Expansion At ContiTech Fluid
ContiTech Fluid – part of ContiTech Holding, a business unit of Continental AG – announced a 50:50 joint venture in China and expansion of the production bases at Wackersdorf and Salzgitter, plus an extension of its Berlin centre of competence.
Continue ReadingHalf Year Loss Reported By Nokian Tyres
Following Goodyear and Michelin, Nokian Tyres has released its half year figures. Sales rose 25% over the same period last year to reach 152.2 m Euro but operating profit fell from 5 m Euro to a loss of 1.5 m Euro. Net profit was also negative at -4.1 m Euro. One cause was increased raw material prices (rubber, oil, carbon black) up 8% over last year. Despite the loss, Nokian is broadly on track because, as a Scandinavian company, it generally makes huge profits in the second half of the year.
Continue ReadingMerger Of Arvin And Meritor Completed
Arvin Industries and Meritor Automotive, among other things an important steel wheel manufacturer, have now merged to form ArvinMeritor, thus creating a $ 7.5-billion automotive supplier. ArvinMeritor has formed a corner module assembly group to integrate its complete line of undercarriage components.
Continue ReadingTougher Tyre Safety Rules First Proposed Two Decades Ago
The current Firestone recall has led to many in the USA calling for tougher standards in tyre testing. It has been revealed that, following the Firestone recall in 1978, new regulations were drawn up, incorporating more stringent safety criteria. However, the suggested changes were scrapped when Ronald Reagan became President as it was considered that their implementation would adversely affect the car manufacturing industry.
Continue ReadingTyreCheck 2000 Results From NTDA
The National Tyre Distributors Association held a press conference to reveal the results of its TyreCheck 2000 campaign. This was part of a wider European initiative to increase tyre awareness and collect data in support of a campaign to increase the legal minimum tread depth. The UK campaign lasted a week and over 37,500 tyres were checked. A depressing 10% were below the 1.6mm legal minimum and a further 17% had tread depths below 2mm, which is the level being proposed as the new legal minimum. 26% were damaged in some way and 46% incorrectly inflated. Spare tyres were also checked and 33% of these had a tread depth below 2mm. 66% were wrongly inflated. In a telephone survey of people who had recently bought tyres, 75% did not know the legal tread depth and 43% said they check their pressures regularly; a figure not borne out by the above statistics. It is planned to repeat the exercise next year, hopefully on a larger scale, and the results will be used to lobby individual governments and European authorities through Bipaver for a change in the tyre laws in Europe.
Continue ReadingShares In Bridgestone Rise Despite Saudi Ban
In Tokyo, shares in Bridgestone have risen 3.09 per cent to 1,300 Yen, having recovered from an eight year low earlier this month of 1,067 Yen. This comes despite the news that Saudi Arabia has banned Firestone tyres; an action described by Bridgestone as uncalled for and extreme.
Continue ReadingETRA Scrap Tyre Recycling Conference II In Leipzig
Following the 1999 event in Schwerin, this year’s ETRA Scrap Tyre Recycling Conference will take place in Leipzig/Germany. It is scheduled for 5th December.
Continue ReadingNew Tyre Production Ceases At Michelin’s Stoke Factory
Michelin has announced that car tyre, van tyre and rubber mixing production will cease at its Stoke-on-Trent factory in the second half of 2001. Production of truck retreads, mould and steel cord production will continue. In total, 950 jobs of the 2,350 currently on site will be lost. The move is part of Michelins European rationalisation programme.
Continue ReadingSurvey By Michelin Shows Contradictions
In the UK, Michelin has carried out a survey of attitudes to tyre pressures. 83 per cent agreed that correct tyre inflation is important to safety and 88 per cent related correct pressure to fuel economy. However, 50 per cent check their pressures monthly, 30 per cent rely on services for pressure checks and 5 per cent never check tyre pressures.
Continue ReadingThe End Of A Long Lasting Partnership
Deutsche Bank has announced that it will sell-off its industrial holdings which are worth about 40 billion Euro based on current share prices. This move has been made possible by recent German tax reform, effective from 2002, which makes capital gains by corporations tax free. The Bank has an 8 p.c. stake in the German tyre manufacturer Continental which is presently worth about 200 million Euro.
Continue ReadingSpirit of Goodyear
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will call the newest Blimp Spirit of Goodyear in order to honour its 100,000 employees world-wide. The replacement of the former Blimp became necessary because the Spirit of Akron crashed at the end of October.
Continue ReadingA New Name for Hofmann
The German Hofmann Werkstatt-Technik GmbH from Pfungstadt has been renamed. Now it is called Snap-on Deutschland Holding GmbH, Business Unit Hofmann Werkstatt-Technik. The address has remained the same.
Continue ReadingPhoenix Long-Term Ambitious
Phoenix, supplier to the vehicle industry, itself a tyre manufacturer many years ago and still specialising, though not exclusively, in rubber parts for the automobile industry, is not reaching its turnover and profit targets as quickly as planned. Air springs, an area in which Continental is also involved, however, promises to develop into a jewel for the group from 2001 and gives ground for hope of steep rises in turnover and earnings in the long term.
Continue ReadingMelber back again
Italian brand Melber had to leave the German aftermarket for alloy wheels last year. In co-operation with Euro Consulting and sales manager Josef Holder the company is now planning a relaunch of the brand in the German market.
Continue ReadingPacific Dunlop Announces Drop In Net Income
The Australian Conglomerate, Pacific Dunlop Ltd., cannot reach its income figure from 1998 of A$ 188m. In the first half of 1999 the company reached a net income of A$74.5m compared with A$ 101.7 million for the first six half of 1998.
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