An official groundbreaking has been held for the new 30-storey Bridgestone Americas headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. The new 47,750 square metre building is being erected with an investment exceeding US$200 million and will house more than 1,700 company employees when completed in the middle or latter part of 2017. This figure includes 600 jobs from business units currently located in other parts of the US.
Giti Tire (USA) has raised its US prices by 9.5 per cent in response to the countervailing duties introduced by the country’s government. The increases affect all passenger and light truck tyres (excluding ST tyres) produced by Giti in China, and are effective from 1 January 2015. US industry journal Tire Review revealed the anticipated price hike had been implemented as a result of the 11.74 per cent adjusted countervailing duties imposed by the US Department of Commerce on Giti Tire Fujian Co Ltd. Giti said it was still “committed” to the US market.
Michelin has become a partner to Capitale Perche, Europe’s foremost indoor pole vault competition. In recognition of this support, the sixth edition of Capitale Perche, which will be held in Michelin’s home town of Clermont-Ferrand on 10 January, has been renamed Michelin Capital Perche. The event will be attended by some 450 athletes and children from around France.
Oil leak at Titan Tire Corporation plant contained
Titan International Subsidiary Titan Tire Corporation says an above-ground storage tank at one of its facilities in the US has leaked lubricating oil, and this oil has entered the local water system. The leak at the Bryan, Ohio plant flowed into the storm water system and then into the Prairie Creek.
Bridgestone laying off workers as agri tyre demand falls
According to news reports in the US, Bridgestone intends to lay off almost 70 people from its agricultural tyre factory in Des Moines, Iowa. Whotv.com writes that the 69 layoffs will be voluntary and are planned to counter declining industry-wide demand for agricultural tyres. Bridgestone will re-evaluate the layoffs at the end of the first quarter of 2015.
The new, 54,000 ton per annum Alliance Tire Group factory in India’s Gujarat state is now in operation. The company reported the inauguration of its third facility (the others being Hadera, Israel and Tirunelveli, India) in the second half of December 2014, and said the US$150 million facility in Dahej will reach full capacity in early 2016. At this date it is expected to employ some 1,500 workers.
On 23 December, Kumho Tire emerged from the debt workout programme it was placed under at the start of 2010. More than 75 per cent of the company’s creditors, in terms of debt held, decided that Kumho Tire had reached the threshold for ‘graduating’ from the programme. The tyre maker’s debt ratio, which hit a high of 858 per cent in 2010, declined to 290 per cent during the first half of 2014. Its credit rating also improved from BBB- to BBB.
Apollo Tyres ‘pleased’ with final dismissal of Cooper case
The legal dispute between Apollo Tyres and Cooper Tire & Rubber has now ended following the final dismissal of litigation filled by Cooper Tire against Apollo.
Nexen Tire’s Roadian HTX RH5 has won a US Good Design Award. The company’s N’FERA RU5 also won the Korean Good Design Awards and the firm’s N’blue Premium won the Korean Pin up Design Awards.
The US Good Design Awards is an annual design awards programme organized by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design (Illinois) in cooperation with the European Center for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.
The US Department of Commerce has reduced preliminary countervailing duties on tyres manufactured in China, according to local news sources. The countervailing duties are in addition a 4-per cent import tariff.
The Herald, which is distributed in Chester county area of South Carolina where Giti will soon break ground on its new tyre factory, reported that the commerce department has lowered Giti’s rate to 11.74 per cent from 17.69 per cent. At the same time the rate for most other Chinese-manufactured tyres dropped to 12.03 per cent from 15.69 per cent.
The German town of Bad Kreuznach reports Michelin’s acquisition of a 70,000 square metre land plot alongside its facility there, an area that will be used to expand the plant. The land is part of the ‘Marshall Kaserne’ site, a former US Army barracks in the Rhineland-Palatinate that closed in 2001.
US state governor calls for Giti Tire tariff revision
In a letter sent 16 December, the Governor of South Carolina requested the US Department of Commerce re-evaluate the 17.69 per cent tariff that applies to all consumer tyres Giti Tire imports into the US from China. Governor Nikki Haley highlighted Giti Tire’s plans to build a plant in Chester Country, South Carolina, and stated that the tariff “inequitably affects Giti’s business.”
Tyre makers paying 25% more to help India’s rubber producers
A dozen tyre manufacturers in India have agreed to acquire domestically-sourced natural rubber at a price 25 per cent above that set in Bangkok. This arrangement was decided upon at a meeting on 18 December in the city of Thiruvananthapuram with Oommen Chandy, chief minister of India’s Kerala state. It was agreed that India’s Rubber Board will calculate the going price for rubber each day; this will be based on the international, Bangkok price, with an additional 20 per cent customs duty and five per cent purchase tax added to the international price. The chief minister’s office reports that the new pricing takes effect today and is valid until the end of March 2015.
In the US China Manufacturers Alliance, LLC (CMA) has announced that it is recalling certain Bluestar LQ225 size 8-14.5 low platform trailer tyres manufactured. According to a recall notice published by the US government authority responsible for such matters, NHTSA, the affected tyres were produced between 24 February 2013, and 9 August 2014.
Greek Aeolus importer Maxim Kaltsidis Tyres S.A. open the first “Aeolus Service Partner Brand Store” in Thessaloniki, Greece recently.
In a statement dated 12 December company representatives explained: “We are very proud to announce the first Aeolus PCR Tyres exclusive brand store in Greece. The new point of sale incorporates the fundamental values of the brand such as quality and performance, in a modern, contemporary, consumer-friendly environment!” says Maximos Kaltsidis, general manager.
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