A change of tyre is in the pipeline for the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Yokohama Rubber has announced it will supply its ‘ECO’ racing tyres as one-make tyres for the WTCC series for the 2010 to 2012 seasons. The ECO product follows on from Yokohama’s Advan A005 dry surface and Advan A006 wet weather tyres, supplied since 2006.
For the eighth time in a decade Toyo Tire & Rubber has been rated the top overall consumer tyre brand in Tire Review’s annual Tire Brand Study of North American Tire Dealers. The company has also taken the number one slot for medium truck tyres – the sixth time in the last eight years.
No sooner had Travis Kang been appointed to the position of President of Nexen Tire (on 5 January), than he set off on visits to strategic markets such as the US, France, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, China – reportedly visiting each a few times. After one such week-long visit to the Middle East markets, he made a proposal to company executives: “After seeing the market of Middle East, I truly believe Dubai is the bridgehead for the new market. Let’s open a branch there immediately.”
Nexen Tire Dubai covers the strategic markets of Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Iran and North African markets. The Dubai branch opened in August, just four months after the initial proposal was made.
(Tire Review) Malaysia apparently sees an opportunity from the tyre tariff tiff between the US and China. According to Bernama new service, the country’s Chamber of Commerce is encouraging Chinese tiremakers to set up plants in Malaysia in a move to avoid the new 35 per cent tariff on exports to the US.
A Deutsche Bank analysis of the global tyre market in 2008 has revealed that the global top 11 tyre manufacturer’s share of said market has fallen considerably in this decade, while the market capacity has swelled to twice its value (not allowing for inflation) at the turn of the millennium – US$140 billion compared to 69.78 billion in 2000. In addition, the Global Big Three (Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear) have seen their market share dwindle to 46.2 per cent. In the four previous recordings, taken by Deutsche Bank at five-year intervals, their share had not dipped below 52.1 per cent. Analysts attributed the downward trend to the fact that they have a below average share of the markets that are growing most rapidly, such as China. The news is affecting Goodyear most of all, since they have reportedly lost three times more market share than either Bridgestone or Michelin.
Another recent release from Scorpion is the latest system for the VW Scirocco Tdi. The Midlands based manufacturer chose to produce this particular Scirocco system first due to the strong sales enjoyed by the diesel version of the Volkswagen coupe.
The UK government is to extend the successful “bangers for cash” scrappage scheme until February 2010 with £100 million in extra funding. Alongside the increased funding the government will work with manufacturers to extend the benefits to van owners with vehicles over 8 years old rather than the current 10 year requirement. Car owners will also get a boost, with the age qualification changed by 6 months to extend the benefits to cars registered on or before 29 Feb 2000 (V registration). The scheme will come to an end in February 2010 or when the funding runs out, which ever is sooner.
So far 227,750 orders have been placed through the scheme. The increased funding enables the scheme to fund a further 100,000 vehicles, bringing total budget to £400 million and covering up to 400,000 vehicles in total. The extension continues as a government and manufacturer partnership, with matched funding providing the £2,000 discount for each scrappage order.
Announcing the news Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “The sector has been strongly affected by the recession, but the scrappage scheme has delivered a boost to manufacturers and the supply chain. We have listened to the concerns of manufacturers and are increasing the funding of the scheme to £400 million.”
TTC stands for Technical Tire Consulting, a team of specialists with many years’ experience in the field of tyre manufacturing and familiarity with the latest technologies. During their time in the business the consultants have been responsible for building world class manufacturing facilities, such as those producing drop centre tyres, and have knowledge of all aspects of the business at their fingertips.
In preparation for the closure of its Opelika, Alabama factory at the end of October, Michelin North America's BFGoodrich Tire Manufacturing has announced the layoffs of approximately 350 production employees, effective October 2. According to Lynn Mann, MNA director of external communications, the layoffs are part of the company’s “rampdown activities”.
Following the Obama administration’s decision on Chinese tyre imports, Toyo Tire & Rubber has announced it will soon stop producing passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres for the US market in China. "Most of those tyres will soon be manufactured at our plants in Japan," the company said in a statement. "Our number one priority is customer satisfaction, and we are making every effort to minimise disruption in supplies to our dealers by expediting these production changes."
Brazil has informed the World Trade Organization it has now come into compliance regarding its used tyre trade dispute with the European Union. The WTO ruled that Brazil’s ban on retreads from the EU discriminatory as it permitted them to be imported from other South American countries. To rectify the situation, Brazil has outlawed the importation of such tyres, regardless of their origin.
National Tyre and Autocare (NTA), in association with Bridgestone Tyres, recently awarded Margaret Beattie of New Elgin with free fuel for a year after she won first prize in a national competition. Margaret entered the competition at her local NTA depot, in New Elgin. Margaret’s name was chosen at random from the hundreds of entries received.
Andy Dingley, advertising and promotion manager for Bridgestone, commented: “Motorists are being put under pressure as the costs of running a car increase with fuel duty rising by 2p next month, along with the environmental concerns of motoring and the sheer volume of traffic on the nation’s roads, so it is no surprise that driving has lost some of its joy. We wanted to give something back to drivers at a much needed time.”
Financial analysts are predicting that Michelin will benefit most from a margin recovery effect set to hit premium tyre manufacturers in 2010. According to Deutsche Bank, despite a significant negative volume effect, the leading tyre companies have been “very resilient” in 2009. This means they have benefitted form pricing discipline, raw material tailwinds (in the second half) and a positive OE/replacement mix. The analysts believe that next year’s volumes should rebound strongly from their low current level and, coupled with a leftover raw material tailwind and with restructuring paybacks, margins should rebound strongly. “Michelin should benefit the most followed by Pirelli. While Continental should benefit the least [proportionately] since tyres represent only 30 per cent of the group's revenues,” the investor’s note explained.
When Hankook executives announced details of their plans to expand production at the company’s Dunaujvaros, Hungary factory earlier in September, the Financial Times reported that either an Indian or Malaysian plant are next on the list. In answer to Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com questions, Calvin Pak, Hankook team manager corporate communications, explained that these countries are indeed being considered, but that sites in Mexico and Brazil are also being looked into. Acquisitions of existing plants or companies are also said to be an option. However, no final decisions have yet been made.
After pioneering the so-called “cash for clunkers” scrappage incentive model in 2008, which was then mirrored in all the major European markets, the French government has announced that it is phasing out its 1000 euros for a 10 year-old car stimulus package. According to financial analysts, this measure had a net positive impact on demand of approximately 200,000 units, or 10 per cent of the market against a gross market impact of 400 units.
The developments in the French market follow the rather more abrupt end of a similar scheme in the German market, where demand for cars purchased under the scheme exceeded supply on 2 September. According to a Deutsche bank report published at the time, the scheme was responsible for 9000 unit sales a day since its introduction.
To avoid a free fall of the market next year, Germany’s car market for example is expected to be 25 per cent down in 2010, the French government has decided to reduce its scheme progressively. Next January the incentive will drop to 700 euros before dropping to 500 euros next July and hitting zero in January 2011. As a result, Deutsche Bank analysts are predicting “a limited decline of French registrations in 2010 of around 1.9 million units, -5 per cent.”
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