Bridgestone in ‘Class-Action’ Lawsuit
An American law firm has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Bridgestone Firestone North American Tires LLC and Bridgestone Firestone Corp, seeking damages and the recall of 30 million Firestone Steeltex tyres the firms says are defective. The action, filed last week in Los Angeles Federal Court by Lisoni & Lisoni, involves Firestone Steeltex R4S, R4SII and A/T tyres, local newspaper, The Whittier Daily News reported.
Continue ReadingSlovakian Economic Ministers Reject Hankook Investment
An internal meeting of ministers in Economic ministers from Slovakia has recommended that the investment between Hankook and Slovakia should not be approved by the government. Jan Slota, chairman of the nationalist non-parliamentary SNS party, considers Monday’s decision by the economic group to be harmful to Slovakia’s business interests. According to Mr Slota, the decision means that Slovakia will fall further and further behind the other countries in the area. Mr Slota also suggested that other lobbying interests are causing finance minister Ivan Miklos’ negative attitude towards the Korean investment.
Continue ReadingTyres Stolen From RH Claydon
Approximately 320 tyres were stolen from RH Claydon’s Bury St Edmunds branch at the end of May. Thieves took advantage of the bank holiday weekend to gain entry into the depot before loading the products onto a stolen truck. 80 of the stolen tyres were truck products with the rest being comprised of various passenger car brands. The stolen tyres are listed below, any distributor being offered these brands and sizes from an unusual source should contact Dick Anderson at raa@rhc.co.uk immediately. 11R22.5 148/145L MATADOR DR1 1 295/80R22.5 152/148M MATADOR DH1 15 295/80R22.5 152/148M MATADOR FR2 1 195/45R15 78V FEDERAL SS595 13 195/45R16 80V FEDERAL SS595 5 195/50R15 82V FEDERAL SS535 5 195/55R15 84V FEDERAL SS535 39 205/45R16 83V FEDERAL SS595 12 205/45R16 83W FEDERAL SS595 2 205/50R15 86V FEDERAL SS535 13 205/50R16 87V FEDERAL SS535 1 205/50R16 87W FEDERAL SS595 32 205/55R15 88V FEDERAL SS535 24 205/55R16 91V FEDERAL SS535 32 215/45R17 87W FEDERAL SS595 20 225/45R17 91V FEDERAL SS595 20 225/50R16 92V FEDERAL SS535 11 235/40R18 91W FEDERAL SS595 2 255/40R17 94V FEDERAL SS595 10 245/70R19.5 133/131M KUMHO RS03 40 295/80R22.5 152/148M KUMHO 964 10 295/80R22.5 152/148M KUMHO RD02 14 295/80R22.5 152/148M ROADLUX R210 1 38565R22.5 160K KUMHO 968 25 385/65R22.5 160K MATADOR TH1 4 425/65R22.5 165K KUMHO 958 5
Continue ReadingContiTech Starts New Chinese Production Line
Shanxi-Phoenix Conveyor Belt Systems Co Ltd has launched a new production line in Changzhi, Shanxi province, China. Gerhard Lerch chairman of ContiTech AG, which has owned Phoenix since the end of 2004, inaugurated the new production facility for heavy-duty conveyor belts. The new line will be used to manufacture heavy-duty steel-cable conveyor belts for surface and underground mining. Belts produced at this facility are capable of satisfying extremely tough quality standards, and especially those required by the numerous coalmines. The belts will also be installed in storage and handling facilities at ports.
Continue ReadingEuro Car Parts Contitech’s Largest UK Distributor
Euro Car Parts has been appointed as the UK’s largest distributor of Contitech drive belts. The deal ensures that Euro Car Parts, the UK’s largest independent supplier of car parts, can meet the highest volume demands from trade and retail customers 30 branches nationwide. Contitech is an original equipment manufacturer on some of the world’s leading car marques including BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Volvo, Seat and Audi.
Continue ReadingT&A Partners With Tyrexpo Asia Again
“Today southeast Asia and China host some of the fastest growing markets in the world. So having a tyre exhibition in Singapore is an ideal combination,” says Klaus Haddenbrock. The publisher and chief editor of Tyres & Accessories, and its German sister magazine Neue Reifenzeitung, is confident that this year’s Tyrexpo Asia will be a complete success and the number of exhibitors and visitors will increase strongly. For him the region is much more than just a “cheap production platform” and the tyre business will continue to be bullish in the future. “Its not only Western manufacturers that are looking for new markets in which to sell their products, so do their Eastern counterparts,” he adds. The 2005 show will be the fifth time Tyres & Accessories has supported Tyrexpo Asia. Once again, T&A is the show’s exclusive European media partner. Organised by East Sussex-based ECI International, Tyrexpo Asia will be held at the Singapore Expo Centre from 13 - 15 September 2005. T&A will be on stand H 14.
Continue ReadingSmarTire Completes Major Financing
SmarTire Systems Inc has agreed a major financing programme with Cornell Capital Partners LP that has resulted in net proceeds of $11 million plus a $160 million standby equity distribution agreement. According to the company the funds will be used to expand the company’s business strategy beyond tyre pressure monitoring and into the field of wireless sensing and control applications.
Continue ReadingYokohama Domestic Tyre Price Increases
Yokohama Rubber has announced that it will introduce a four per cent price increase in the price of domestic replacement tyres in September. The last domestic replacement tyre price increase was a 5-6 per cent hike in May 2004. Local news sources are reporting that the price increase could cover as much as 60 per cent of input cost increases.
Continue ReadingPirelli Cable Business Sale Gets EU Approval
The European Commission has approved Goldman Sachs’ acquisition of Pirelli’s engery and telecomms cable businesses. The commission found that no company controlled by Goldman Sachs is engaged in the EU in the same markets as those in which the acquired businesses are active, and therefore will not impede competition. In addition the commission observed that the acquired businesses face strong competition from companies such as Corning and DrakaComteq.
Continue ReadingMichelin Cash Flow Too Slow
In the last few days Michelin’s share price has fallen four per cent, prompting analysts to ask questions about the manufacturer’s cash flow. Deutsche Bank analysts discount suggestions that natural rubber price increases are the main reason for the drop in share price. Instead they agree with bearish predictions that despite 9.2 per cent operating profit margin in 2005, the company isn’t generating enough cash flow. However, future labour cost savings coupled with lower capital expenditure will boost free cash flow generation in the next 2-3 years, the analysts believe.
Continue ReadingFIA to Change Tyre Rule
The FIA has proposed an amendment to Formula 1’s tyre rules for 2008 in order to avoid a repeat of the problems encountered at the recent US Grand Prix. The new rule contains a provision for the stewards to exercise their discretion and approve the use of tyres other than those nominated by the manufacturer prior to a race meeting in the event of an unexpected problem.
Continue ReadingGoodyear to Boost Chinese Investment
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co is to increase investment at its plant in northeast China by more than 10 per cent between now and 2007. The move is designed to offset rising raw material costs, by increasing the production of premium products, according to the company’s Asia Pacific president, Pierre Cohade. Goodyear hopes to profit by sales of replacement tyres, which now account for about half of China’s tyre market and are growing “sizeably” as Chinese drivers buy new tyres, Mr Cohade told Reuters.
Continue ReadingWarranties Continue to Confuse Motorists
A national survey has found that many motorists wrongly believe they have to take their car to a manufacturer’s franchised dealership for servicing. Hi-Q conducted a nation-wide survey of over 400 motorists to question just what people understand about their warranty. Only 30 per cent of people believed their warranty would be valid if they took their car to a garage other than the manufacturer’s dealer. 38 per cent believed their warranty would be broken if they took the car to an alternative independent garage and 32 per cent didn’t know either way.
Continue ReadingIntroducing Monbat
Monbat may not be a well known brand in the UK at the moment but according to the company all that is about to change. The brand has been driving sales across Europe and having signed a contract with Squadron Batteries earlier this year the UK is Monbat’s next target. Partly owned by Texaco Chevron, Monbat has been manufacturing batteries for over 45 years. The company specialises in heavy duty, high specification batteries for rail and military applications, as well as manufacturing UPS batteries for the telecom industry. Its car and commercial vehicle batteries are produced in the same manufacturing facility and to the same quality standards says the battery manufacturer.
Continue ReadingBridgestone 2005 OP Down 9 per cent
Bridgestone Corp is likely to post less of a drop in 2005 group operating profit than it expected. Reports in the Nihon Keizai newspaper say the improved figures have been assisted by robust sales of high-value-added products worldwide. The reports suggest Bridgestone will publish operating profit of just over 180 billion yen ($1.61 billion), down some 9 per cent from a year earlier. In February, the company estimated that its group operating profit would fall 14 per cent to 170 billion yen. Both figures look conservative compared with the Reuters Estimates consensus, which puts the figure nearer 195 billion yen.
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