-piece wheels. Tyres & Accessories visited the facility, where Titan Europe managing director, wheels division, Chris Akers talked us through the history of the site, Titan’s current activities and future plans.
Moveero
Titan Steel Wheels