Tyrexpo Asia Set For September 2001
ECI International Ltd., the company which purchased the rights to the Tyrexpo Asia show, has announced that the exhibition will next be held at the newly-built Singapore Expo Centre from 11-13 September 2001. TYRES & ACCESSORIES will be a sponsor of the event.
Continue ReadingMerger Of Arvin And Meritor
Automotive suppliers Meritor, among other things one of the worlds largest steel wheel producers, and Arvin Industries will merge to form ArvinMeritor. The companies have combined revenues of $ 7.5 bn. The new company will create a premier global supplier of integrated systems, modules and components. Meritor shareholders will receive approximately 65.8 percent.
Continue ReadingNorth American Wheels Team By Hayes Lemmerz
Hayes Lemmerz has combined its sales and marketing forces of fabricated and cast wheels in North America. President of the new unit is Ronald Kolakowski, Richard Miller has been appointed vice president and four sales directors are responsible for NA oe customers.
Continue ReadingBTE Wheels Direct From The Manufacturer
The BTE wheel, made from synthetic material, is no longer available from distributors F&F Hybrid-Rad but can be obtained direct from the manufacturer in the small German village of Grube (Schlewig-Holstein).
Continue ReadingJoint Takeover Of Daewoo By Hyundai And DaimlerChrysler?
A spokesman for Hyundai said on 12th June that the company is considering a takeover of Daewoo, together with DaimlerChrysler
Continue ReadingUS Order For ContiTech
Delphi Automotive has exclusively ordered membranes from ContiTech Elastomerbeschichtungen GmbH. They are to be used in pressure sensors for fuel injection systems. This year ContiTech will produce 40,000 of these membranes for the US-based automotive supplier, in 2001 the number will be doubled.
Continue ReadingFormula Colway
British retread tyre manufacturer Colway Tyres offers its customers the new Formula Colway range for market segments previously regarded as the domain of second tier replacement tyres – such as the fleet car and van sectors – of large new tyre manufacturers.
Continue ReadingAssociations Back Intertyre
In the UK, the National Tyre Distributors Association and the Tyre Industry Council have given their backing to InterTyre. InterTyre is a trade exhibition, organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which will run in conjunction with the European Automotive Trade Show at the end of April next year. The Tyre Industry Council is also a sponsor of Tyrexpo Europe, the rival exhibition which will take place six weeks earlier.
Continue ReadingNew winter tyres from Uniroyal
Uniroyal is entering the forthcoming winter with two new winter tyres. The Uniroyal MS plus 5 is a comfortable winter tyre optimised for wet, wintry weather and developed for vehicles of the compact and the middle class, whereas the Uniroyal MS plus 55 sets new standards for fast, powerful cars with regard to aquaplaning resistance, grip in snow and ice as well as handling in the wet. Both types of tyre have a modern silica tread compound, which makes it possible to minimise the conflict between performance in the wet and on snow and ice. With 12 available sizes (Q- and T-rated), the new MS plus 5 covers about 75 per cent of this market segment. The new MS plus 55 Uniroyal is available in 13 sizes, with speed ratings T (up to 190 kph) and H (up to 210 kph). Thus, the wet-weather specialist is already covering the majority of market demands with the sizes in the launch programme. The new tyres have rounded-off tread blocks with slanted circumferential grooves to ensure faster water displacement. Wide, shoulder transverse grooves ultimately drain the water from the contact patch. In combination with a large amount of natural rubber, the new silica formula provides a distinct improvement in the wet-weather performance of the new winter tyres from the rain tyre company. Find out more in NEUE REIFENZEITUNG 10/2000.
Continue ReadingPrices For Precipitated Silicas And Silicates Increase
Degussa-Hüls AG of Frankfurt/Main will again increase prices for precipitated Silicas and Silicates from their European operations effective from November 1, 2000 by 8 %. These products are used as an active filler or carrier in a variety of different applications, e.g. tyres. Degussa-Hüls has an annual capacity of more than 240.000 tons at seven production sites.
Continue ReadingPrice Hikes Planned By Goodyear/Cooper
Goodyear and Cooper both plan price rises for car and light truck tyres in the United States. Price increases of around 5% are rumoured, mirroring Michelins proposed increases for the fourth quarter.
Continue Reading“Intelligent Tyre System” From Goodyear
Goodyear has unveiled an intelligent tyre system at a mining exhibition in the USA. The six tyres on a 240-ton truck are fitted with a transponder which measures temperature and pressure and transmits the information every three minutes. The data can be viewed in the cab or at a remote location and, should a tyre become hot, operators can adjust routes accordingly. Goodyear expects to have 250 transponders in service this year and full commercialisation early next.
Continue ReadingJoan Claybrook Attacks Goodyear
Whilst working at the National Highways Transportation Safety Administration in 1979 Joan Claybrook forced Firestone to recall the S 500 Tyre. Later, as president of Washington-based Public Citizen consumer protection group she was at the forefront of pressurising Bridgestone/Firestone into their second large scale recall. Now she is turning the guns on Goodyear and is joining the growing band of lobbyists for a Goodyear recall on Load Range E tyres. As reported previously in TYRES & ACCESSORIES, there have been 15 deaths related to tread separations on Load Range E tyres and a larger number of non-fatal accidents, with some 58 incidents being reported to the NHTSA. Goodyear emphatically deny that there is any tyre fault and cite the low number of accidents in relation to 27 million tyres sold since 1991. Two years ago the company recalled 600,000 tyres and has voluntarily recalled tyres on other occasions, on one instance the fault was as a result of faulty tyre fitting procedure at Chrysler, but Goodyear handled the recall. So why not this time? Now several consumer action groups, including Public Citizen, Strategic Safety and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety are calling for a recall based on the existing accident statistics to prevent further incidents. They suggest that the reason for Goodyear not recalling the tyres is the tremendous cost involved in recalling an estimated 13 million tyres still in use. The cost would run to several hundred million dollars, much more than the costs Firestone have recently incurred. Again, Goodyear deny that this is the case, explaining that in the previous recalls there were clear faults with the tyres, this they say is different, the separations are, they claim, subject to many different causes and are not the responsibility of Goodyear.
Continue ReadingConcentration In Japan: SRI Raises Stake In Ohtsu To 51 Per Cent
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has raised its 41% stake in Ohtsu to 51% and will pay about 30 million Euro. This transaction makes SRI the second biggest tyre manufacturer in Japan after Bridgestone.
Continue ReadingNew Distribution Channels in the Tyre Trade
The tyre trade as we know it is fighting a defensive battle, finding it harder and harder to maintain its 60 p.c. market share of sales to the user. Not only car franchise firms with their recently acquired considerable strength give the tyre trade a hard time in competition, but new forms of distribution, which may be grouped together under the loose label Fast Fit, are on the advance. Many Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford (to name but a few marques) so-called contract dealers have had their contracts terminated and are looking for new means of earning a livelihood. These companies, mostly family-run, will not easily be displaced. They will specialise in marketing replacement parts complete with a competent and reasonably priced service. Fichtel & Sachs, a Mannesmann group subsidiary, offers a franchise system under the AutoCrew name, naturally also for the optimum marketing of its own products, shock absorbers. Bosch, the giant in the electrical field, is also looking for new openings for its service workshops. The objective is to gain marketing expertise in tyres by cooperation with Goodyear, with Bosch offering Goodyear’s tyre trade partners know-how in the automotive field in return. Specialist markets like ATU with their increasing importance in tyre marketing should not be overlooked either. In the nineteen nineties ATU grew from zero to the current number of 230 outlets throughout Germany, all of them with high turnover figures, i.e. each of them probably turning over well above 2.5 million euros. ATU founder Peter Unger’s appetite, however, is not nearly satisfied, the expansion will go on. The article in the January issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG describes the individual tyre marketers. It queries many things, asks many questions without being able or willing to provide the answers. Only one thing remains clear: To found a new company exclusively for tyre trading (including the services related to it) is dangerous. The chances of surviving a long start-up phase are regarded as relatively small. The gist of the article is this: In future we will see an ever increasing number of Fast Fitters making the bulk of their turnover with tyres, while Automobil, Bosch, AutoCrew and similarly derived Fast Fitters will focus mainly on other products, with tyres nevertheless generating a significant share of total turnover, somewhere between a quarter and a third.
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