Thai government propping up rubber prices with US$183 milion of support
The Thai government is buying rubber from the market via a 6 billion baht (US$183 million) buffer fund to support prices. According to a Reuters report, a private fund has also been set up to support domestic rubber futures.
New owner for insolvent Reifen Ihle’s retreading operation
The retreading business belonging to insolvent German tyre company the Reifen Ihle Group now has a new owner. The sales contract was signed late last Friday, and follows the divestment of the firm’s 12 Point S tyre retail centres to regional retailer Reifen Müller at the end of October. R-I-G Technische Produkte GmbH has been acquired by Frankfurt am Main-based holding company Prolimity Capital Partners and will now be operated under a new entity, Rigdon GmbH.
A new multi-year deal signed by Continental in the US will give it a brand presence at a total of 381 college basketball games per season. Continental Tire the Americas has entered into a partnership with International Management Group (IMG) property schools and Learfield property schools, and becomes the ‘Official Partner of Basketball’ for schools in six high-profile conferences. The tyre maker will be visible both courtside and during televised games.
RMA proposes tyre registration, TIA ‘disappointed’ in legislative solution
Tire Industry Association has promised to fight a proposal by the US Rubber Manufacturers Association to reinstate a mandatory tyre registration programme, US journal Tire Review reports. During a panel on tyre registration and recalls at the Passenger Vehicle Tire Safety Symposium held by the National Transportation Safety Board, the RMA cited low registration rates of tyres sold by independent retailers as the reason behind the proposal. RMA reported that overall fewer than 20 per cent of all tyres are registered.
One Cape Town driver is reporting an astonishing 103,000 km on a single set of Grabber 4x4 tyres. Lodi van Deventer from Brackenfell, Cape Town, reached this milestone after three years with the General Grabber AW 265/70 R16 tyres fitted on his Toyota Fortuner.
Most people find it hard to believe that I have covered over 100,000 km on the General Grabbers, Van Deventer says. The majority of the driving was on tar in both urban and rural environments, but I also did quite a bit of gravel driving in the Stilbaai area during holidays.
Seven all-new tyre lines are set to enter the Kumho Tire USA portfolio in 2015, and the company says from now on it will refresh its North American range every year.
Sumitomo establishes Australian tyre sales company
Sumitomo Rubber Industries is saying g’day to Australia through a joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation to establish a tyre sales corporation in the country. Sumitomo Rubber Australia Pty. Ltd. is expected to begin operating in March 2015 and strengthen Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ replacement market consumer tyre sales in Australia. The Sydney-based office is being set up with a capital investment of AU$20 million (£10.6 million), with Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Sumitomo Corporation respectively holding a 75 per cent and 25 per cent share in the operation. Representative Kenichi Furuhama will manage approximately 60 Sumitomo Rubber Australia employees.
You might not think of Kazakhstan as a centre of the international tyre industry and – on a global scale – it isn’t. However, in light of renewed reports of factory investment from Indonesian-based Multistrada as well as the historical context of Nokian’s ill-fated joint-venture there it is worth reporting a little of what else is going on in the country.
The Bloodhound Project, an ambitious British bid to set a new world land speed record in a supersonic car, has received a power boost from Atlas Copco UK. The company has supplied a range of workshop compressors and air tools to the Bloodhound Technical Centre in Bristol and its associated test facility at Newquay Aerohub.
The equipment will play a pivotal role in the development of the Bloodhound Supersonic Car, the jet engine and rocket powered racing car, as the team prepares for an attempt to set a new 1,000mph world land speed record in 2016.
US lab advocates tyre pyrolysis to supply EV batteries
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are aiming are advocating tyre pyrolysis as a way of recovering carbon black for use as a graphite substitute in lithium-ion batteries. The goal is to scale up the recovery process and demonstrate applications as anodes for lithium-ion batteries in large-format “pouch cells”. These batteries could then be used in plug-in electric vehicles and to store energy produced by wind and solar sources.
Multistrada signs Kazakhstan tyre factory contract
According to Indonesian news agency Antara News, tyre maker PT Multistrada Arah Sarana – manufacturer of the Achilles, Corsa and Strada tyre brands – has signed a contract to build a production facility in Kazakhstan. The agency quotes Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Indonesia, Ashkat Orazbay, as stating that “a contract has been signed between Multistrada Indonesia and a Kazakhstan-based company to build a tyre factory.” Antara News did not report the name of the Kazakhstani company or give any further details about the project.
On 9 December, the Rubber Manufacturers Association, the trade association representing tyre makers with a manufacturing presence in the US, offered its four-point plan to US Federal agency the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to help improve motorist safety. The NTSB is currently conducting a two-day symposium to discuss the contribution tyres can make to motor vehicle safety.
Incorrect markings prompt Towmax tyre recall in North America
Canada’s Dynamic Tire Corp. is recalling almost 17,400 Towmax STR tyres that have been marked with incorrect load capacity and inflation pressure information. The size ST225/75 R15 tyres were manufacturing by Shandong Yongfeng Tyres in China between 15 June and 14 October 2014 and due to the incorrect sidewall markings do not comply with the requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 119, ‘New Pneumatic Tires for Vehicles Other Than Passenger Cars.’
Continental producing first Taraxagum-based test tyres
Continental has produced a limited number of Russian dandelion rubber-based tyres for product development and testing purposes. The first products featuring the new natural rubber alternative will be winter tyres. Speaking at a press conference in London on Friday 5 December, David O’Donnell, senior vice president research and development for Continental’s tyre division, shared a number details relating to both the natural rubber replacement material and the tyre production strategy related to it.
Honda builds vehicles at nine manufacturing facilities in the US, and has received original equipment tyres from Bridgestone Americas for many years. To honour the tyre maker’s green efforts, at its 22nd annual Environmental, Safety and Ergonomics Symposium, Honda acknowledged Bridgestone’s Wilson (North Carolina) tyre plant with three ‘Green Factory Environmental Achievement Recognitions’. Honda recognised the Wilson facility in three categories: energy reduction, natural resources and pollution prevention.
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