Camac restart – Nova Motorsport now making 3 tyre brands
Over recent months we’ve reported the renaissance of the Avon brand at the Camac tyre factory in Portugal, which Nova Motorsport acquired in April. The Camac brand has also gained a new lease of life thanks to a 20-million-euro investment to refurbish and upgrade at the factory in Palmeira over the past half a year.
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CLEPA Innovation award for Continental UltraContact NXT
On the evening of 4 December, CLEPA – the European Association of Automotive Suppliers – held its ninth CLEPA Innovation Awards in Brussels. In addition to featuring talks with high-level EU policy makers on the future of transport, the event awarded 12 Top Innovators, six each in the categories ‘Digital’ and ‘Green’. The latter category included kudos for a tyre, the Continental UltraContact NXT.
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Falken Tyres event partner to 2025 IHF Men’s World Championship
Reinforcing its sport sponsorship activities, Falken Tyre Europe GmbH has extended its collaboration with the International Handball Federation (IHF) by becoming an event partner to the 29th IHF Men’s World Championship. This handball tournament takes place in January, with Denmark, Croatia and Norway serving as hosts.
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Strong demand for Emerald Tyre IPO
Within hours of opening, the initial public offering (IPO) of Indian tyre maker Emerald Tyre Manufacturers Ltd was already heavily oversubscribed. By 1pm (IST) on Friday 6 December, the second day of the IPO, Emerald Tyre Manufacturers had been subscribed 67 times. The IPO on the National Stock Exchange of India will remain open until 9 December.
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Jongho Park named president of Hankook Tire Europe
Effective 1 December 2024, Jongho Park has been appointed as chief operating officer (COO) and president for Hankook Tire Europe. Park will lead the premium tyre manufacturer’s operations in its key European market. He takes over the role from Sanghoon Lee, who will be assuming responsibility for Hankook Tire & Technology as president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
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Continental divests Zonar fleet management business
With a spin-off on the cards, Continental is pursuing a strategy of focusing on core strengths and streamlining business operations within its Automotive sector. As part of this focus, the company has sold its 2016-acquired fleet management business Zonar to GPS Trackit, an industry pioneer in cloud-based, IoT fleet solutions and GPS fleet tracking. Neither Continental nor GPS Trackit’s parent, Philadelphia, USA-based buyout firm Inverness Graham, have disclosed the financial terms or other details of the transaction.
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Hankook Tire a partner in Korean tyre mould recycling project
Hankook Tire & Technology shares that its Hankook Technodome research institute is collaborating to develop eco-friendly manufacturing technologies as part of a project led by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). The aim is to develop technology for reusing discarded tyre moulds in the manufacture of new, reusable moulds.
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Tyrepress sister consumer website becomes partner of TyreSafe
Tyrepress sister website WhatTyre became a partner of TyreSafe this year, following up many years of covering the organisation’s important road safety activities and stakeholder partnerships in Tyre Industry Publications’ business website and magazine Tyres & Accessories. The company’s independent consumer tyre advice website is dedicated to helping drivers make informed decisions about tyre replacement and maintenance. Therefore partnering with the leading UK tyre safety organisation to extend its messages is a natural fit. As a result of its business-to-business and consumer titles, Tyre Industry Publications is uniquely positioned to reach a broad coalition of road users and the tyre suppliers and fitters that make the tyres that keep them safe. The reciprocal partnership will help ensure that crucial tyre safety information is disseminated effectively across the UK.
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G.M.P. Group aiming for international expansion through Reedijk acquisition
In a strategic move aimed at enhancing its presence in European markets and driving growth on a global scale, Italian alloy wheel manufacturer G.M.P. Group has acquired Netherlands-based tyre distributor Reedijk Wheels and Tyres Group. For Reedijk, this development represents “the next step in the development of a historically profitable collaboration between the companies” that began back in 2007. G.M.P. Group intends to use the acquisition as a vehicle for relaunching its Antera wheel brand.
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Kenda Europe establishes Powersports team for two-wheeler market growth
Kenda Europe is expanding its European activities in the powered two-wheeler segment with the formation of a dedicated Powersports team. Leading this initiative is Shaun Jones, who currently serves as Segment Director for Trailer & Caravan. Jones will transition into his new role in January 2025 and will collaborate closely with Kenda’s global Powersports teams in Taiwan and the United States, as well as the European Specialty unit, to drive growth and innovation in this market.
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Cimcorp enters UK market
Finnish automation specialist Cimcorp is expanding its footprint in the UK. Announcing this development, Jarkko Hakkarainen, Head of Operations for Cimcorp’s European region, explains that while the main focus is to “ensure the success of our new projects,” the company is also studying future opportunities in the tyre industry, where Cimcorp aims to enhance its competitiveness through ongoing conversations with key players. Hakkarainen recently relocated to the UK to support Cimcorp’s expansion.
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Stalking horse – ATD enters asset purchase agreement with lender group
American Tire Distributors, Inc. (ATD) announced on 27 November that it has made a preliminary agreement to sell its assets to a buyer backed by some of its major lenders. Specifically, the company has entered into a ‘stalking horse’ asset purchase agreement (APA). The lenders supporting the buyer entity include investment groups and funds managed by companies like Guggenheim Partners, KKR, Monarch Alternative Capital, Sculptor Capital, and Silver Point Capital. In a statement announcing the transaction, ATD collectively refers to these lenders as the ‘Ad Hoc Lender Group’.
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Auf Wiedersehen, non-PET
Continental is increasing the proportion of recycled materials in its tyres by converting more of its manufacturing facilities to use polyester fabric made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. This increases the recycled content of many tyre lines by an average of three per cent. After presenting this ContiRe.Tex technology for the first time at the end of 2021, the company began using it on a small scale at its tyre plants in Lousado, Portugal, and Otrokovice, Czech Republic the following year. It recently extended this to plants in Korbach, Germany, and Sarreguemines, France, which both now use recycled PET bottles in series production.
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People, profit & planet – Michelin talks manufacturing in Western Europe
Several weeks ago, prior to visiting the Michelin plant in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, I witnessed the partial demolition of what until recently was one of the country’s most modern and efficient power plants. Capable of satisfying almost the entire electricity requirements of neighbouring Hamburg yet decommissioned after less than seven years in what the local Environment Minster called a “symbolic” gesture, the blasting of the 3-billion-euro plant’s chimneys delivered a depressing reminder of the challenges that tyre makers and other manufacturers face in Western Europe. Perhaps the Michelin team could restore some lost optimism.
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Toyo Tire moving east – job cuts in Western, Southern Europe
At a Board of Directors meeting held today, Toyo Tire Corporation approved plans to discontinue the business operations of its European sales subsidiaries, transferring these to a newly established company. From January 2025, Toyo Tyre (UK) Ltd. and three other sales subsidiaries will “successively cease their business activities.”
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