Michelin Recommends Two New Supervisory Board Members
After consultation with supervisory board, the Groupe Michelin managing partners will submit a resolution to appoint two new supervisory board members at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on 20 May 2005.
Continue ReadingThe End of the Line for One GM Brand?
After issuing a profit warning last week, General Motors has suggested that it may phase out one of its weaker brands if sales fail to meet projections, company vice chairman Bob Lutz said on Wednesday. A Detroit News report described GM’s Buick and Pontiac as “damaged brands” due to lack of investment over the years, something that GM is working to correct with an array of new vehicles coming to market, Mr Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive conference in New York. But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, “then we would have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don’t have to do that. What we’ve got to do is keep the brands weve got.” According to the report sales for both Pontiac and Buick have lagged in recent years.
Continue ReadingHankook Brand “Most Powerful”
(Akron/Tire Review) Hankook Tire Co.’s Optimo passenger tyre line made the list of South Korea’s “most powerful brands,” as determined by the Korea Management Association. According to a report by Chosun.com, the KMA surveyed the brand power of 2,576 brands in 164 industries to develop its list.
Continue ReadingToyo Equipped Cayenne Breaks Record
(Akron/Tire Review) A Toyo Proxes S/T equipped Sportec Cayenne Turbo SP600M broke the Fastest SUV in the World title by lapping the Automotive Testing Papenburg oval test track in Germany at a top speed of 191.65 mph. The test was held 10 March, according to Toyo officials. Driven by Sportecs Andreas Hodel, the new mark shattered the previous record of 175 mph set in 2003 by a Kleenman ML55K also running on Toyos Proxes S/T tyres. ”We are very proud of this record set through a collaborative effort between Toyo and Sportec, said Travis Roffler, Toyo Tire (USA) Corp.’s senior director of marketing. “The fact that another world class tuner selected the Proxes S/T to break such a prestigious record demonstrates their continued confidence in the engineering excellence and overall quality of Toyo products.”
Continue ReadingCooper/USWA Injunction Postponed
(Akron/Tire Review) According to a United Steelworkers of America (USWA) website, the union and Cooper Tire & Rubber have “agreed to postpone” an injunction hearing that was scheduled to be held yesterday. No further details were given.
Continue ReadingBFNAT and Bandag Continue Cooperation
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) and truck leasing giant Ryder System Inc have extended their agreement in which BFNAT supplies new medium truck radials to Ryder and Bandag Inc provides retreading services. The agreement began in 1990, according to BFNAT.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Dunlop Adds To Commercial Sales Team
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK has appointed Jason Tyers as regional sales manager for the North, as part of the overall restructuring of its commercial department. The appointment follows the recent introduction of Clive Powell as director of Goodyear Dunlop’s Commercial Department.
Continue ReadingNew Michelin Guide
Michelin has released a new guidebook. ‘Main Cities of Europe’ contains details of 5083 of the 45,000 hotels and restaurants listed in the complete 2005 Michelin collection, from across Europe. The choices are made by a team of inspectors, who travel throughout Europe, all year round, visiting new and existing establishments, looking for consistent quality for customers.
Continue ReadingPirelli Dividend Shrinks
Pirelli Spa & C will pay a smaller dividend for the 2004 financial year than it did for 2003. The Italian company has proposed to pay a dividend of 0.021 euros per ordinary share and 0.0314 euros per savings share. The ordinary share dividend is 30 per cent lower than last year, when the company paid out 0.031 euros and 0.414 euros respectively. In spite of the dividend decrease the company paid out 113 million euros, more than it did in previous years.
Continue ReadingMichelin Workers Demonstrate Against Pay Offer
Workers at the Michelin plant in Stoke-on-Trent held a three hour lunchtime demonstration on Tuesday of last week. Opinions are divided about how ‘successful’ the action was with left leaning newspaper, Socialist Worker, recording an attendance of 200 union members. Other sources suggested the figure was less than half of that.
Continue ReadingPirelli’s Chinese Joint Venture
Pirelli has announced that it has embarked on exclusive negotiations with RoadOne Tyre Co Ltd, a market leader in conveyor belt manufacturing. The new joint venture is to be based in Shandong Province and will manufacture large all-steel radial truck tyres for the domestic market and other export markets in South East Asia. Pirelli sees its latest move confirming its strategy in China, the world’s fastest growing market for road transportation. Negotiations with RoadOne Tyre began after some of the conditions stated in the company’s Letter of Intents with Aeolus Tyre (2004) could not be met.
Continue ReadingMichelin’s fitment for Honda Pan-European
Michelin has introduced another version of its Pilot Road sports-touring tyre for fitment to Honda’s ST1300 Pan-European. The new 170/60 ZR 17 (72W) Pilot Road ‘A’ extends the coverage of the range, which already includes sports bikes, sports tourers and big trail bikes. A reinforced casing has been added to the latest version to offer improved stability and handling when matched with the 120/70 ZR 18 (59W) Pilot Road front
Continue ReadingDoublestar Blames Conti for JV Collapse
A proposed Chinese joint venture between Qingdao Doublestar and Continental AG fell apart because of a dispute over who would take the majority stake in the partnership, according to a Bloomberg report. The Chinese company has since said it is in talks with other overseas companies for a venture in which it wants a majority stake, the Chinese company said in a Shenzhen exchange statement today. The statement did not name the prospective partners.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Accepts Blame for Slow Ferrari Start
Bridgestone has taken the blame for Ferraris poor start to the Formula 1 season. Bridgestone Motorsport’s technical director Hirohide Hamashima told the daily Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday that there was no doubt tyres were to blame. “Even if the entire package is important, in this race the responsibility for such a negative result is undoubtedly down to our tyres,” said Mr Hamashima. Seven teams in Formula 1 use Michelin tyres, including Renault who have won both races so far this season. “The fact that (Fernando) Alonso and (Jarno) Trulli lapped a couple of seconds faster than us is certainly not explainable by different fuel loads. Obviously we have had long discussions with Ferrari to create tyres of a new generation and we are counting on having found some that will allow us quickly to be competitive again,” said the Bridgestone chief.
Continue ReadingEuropean Aftermarket to Suffer 1.2 Billion Euro Dip
New research from independent market analysts Datamonitor suggests that Europe’s 146 billion euro light vehicle aftermarket is in decline. The analysts say that revenues could drop by one per cent compared with those of today – a 1.2 billion euro shrinkage.
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