Michelin’s Creditworthiness Rated BBB+ By Standard & Poors
The credit rating agency Standard & Poors has given Michelin a long term corporate credit rating of BBB+ with stable outlook and a short-term rating of A-2. This rating compares favourably with that of other actors in the tyre business and of industries close to this sector of activity.
Continue ReadingRevised Earnings Forecast From Bridgestone Imminent
Bridgestone has said that it will hold a press conference today to give a revised earnings forecast and details of revised output plans for its US subsidiary. Last years results were hit by the Firestone recall, with group net profit falling 80 per cent. President Shigeo Watanabe is scheduled to attend the news conference.
Continue ReadingTyre Distribution At Car Dealers and Workshops
No doubt about it: distribution of passenger car and truck tyres is undergoing a dramatic change in Germany. With the (re)-organised workshops and fast fitters a lot of new distributors of passenger car tyres have entered the market in recent years, attacking the monopoly of the professional tyre retailers, which had been successfully preserved over the past decades. In addition, the tyre distribution channel of car dealers has grown continuously over the last few years. Approximately every third car tyre is sold through this kind of distributor nowadays. The speed of this process will increase because all leading car manufacturers have developed programmes to accompany the customers with a lifelong full-service, which includes tyres and wheels. How threatening is all this for tyre retailers? It would be possible to have a nice discussion about these trends but we wanted to take a look on the concrete, everyday tyre business situation at car dealers and car repair workshops. For this we visited a total of ten companies in Hamburg. Who is selling tyres? Under which conditions are they sold? What about the competence and motivation of the employees? Do they give advice to customers? If so, how good is this advice? Where are tyres neglected as a product? How professional is the marketing? Which companies could be regarded as serious competitors to tyre retailers? The variation in the results of this report could hardly have been wider! In general the trend is that most of the car dealers and workshop stations are miles away from a professional tyre marketing operation. There is always a big difference between the stated goals and the actual achievement in real life. In the end the conclusion is that, on the one hand the importance of these new distribution channels should not be underestimated, but on the other hand, their professional performance should not be overestimated by tyre retailers.
Continue ReadingCourt Decision Welcomed By Ford And Firestone
In the US, a federal judge turned down lawyers requests to order a recall of Ford Explorers and Firestone tyres. The judge ruled that only the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has the authority to order such a recall. Bridgestone/Firestone has already indicated that it would fight any such order from the NHTSA in the courts. In a rare moment of unanimity, both Ford and BF Inc. welcomed the judges decision.
Continue ReadingNew Agricultural Tyre From Michelin
Michelin has introduced the MachXbib – a tubeless radial designed for high-powered tractors. It combines high load carrying capacity with low soil compaction. On the road, it permits heavy load transportation at sp eeds up to 50 km/hr. It is available in two sizes: 900/50 R42 TL and 710/55 R30 TL.
Continue ReadingNo Agreement Signed Yet
Continental has not been able to sign – as planned – a contract with Moscow tyre plant. Weeks ago the company said it would invest 43 million US-$ over the next 3 years into Moscow tyre plant, making Continental the majority shareholder. The company now says that as yet there are some legal questions unanswered and it is sure to sign the contract within the next few weeks.
Continue Reading50 Years of Eibach
In Mid-September, the Spring-, Suspension- and Chassis-specialist celebrated its 50th anniversary in Finnentrop, with the slogan: 50 years of experience – Ready for the future. More than 400 guests accepted the invitation for the central celebration event, approximately 50 percent of them being customers, coming from 40 countries. The terror attacks in the USA had their effect on this event too: is it possible to celebrate an anniversary thinking about thousands of victims in the States and the pain of their families? The main impact has come from our colleagues in the United States, who wanted us to continue with the programme. We also want to give a example of multinational understanding and positive relations, declared a visibly-moved Wilfried Eibach, head of the family owned company. The success story started in 1951 with the production of industry springs. In the Seventies the department for automotive springs was founded. Nowadays the name Eibach is known world-wide as a synonym for leading chassis technology. For some years the programme has gone far beyond the pure spring. The construction process has been supported by CAD-applications and it has carried out pioneer work in the field of new methods of corrosion-protection. Also the chassis system harmonisation is a huge field of activities in the year 2001. Today Eibach AG stands as a family holding on top of the German company group, consisting of four daughter companies. Abroad, Eibach is represented with production, engineering and/or distribution facilities in Irvine (California, USA), Broughton Astley (Leicestershire, GB), Tokyo (Japan) and Warriewood (New South Wales, Australia) and through more than 50 exclusive distributors. In Germany the 250 employees have achieved a turnover of 25.2 million Euro. The world-wide turnover in 2000 of the 400 employees amounted to 48 million Euro. During the celebration guests had practical experience of the secret of Eibach’s success: the fact that – beyond the many technological qualifications – the family owners have never neglected the human dimension, and they have always been aware of their social responsibilities.
Continue ReadingFailure To Sell Costs Conti
The collapse of talks to sell ContiTech are said to be behind the resignation of Stephan Kessel, who has been replaced by Manfred Wennemer, who was until recently the head of ContiTech. Analysts have been taken by surprise by the move and many believe it will result in a loss of confidence in Continental. The sale of ContiTech had been expected to fund moves into electronics and complete automotive systems, without these funds the execution of that strategy may have to change.
Continue ReadingSelf-Rescue Plan For Kumho
Kumho Industrial, parent company of, among others, Kumho Tires, is currently overwhelmed with debt, due largely to the performance of is Asiana Airlines subsidiary. The company has formulated a self-rescue plan, which involves raising money through selling shares in the tyre company. Few details are publicly available, but it is believed that two foreign financial institutions (one from Hong Kong, the other from the USA) have taken a shareholding worth US$ 1.2 billion in the tyre manufacturer, which will continue to run with the same management. The plan also involves Kumho selling off one of its three petrochemical plants.
Continue ReadingIntroduction Of Eurofleet Messenger
The first edition of a newsletter from Eurofleet has appeared. This is a joint venture between the large German tyre dealer group Team-Reifen-Union and Bandag. Eurofleet plans to create a complete network of 400 service providers in 2,000 different locations and will focus on large European fleets.
Continue ReadingLatest News From Kwik-Fit
Kwik-Fit has been trialling a new, three-stage car care concept at a site in Edinburgh, offering motorists a service beyond that of a standard fast-fit operation. Fault diagnosis and mechanical rectification are available on the same site, as well as the usual fast-fit services. The concept is ready to roll out at selected locations in the UK and could transfer to mainland Europe. Five years qgo, Kwik-Fit launched its insurance scheme for motorists. Originally planned only as a telemarketing operation, the idea to offer insurance was an afterthought, which it was hoped would offset some of the costs. Read how the operation has grown to become the biggust outbound call centre in the insurance industry, plus a significant contributor to group profits.
Continue ReadingFrom Frying Pan To Fire
Firestone would be relieved to know that the companys tyres were not to blame for three bus fires in San Diego, but will be despairing to know that the company failed to meet their contractual obligation to maintain the tyres under a leasing arrangement and will still face action from the San Diego Transit company. San Diego Transit is now in negotiation with Michelin and Goodyear to replace the 2000 bus tyres and supply a maintenance contract.
Continue ReadingVW Microbus On Goodyear Tyres
The New Beetle aroused great enthusiasm in the United States when introduced and now VW wants to repeat the success story with a concept car called Microbus. At the Detroit Motor Show the reincarnation of the love bus from the 50s and 60s, the symbol for the flower power generation, is fitted with modern 20 inch aluminium wheels and Goodyear tyres size P 245/45 R 20.
Continue ReadingIreland To Get Kwik-Fit Mobile Service
Kwik-Fit Fleet is to launch its mobile tyre fitting service in Ireland, servicing mainly business car users at their offices or homes. Kwik-Fit currently has 37 service points in Ireland, with plans to expand. When it comes to mobile service units, the group has 538 vehicles operating in Europe.
Continue ReadingTruck Tyre Manufacturing To Cease At Conti’s Herstal Factory?
Continental is considering whether to discontinue truck tyre manufacturing at its plant at Herstal, Belgium. The factory employs 777 and, should truck tyre manufacturing cease, the company says other activities would be expanded, especially car tyre production using the MMP (Modular Manufacturing Process). Analysts estimate that such a move would reduce Contis truck tyre capacity by 600,000 tyres, or 15 per cent of output.
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