Review Of 2001

This is a business on the move, this business is exciting. Tyres may sometimes be regarded as commodities in the eyes of marketing strategists, tyres seem to be boring, but insiders know that this is not correct. Tyres are high-tech products, the only problem is that most consumers do not realise this.

Because of this we are looking for communicators who can whip up enthusiasm. The most important task of the tyre business must be to raise the image of the “round black things”. In reality this industry has for a long time collaborated with companies from the high tech electronics sector and there are many points of contact with the so highly-regarded IT companies.

Applications in seemingly remote areas of science are checked for a possible transfer to tyres. In building tyres a revolution has happened, historical inventions since the first pneumatic tyre from John Boyd Dunlop as well as radialisation or the tubeless tyre, silica compounds or lamella technology in respect of materials or tread design, are all in the past and are only little steps in the history of the tyre. The dynamic of the tyre business in terms of technology is fantastic: a “brave new world” of tyres has begun.

Unfortunately this feeling of progress and the many technical innovations which have had such an impact on the tyre industry and the tyre trade have not filtered through to everyday business. We – who deal with tyres day in and day out – ought also to be infected by this contagious enthusiasm which is rife in research and development departments, whose technicians are sometimes regarded by outsiders as somewhat staid. Let’s have a review of the year 2001: whoever reads the headlines of this business and comes from a totally different sector will envy us for being in such a dynamic industry.