Pirelli is on schedule

For Pirelli the current year is on schedule in the face of good sales and earnings. Higher prices for raw materials won’t burden Pirelli’s results before the new year. Talking to TYRES & ACCESSORIES at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Dr.

Francesco Gori, Managing Director of the Pirelli Tyre Sector, again affirms the good business in the USA. For the second time in a row Pirelli will end a year making a profit on the biggest tyre market in the world. This is even more remarkable, because Pirelli has just opened its MIRS-plant in Rome, Georgia, for which the company has incurred launch costs.

During the last years the Italian company was pleased with an annual sales growth of about 20 per cent. This was partly because of the OE business Pirelli undertakes with car makers Ford and Chrysler. But not only that, the tyre maker has gained ground also on the replacement market after the sell-out through mass merchandisers has been stopped.

In Latin America Gori expects Pirelli to be clearly number one ahead of Goodyear, whose Mexican activities structurally belong to the North American business (Nafta). The prospects are rather good that Pirelli will generate sales of more than 3 billion euro during this year solely with tyres; during last year this economic indicator stood at 2.857 billion euro.