Tyres & Accessories recently printed news of Michelin’s OE supply to Porsche for the new Panamera; Pirelli has also indicated that the new vehicle will utilise its tyres. The Italian manufacturer reports that “the technology partnership between Pirelli and Porsche is renewed with the much-awaited Panamera sportscar, which will feature Pirelli tyres both in summer and in winter.”
US based tyre-changing tool and equipment supplier AME International brought to Singapore a product portfolio that includes bead breakers, hydraulic pumps, the ‘X-tend’ pneumatic tyre spreader and the Titan Pro Series of tyre tools and garage equipment.
“We pride ourselves on working closely with our customers in order to provide them with the products that best suit their needs,” said AME president, Keith Jarman. “The tools we produce are manufactured using the very latest technology, thereby ensuring the highest possible standards of quality.”
Amerityre Corporation’s Board of Directors has implemented a management restructuring that has resulted in the resignation of company president and chief executive officer Gary Benninger and the appointment of incubent vice president of marketing Michael Kapral in his place. Mr. Benninger joined the Company in October 2005, initially serving as its chief operating officer, before becoming president and CEO in September 2007. Mr. Benninger will continue to serve as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors.
“Gary has worked hard to put the Company in a position to begin manufacturing and selling solid polyurethane forklift tires,” commented Louis Haynie, chairman of Amerityre’s Board of Directors. “Now, with Mike taking the reins, we expect his knowledge and experience in the tyre and tyre product markets will launch those tyres successfully,” he added.
Revolution Motorstore has added another retro-flavoured rim to its portfolio. The Cades Eros, says Revolution, mixes old-school cool with the latest production methods. The rim is available in either black, gold or silver and in 15 or 16-inch fitments – sizes that make Revolution confident the wheel will be a hit with the Classic, Retro, Euro and Jap tuning fraternities.
Randstad, one of the UK's leading Automotive Aftermarket distributors, has added to its growing car accessory offer, with the launch of a range of wheel trims.
Following the news that Apollo Tyres is going to buy Vredestein Banden, the district court of Almelo in the Netherlands has declared the manufacturer’s former Russian-Dutch parent company (Amtel-Vredestein N.V.) bankrupt. As a result Amtel-Vredestein has released full-year 2008 financial results that chronicle the company’s continued decline from its poor full-year 2007 results. Full-year 2008 net losses almost doubled to US$446 million, compared with $242 million. The losses came despite relatively stable annual revenue of $881 million compared with $886 million in 2007.
The financial report also sheds a little more light on the timing of Apollo’s offer for Vredestein Banden. According to the company literature, the group received a “binding offer” to acquire 100 per cent of the issued share capital from Apollo in February 2009, two months before the news that such an offer became public. By this stage the offer had long been accepted by the company’s supervisory board, a decision that was made at some point in March.
Kings Road Tyres has named Bridgestone UK as “Supplier of the Year” for 2008. The award was presented to Julie Plumb, head of UK truck sales, who commented: “We are delighted that Kings Road Tyres have recognised Bridgestone UK with this prestigious award for our overall performance in supply. We pride ourselves on our customer service and, as a long term partner of Kings Road Tyres, this shows that they value our partnership.”
Adrian Bader, managing director of Kings Road Tyres, explained: “This award is in recognition of the tremendous support received from Bridgestone’s sales team and all other departments. Bridgestone’s professionalism and service was of the highest degree and goes to show that two companies working together in partnership can be truly successful.” Personnel from several departments were asked to rate suppliers on areas such as product availability, call centre efficiency, sales personnel customer service, marketing support and the provision of product and staff training.
The management of Cooper Tire Europe has offered “its sincere apologies to anyone who was affected”, after a camera was found in the men’s toilet by employees. The Wiltshire Times reports that the camera “was installed by a maintenance contractor at the request of a Cooper Tires manager,” who suspected employees of substance abuse. The Unite Union representative John McGookin told the paper that he has discussed the incident with company management, saying, “This was somebody’s misguided approach to a concern. It’s something we have asked that the company ensures does not happen again.”
A Cooper statement said that, “Following an extensive, independent investigation into the discovery of a camera in a toilet, it has been established that:-
1. Although there was suspicion of substance abuse on site, the decision to position a camera in a toilet was unacceptable
2. The company has a policy to deal with suspected substance abuse and this was not followed
3. The camera equipment was not made operational
4. Although the motives were genuine, as the company treats substance abuse seriously, this was a major error of judgement and therefore disciplinary action has been taken against those responsible
5. Procedures are being changed to ensure that such an incident cannot be repeated in future”
As a major importer of far eastern manufactured tyres, Bond International’s presence at Tyrexpo Asia was significant. The company, which has been established for more than forty years, has acquired during its time in the business vast experience in the import and export of tyres to and from the UK. Today Bond International can provide unrivalled delivery service thanks to its four warehouses and stock level of over 600,000 tyres. As well as distributing all leading premium brand tyres the company is also the agent for Marshal, Admiral, Infinity, Sumo, Firenza, Rotalla and Gerutti.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and for automotive industry charity BEN a dearth of funds in this period of recession has led to the cancellation of its 2009 lunch event. The BEN Annual Lunch, a thank you to supporters that have helped the charity over the previous year, is normally sponsored so as to not divert money from the main business of care and welfare. BEN reports, however, that the recession has affected its fundraising income, and that in these “difficult times” even its traditional supporters have needed to cut their costs.
Respect is a much sought after commodity, as any fan of ‘The Godfather’ film trilogy can testify. Any company capable of earning and keeping the buying public’s respect holds a value tool no PR firm can replicate with slick campaigns. According to the Reputation Institute (RI) and Forbes magazine, Goodyear Tire and Rubber is one such firm – for the second year in a row it has been recognised as America’s most respected automotive company.
Less than two years’ after being granted approval by the Thailand Board of Investment, Yokohama Rubber has officially opened its ‘Tire Test Center of Asia’ proving ground in Rayong Province. Work began on the 2.5 billion yen centre in September 2007 and the site was ready for use last December. Although the opening ceremony was not held until April 30, tyre testing has been performed at the proving ground since January 2009.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe has released a statement announcing its plan to cut 30-50 jobs at its Melksham, Wiltshire plant, amounting to around 4 per cent of the company’s workers there. The manufacturer will invite its 1,000 employees at the site to apply for voluntary redundancy throughout May. The statement cites the reduction of costs necessary to remain competitive within its markets as the reason for the cuts.
While overall sales declined 8.2 per cent to US$232.6 million during the first quarter of 2009, Titan International reports that its sales of agricultural sector products hit an all-time first quarter record. “Large farm tyres and wheels were selling well in the first quarter of 2009, along with Titan’s new super giant mining tyres,” commented Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. upon the figures’ release. These record agricultural sales of $187.3 million represent an increase of almost eight per cent on the $173.5 million generated in the first quarter of last year.
Provided the supply of electricity is restored, Dunlop India will most likely recommence the manufacture of tyres at its Sahaganj facility during May. The supply was cut following the suspension of production last November; the Press Trust of India quotes company chairman P K Ruia as recently saying “the Sahaganj plant is waiting for electricity connection to restart production.”
The facility partially re-opened on March 6, with 200 of the plant’s 1147 employees returning to carry out maintenance work.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
