Le Fooding now a 100% Michelin-owned company
Michelin has added to its portfolio of non-tyre business assets with the acquisition of all outstanding shares in Le Fooding three years after the two companies first began collaborating. The deal is the culmination of an agreement signed with the co-founders of Le Fooding in 2017 – after Michelin acquired a 40 per cent stake in its share capital – that provided for Michelin’s future acquisition of the remaining interest.
Continue ReadingPirelli: No economic impact from EU court decision
Pirelli says it will experience “no economic impact” as a result of a sentence given by the Court of Justice of the European Union yesterday. The sentence pertains to a cartel within the electrical cables market that confirms prior EU Tribunal and EU Commission decisions. The company reiterates that it has “already made the opportune provisions in its risk and charges fund for potential liabilities relative to these proceedings.”
Continue ReadingFisker Inc. to establish European HQ in Munich
Fisker Inc has announced that it has chosen Munich as the location for its European headquarters. The designer and manufacturer of eco-friendly electric vehicles and advanced mobility solutions stats that Munich offers convenient access to key European EV markets and close proximity to Magna’s Graz facility in Austria.
Continue ReadingBridgestone wins TyreSafe Innovation Award 2020
Bridgestone’s range of technologically advanced products and services has helped the company win national road safety charity TyreSafe’s Innovation & Use of Technology Award 2020. The new award represents further recognition of Bridgestone’s contribution to road safety by TyreSafe. The manufacturer collected the Tyre Manufacturer of the Year title in 2018, an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2017 and an Innovation & Use of Technology trophy for its DriveGuard runflat technology, also in 2017.
Continue ReadingTractor of the Future’s tyres ‘increasingly connected’ – BKT
26 journalists with expertise in agricultural mechanisation are currently judging contenders for the European Tractor of the Year (TotY) award. Sponsor of the award, off-highway and agricultural tyre specialist BKT, says the details on innovations presented by entrants forms “the identikit of the perfect tractor.” The futuristic developments now available from many equipment manufacturers represent in their totality a vision for what will be possible in a single machine, BKT says. These innovations include data connectivity and digitalisation, high-tech safety features, increased sustainability, and autonomous driving, as well as tyres that assist in delivering such improvements in the field. The TotY sponsor calls its role “certainly the richest experience of 2020.”
Continue ReadingOak Tyres celebrates 40th anniversary
Oak Tyres is marking 40 years in business – and of consecutive years of “sales growth” in 2020. The independently owned company, which is a founder member of Grouptyre, says that its sustained progress is down to its service-led philosophy: “If we provide a better service than our competitor, great things will happen” – its guiding statement since its establishment in 1980. Today, Oak has become one of the largest independent tyre wholesalers in the UK. It has more than 500,000 sq ft of warehouse space across its Haydock, St Helens, Manchester, Leeds and Tyne and Wear sites. In the last decade in particular, Oak’s distribution of two successful brands from the Far East – Landsail and Evergreen, both exclusively distributed – has supported impressive market penetration for both. Since 2015, Oak has established its own global private tyre brand, Davanti, which at the last count is present in more than 60 countries.
Continue ReadingGeorg Brunstam appointed president and CEO of Hexpol
Hexpol AB (publ) has appointed Georg Brunstam as president and CEO of Hexpol AB (publ) effective 20 November 2020. Georg Brunstam is currently chairman of the Board for Hexpol AB (publ) and had previously been President and CEO for Hexpol AB (publ) 2007-2017.
Continue ReadingChinese tyre import share rises above 50% in declining European market
China accounted for more than half of all passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tyres entering the European Union and the United Kingdom for the first time during the first eight months of 2020. Comparatively, the then 28 EU nations imported 105 million passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tyres from outside the region in the same period of 2019.* The major impact on tyre demand of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as varying degrees of disrupted production, led to the EU-27 and UK together importing 21 million fewer tyres in the corresponding period of 2020, a reduction of 20 per cent. The Eurostat and HMRC data was compiled by leading data analyst Astutus Research.
Continue ReadingZC Rubber launches online dealer service portal
With its newly-developed global customer service system, ZC Rubber says it offers tyre dealers an online platform that serves as a “one-stop solution for tyre information, marketing support and after-sales service.” The system covers all ZC Rubber brands, including Westlake, Goodride, Chaoyang, Trazano, Arisun and Yartu.
Continue ReadingStrong Q3 performance – Michelin revises 2020 guidance upward
Good news in a year where this has been in short supply: Michelin reports that global demand for its tyres “picked up more strongly than expected” in the third quarter of 2020 after falling steeply in the second quarter. That said, demand is still below where it was this time last year.
Continue ReadingContinental: Rubber Technologies achieves 15% EBIT margin in Q3 2020
Continental has reported its Q3 2020 financial results, and these are better than many expected. Although quarterly consolidated sales of 10.295 billion euros were 7.3 per cent below the 11.303 billion euros reported in Q3 2019, the adjusted EBIT margin of 8.1 per cent was 2.5 per cent higher. The Rubber Technologies division, which includes Continental’s tyre business, was crucial to this success.
Continue ReadingAutomechanika Birmingham postponed until June 2022
Automechanika Birmingham 2021 has been postponed. The organisers, Messe Frankfurt UK, said the leading exhibition for the automotive aftermarket would return on 7-9 June 2022. The company’s Frankfurt headquarters had already announced the postponement of Automechanika Frankfurt to September 2021. The decision to postpone the UK event follows several months of discussion with exhibitors and host venue the NEC.
Continue ReadingAsset manager buys GKN’s wheel business
German asset management firm Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA is acquiring the GKN Wheels & Structures business from GKN. The transaction is expected to complete in November and is conditional on receiving anti-trust approval. Following the deal’s completion, GKN Wheels & Structures will gain an as-yet-undisclosed new name.
Continue ReadingInvestors facilitating Tyrata’s customer qualification & further development
Tyre sensor and data management company Tyrata Inc. says it has raised US$2.9 million in financing from global investors, and will use these funds to complete customer qualification of its IntelliTread Drive-Over System (DOS), establish high-volume manufacturing in global markets and speed development of the Tyrata Internal Tread Sensor product line.
Continue ReadingBKT confirms EIMA non-attendance
After postponing the event scheduled for November 2020, the organiser of EIMA International is planning to hold its agricultural machinery trade fair in Bologna next February. But not all exhibitors are convinced this is the right decision. In light of the ongoing coronavirus situation, tyre maker BKT has chosen not to take part in the show and instead will promote its products via digital media.
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