Integration At Goodyear Austria
The Austrian Dunlop and Goodyear companies have been integrated into the new Goodyear Dunlop Tires Austria company, which is under 100 p.c. ownership of Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe B.V. located in Brussels.
Continue ReadingNew Managing Director For Kwik-Fit GB
Bryan Liddle has been appointed MD of Kwik-Fit GB. A former professional footballer, Bryan has worked with several large plcs and he joins Kwik-Fit from Associated Heating Distributors, where he was MD.
Continue ReadingThe DaimlerChrysler PT Cruiser Choose Goodyear
DaimlerChrysler has announced it will be fitting Goodyear Eagle tyres on its new PT Cruiser. The PT Cruiser, which combines the retro styling of the late 1930s sedan with the versatility of a 2001 minivan, will be shod exclusively with Eagle LS tyres in North America and Eagle NCT5s in Europe.195/65 15s will be fitted on the front and 205/55 16s on the rear. Tyres with European specification will be produced at Fulda and Phillipsburg.
Continue ReadingGood Start For Continental In The First Quarter
Continental increased its turnover in the first quarter of this year by around 10.7 p.c. compared with the first three months of the previous year to 2.426 billion Euro. The EBIT comes to 135 million Euro, 65 million Euro coming from the tyre business. ContiTech contributed 46 million Euro and the balance comes from the Teves business. Despite the increased turnover in the tyre business from 1.1 billion Euro up to 1.228 billion Euro, tyres contributed 14 million Euro less to the EBIT, which is a consequence of the ongoing decline in prices.
Continue ReadingOfftake-Agreement Between Tofan And Cooper-Avon
Tofan Grup (Romania) is producing car tyres for Cooper-Avon at its Danubiana plant (Bucharest).
Continue ReadingCarbon Black From Recycling Tyres
Titan Technologies, Albuquerque/USA (not to be mistaken for Titan Tire) has announced progress in tyre recycling technology (process low-temperature pyrolysis). Besides good quality oil and scrap steel, significant quantities of carbon black for re-use in manufacturing tyres is generated.
Continue ReadingRecycling System From Tirex Corp. Canada For China
Well Express International (Hong Kong) is to purchase The Tirex Corp. Canadas (Montreal) patented cryogenic tyre recycling system TCS-1 for approximately 2.25 m US-$. Both companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to market, sell and possibly manufacture TCS-1 in the Peoples Republic of China.
Continue ReadingHigh Targets: Continental Group To Doube Its Sales Within 5 Years
The German group remains on expansion track and sees itself not as a tyre manufacturer, but as a system integrator for the automobile industry. The management will double the group turnover of 10 bn Euro within the next five years, said CEO Kessel these days in Detroit.
Continue ReadingAcceleration For The Firestone Tyre Recall
In an attempt to quicken the recall of tyres, Bridgestone/Firestone is to airlift tyres from its Japanese plants to the USA. At least one flight a day is anticipated. Ford has announced that it is to stop production of the Ford Explorer at its St. Louis factory and of the Ford Ranger at two New Jersey plants for two weeks. The Ranger is fitted with the same size tyres as those fitted on the Explorer and being recalled by Bridgestone/Firestone. The move will free up 70,000 tyres for replacement and it is estimated that the cost to Ford in lost production will be over $100 m in after-tax profits. Ford is also understood to have increased orders of tyres other than Firestone to speed up replacement of tyres for the Explorer. Goodyear says it has increased production fivefold and production at Michelins US factories has tripled.
Continue ReadingGerman Retreader Invests in Berliner Reifenwerk
The medium-sized German retreader RuLa (Schraden) is to invest in Berliner Reifenwerk (BRW) and resume the retreading of truck tyres. BRW is under public administration after becoming insolvent. Car tyre retreading will not be resumed and negotiations with investors regarding the recycling facilities are under way. Because there are still uncertainties about who is the owner of the land on which BRW stands, negotiations are complicated.
Continue ReadingHalf Year Results For Michelin Confirm Disappointment
Michelin has released its financial results for the first half of the year, confirming the disappointing message given earlier. Turnover was 7,377 m Euro (first half of 1999: 6,488) and operating profit 540 m Euro (596). Increased raw material costs and a weak Euro were blamed as contributing factors, but Michelin says that the results do not fully reflect progress made in increasing competitiveness.
Continue ReadingRecall At Firestone Ends Sooner Than Planned
Bridgestone CEO Yoichiro Kaizaki has announced that, currently, 4.2 million of the total of 6.5 million tyres that were involved in the Firestone recall have been exchanged. The complete recall will be completed in November, much earlier than was previously announced. In August Firestone estimated that the recall would take until the summer of next year.
Continue ReadingThe Tyre As Part Of A System
The tyre can no longer be regarded as an isolated part of a car but is integrated into an increasingly complicated network or system. Progress in electronics especially has been revolutionary and has enormous influence on the work of tyre technicians. The engineers have to think in systems and integrate the tyre into all parts of the motive power of the car. Between the two corners tyre wheel system and the engine, is a wide field which the car makers and their suppliers are exploiting step by step. Immediately next to the tyres are modules such as brakes, shock absorbers and axles. Around the tyre is the chassis. The producers of certain of these elements in the past developed their own product without contacting the producers of neighbouring chassis parts. They were driven by their customers in the car industry, who gave information about the performance of the product with the target that all the parts should be compatible. As development progresses, this becomes harder and harder. In the future the suppliers will be forced to cooperate one with another, in order to make the best possible technology available for the car.
Continue ReadingFinancial Markets Advise Care With Automotive Shares
There is unanimity amongst financial institutes that anyone with investments in automotive shares should be very careful of their investments. The coming quarter does not look too promising; BMW, Peugeot/Citroën, Porsche and Renault (particularly thanks to Nissans better than expected results), should hold their position, but there seems to be no end in sight to the decline at DaimlerChrysler.
Continue ReadingNokian Ends Cooperation With Tofan
Nokian Tyres has terminated the agreement, made in November 1997, with Tofan, under which the Romanian manufacturer produced some agricultural and industrial tyres for the Finnish company. The reason given was that Tofan was unable to meet quality expectations.
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