Winter Tyres Business – A Hope And A Worry
Last years miserable winter tyre business has had a marked effect on many market players. Only a small number of dealers in very few regions of Germany could report a normal winter tyre business. In most parts of the country the snow came too late. If it does not snow until the beginning of November it becomes increasingly harder day by day to convince the end users to fit their cars with winter tyres. November is absolutely the most important month for retailer‘s winter tyre business. In late summer and early autumn of 2000 the tyre manufacturers were very happy about their sales to the dealers, which reached record levels. But of course the managers of the tyre industry are not so naive as to regard the lack of sales to the end users later on in the season as a problem only for the dealerships. This problem comes back to the manufacturers in two ways. First of all dealers experienced a lack of financial liquidity and there were problems in paying invoices. Secondly, having tyres in stock affects the willingness to order for next year – in this case 2001 – at the same level as before. Because merely listing the troubles would be pointless and unproductive, we tried another approach: we spoke to a lot of market players in order to form an overview of opinion and compared this with some hard figures.
Continue ReadingNew VP Of Corporate Research At Goodyear
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has appointed John Lawrence (58) as vice president for corporate research. Formerly director of materials science, Lawrence replaces recently-retired Richard Steichen. Lawrence joined Goodyear in 1970 as a senior research chemist.
Continue ReadingNo Negotiations With Continental
Trelleborg has an annual growth target of 15-20 percent. Part of this is attained through an ongoing acquisition policy. This has given rise to speculation on a possible Continental take-over. Trelleborg has felt obliged to confirm that there are currently no negotiations between the companies.
Continue ReadingBusiness Award For “En Tire”
One year into their partnership, TRW and Michelin announce their first business award with a major European original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The product, called En Tire, is a state-of-the-art tyre pressure monitoring (TPM) system underscored by the radio frequency technology of TRW and the tyre experience of Michelin. To extend beyond their existing development programmes, TRW and Michelin are actively the next generation TPM system for production in 2005.
Continue ReadingSales Down And Net Loss For Titan In 3rd Quarter
Titan Internationals financial figures for the third quarter have been released. Turnover was $100.5 million, compared with $119.8 m for the same period last year. Titan recorded a net loss for the quarter of $9.5 m (Q3 2000: $7.4 m). The net loss for the year to date was $13.3 m, compared to a net profit for YTD last year of $12.5 m. President and CEO Maurice Taylor Jr. was optimistic that Titan would turn the corner next year, pointing to the end of the 40-month strike at the Des Moines plant and the gaining of a $45 million military contract as positive factors.
Continue ReadingTyre Contract For G&S Tyres
Independent tyre dealer and Bandag retreader G&S Tyres has won the contract to supply all tyre-related services to the London division of the RMC (Ready Mixed Concrete) group. The deal involves the supply of new tyres, Bandag retreads and all associated services for the next two years for RMC Greater Londons fleet of 57 8x4 aggregate tippers.
Continue ReadingLay-Offs Next Year At Debica Factory
Press reports say that 800 workers at the tyre factory at Debica in Poland will be laid off by the end of 2001. This represents almost 19% of the total workforce of 4,218 and the move is part of restructuring plans. The Debica factory is controlled by Goodyear.
Continue ReadingOE Success For Hankook
Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook has received an order from Volvo to supply the spare tyre (size T 125/80 R17) for the models V70, S60 and S80, from 1st July this year. It is said that Michelin, who produced these tyres up till now, has delivery problems due to a reduction of production in Great Britain. The order from Volvo is worth around 5 million Euros and for Hankook, it is another foot in the Ford door after the company won its first OE order from Ford last year.
Continue ReadingAcquisition In The Automotive Field Planned By ThyssenKrupp
Last year there were rumours concerning a possible hostile takeover bid for Continental by ThyssenKrupp. However, ThyssenKrupp was not able to bring its steel subsidiary company to the stock exchange as planned and it seemed that the acquisition pressure had been halted. On January 15th, the ThyssenKrupp management mentioned during a press conference that they are planning a bigger acquisition in the automotive field. No further details were made available.
Continue ReadingNorth American Debut For Michelin Bibendum Challenge
This third Michelin Bibendum Challenge,a world demonstration of new automotive technologies and OE will take place between 26 - 29th October, starting in Los Angeles and finishing in Las Vegas at the SEMA/ITE show. The tyre testing programme will include noise level testing, acceleration, handling, and economy to take place at the California Speedway at Fontana.
Continue ReadingContract For Supply Of BMW Mini Wheels And Tyres Goes To Pirelli
In the UK, Pirelli Tyres Ltd has been awarded the contract to supply all wheel and tyre assemblies for the new BMW Mini. The project includes conventional and run-flat tyres from 15 to 17. The tyres and wheels are assembled at the companys Burton-on-Trent factory and transported to BMWs renovated plant at Oxford. Pirelli says that it will develop its own run-flat tyre for the contract, rather than use other manufacturers products, although different brands of conventional tyres will be supplied.
Continue ReadingNew E-Commerce Products From Continental
The tyre industry is faced with a new method of doing business: e-commerce. Continental has developed a new product that enables smaller customers to check stock availability and order product at a time to suit him. Called ContiContact, it is essentially an electronic catalogue giving information on product and prices in real time and is available to any dealer who has a PC and a modem. ContiContact is designed to complement, not replace, traditional methods of ordering and Continental will continue with its EDI and call centre operations; the new service is part of Continentals desire to be known as a company that is easy to do business with. It has been on trial with selected customers for a year and is now ready to roll out to a wider customer base. Continental has also introduced e-billing, which allows customers with internet access to log on to a website where they can view or download their invoices. The advantages are space and time saving (Continental can archive invoices for customers if required) and less chance of mistakes, lost invoices etc. The system is totally secure and records are stored electronically at two separate locations, in case of accidents.
Continue ReadingBears Threaten US Auto Market
Autopolis, the Bear-ish auto industry strategist is likely to downgrade forecasts for the US and North American automotive markets. Despite high sales, production is down by 20% and stocks 40% above normal. This follows an earlier warning of a forecast 11% drop in world-wide (in Western Europe and Asia too) demand, and alerts issued by Autopolis regarding over capacity, and the need to cut costs and improve marketing.
Continue ReadingAsian Auto Sector – Outlook Not Too Bad
At a time when vehicle markets in the US and Europe are set to fall sharply, the outlook for most of Asia is not too bad, says a report from industry strategists Autopolis. It predicts a downturn in the region for this year and next, but, as 2000 saw record car sales (excluding Japan), the drop should be manageable. This year, only China and Malaysia are forecast to see sales of vehicles rise. The Japanese market is predicted to fall this year by 4.3 per cent and 2.4 next. For Asia outside Japan, the figures are minus 5.5 per cent (2001) and minus 3.3 per cent (2002). 2003 should see an upturn both inside and outside Japan, says Autopolis.
Continue ReadingTyre Recall Ends In Divorce
As if last years voluntary recall of 6.5 million Firestone tyres in the USA had not caused enough damage, the Japanese-owned tyre manufacturer is facing another crisis. May 21 Bridgestone/Firestone was severing all its business connections with Ford. That was it, the 100-year relationship was over, Bridgestone/Firestone had had enough and this was goodbye. It certainly seemed a drastic step to take, but the reason became apparent the next day, when Ford announced that it was recalling 13 million Firestone tyres; an exercise that would take nine months and cost the company up to $3 billion. This is a cost that Bridgestone cannot afford and the company has indicated that any demand from Ford to help with the costs would receive short shrift. Press reports say that Ford President Jacques Nasser has a statistical study which shows that Firestone Wilderness tyres fail three times more often than the industry average. Bridgestone/Firestone suggests that the Explorer design is to blame; something which Ford strenuously denies, saying that Explorers sold with, for example, Goodyear tyres, have had no tread separations. As far as John Lampe of Bridgestone/Firestone is concerned, the company has no obligation to participate in a further recall. In a statement, he said; No-one cares more about the safety of the people who travel on our tyres than we do. Bridgestone President Shigeo Watanabe gave the reason for splitting from Ford, saying that the new recall, coming on top of last years exercise, would have been a life or death matter for Bridgestone/Firestone. Later on, he played down fears that not supplying Ford would have a marked effect on Bridgestone/Firestone, saying that, at most, the group would lose 1.5% of its sales worldwide. On the plus side, freed from the need to be polite to a major customer, Bridgestone/Firestone can now say what it thinks about the part played by the Explorer in the accidents and defend itself more vigorously against the still-vocal consumer and pressure groups, not to mention the lawyers, of course. John Lampe, who wrote to Jacques Nasser, outlining Bridgestone/Firestones reasons for severing business relations with Ford: Business relationships, like personal ones, are built upon trust and mutual respect. We have come to the conclusion that we can no longer supply tyres to Ford since the basic foundation of our relationship has been seriously eroded.
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