Management Moves At Ford
In a management reshuffle at Ford in the USA, Henry Wallace, Chief Financial Officer and Wayne Booker, Vice Chairman, are to retire. There is speculation that Martin Inglis, Head of Operations for Ford North America, is to succeed Wallace and that Nick Scheele, Chairman of Ford Europe, is to return to the States as a replacement for Inglis. Ford stressed that these latest moves have no connection with the current Firestone recall situation.
Continue Reading5th International Autosalon Opens In Moscow
The 5th International Autosalon in Moscow looks set to be the most successful yet. More than 600 exhibitors from 27 countries are showing their latest products. It is expected that the number of vehicles in use in Russia will double by 2005.
Continue ReadingSemperit Sport Grip With New Sipe-Technology
Continental’s subsidiary Semperit introduced its new winter-tyre Sport Grip for stronger motorised passenger cars to the press at the end of September in Austria. With its new sipe-technology called Add Traction and a corresponding profile structure, the new tyre has been designed to meet the most difficult driving conditions of the winter season. In addition, modern silica tread technology will guarantee a balanced handling up to speeds of 210 kilometres per hour. The Add Traction sipe consists of three parallel ordered straight sipe pieces which are angled in a z shape. In the immobile middle of the block they double the effective length of the grip edges, thus significantly increasing traction. The directional profile of the Sport Grip is also characterised by diagonal profile blocks and enlarged grip edges that optimise traction and side stability. Initially, the Sport Grip is available in 21 sizes from 185/65 R15 Q up to 225/50 R16 H, which represents a market coverage of about 83 percent.
Continue ReadingStephan Kessel, Continental’s CEO: A Separation On Friendly Terms
Someone who acquires a seat at the top, and even reaches the CEO position at Continental, will neither be fired nor will he just quit. There is what is called a separation on friendly terms. The question whether Kessel and von Grünberg could ever have been friends is not even relevant. Whoever thinks that von Grünberg just shrugged and happily retired to some comptroller’s position will find out that he was wrong. Von Grünberg is the type of man who may occasionally loosen the handcuffs, writes a German daily newspaper, but he also tightens them again. His thumb pointed downwards, and that gesture determined Kessel’s future, and the whole board went along, including the banker Weiss.
Continue ReadingUS Management Team Restructuring For Hayes Lemmerz
Troubled wheel manufacturer Hayes Lemmerz has announced a reorganisation of its North American operations into a single strategic business unit, uniting the Fabricated Wheels and Cast Wheels businesses. The new unit will be known as the North American Wheels Business. The reorganisation also involves a number of management changes and appointments.
Continue ReadingBrazilian Joint Venture For Watts
Watts Industrial Tyres (WIT), the UK market leader for industrial tyres, has signed a joint venture agreement with its Brazilian distributor to manufacture and distribute Watts brand solid tyres in Brazil. The company is Souza Pinto Industria e Comercio de Artefatos de Borracha Ltda. and production begins this month at a new factory near Sao Paolo.
Continue ReadingNew President For The Swiss Tyre Dealer Association RVS
The Dr. Jürgen Gerster & Partner AG is no longer leading the association. Together with Mrs. Maggie Soder, he has been made an honourable member of the association. Gersters successors are Fischer & Sievi, a law and consulting firm.
Continue ReadingGet The Lead Out
The motor industry is under attack from all sides by the green lobby and the car is subject to environmental constraints at all stages of its life cycle. It looks as though yet more restrictions will be imposed on the industry with the likely adoption of the End Of Life Vehicle Directive (ELV); this lays down minimum requirements for the recyclability of cars and also seeks to reduce or eliminate toxic or environmentally-unfriendly materials used in construction. Lead is one such material and it is not only used in car building, but also in wheel balancing weights. If lead is outlawed, what are the alternatives for the automotive industries, and the tyre trade? What alternative materials are available, and what are the likely costs? Coated lead weights do not solve the problem, which leaves steel and tin as the most likely solutions. Tin is easier to work than steel, but it is many times more expensive than lead, and could lead to significant increases in costs for tyre shops, who will have to decide whether or not to pass this on to the customer. The ELV places the responsibility for disposing of vehicles squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturers, and they will put pressure on their suppliers to ensure that levels of toxic materials are kept to a minimum.
Continue ReadingFine For SITA Tyre Recycling Ltd After Environmental Offences
On January 24, SITA Tyre Recycling Ltd., the company running the whole-tyres-to-energy power station which has been closed since June, pleaded guilty at Wolverhampton Magistrates court to five environmental offences. The case was brought by the Environment Agency and SITA were fined a total of £28,500, and ordered to pay costs of £15,392.50. Meanwhile, the SITA tyres-to-energy power station (formerly Elm Energy), based in the midlands in the UK, is unlikely to open its doors again as a tyre-burning facility, at least under SITA ownership. Initial investigations indicated that rectification work would cost 4 million Pounds and a closer examination revised this figure to 6 million. There were doubts too that a viable price could be achieved for a regular supply of tyres. Eventually, the decision was taken to mothball the plant until SITA either finds a buyer, or uses it for something else. 59 of the 60 employees have been made redundant.
Continue Reading26 Million Dollars For Victim of Accident
As reported in the German newspaper Die Welt, car producer Ford is to pay 26 million US-Dollars to a woman, seriously injured in an accident caused by an allegedly defective Firestone tyre. Since the accident the woman is paralysed and can only breathe with artificial aid. Because of this agreement, the legal process due to begin shortly, has been dropped. In the USA there are about 200 actions outstanding claiming damages against Ford and Firestone and the sum of money involved could amount to billions of Dollars. It is claimed that defective Firestone tyres have been responsible for the deaths of 148 people in the United States.
Continue ReadingMalaysian Tyres Now Accepted World-wide
The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers – Malaysian Tyre Manufacturers Industry Group claims that Malaysian manufactured tyres now conform to the highest international standards. Products have now been accepted in over 40 countries, including markets with strict regulations such as in Europe, Australia, US and Japan. Malayas four major manufacturers, DMIB Bhd, Goodyear Malaysia Bhd, Silverstone Bhd and Sime Tyres International Sdn exported over 2 million tyres in 2000.
Continue ReadingAggressive Expansion Plans From Pit Stop
Pit Stop, the fast-fit group belonging to Kwik-Fit (and thus, ultimately, Ford) is pushing ahead with plans to open up to 400 centres in Germany within the next two years. Pit Stop focuses on exhausts, brakes, shock absorbers, etc., as well as selling tyres.
Continue Reading“Sam” Gibara Joins SRI Board
Samir G. Gibara (61), chairman and chief executive officer of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, has been elected to the board of directors of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. in Kobe, Japan. Gibaras election is in conjunction with Goodyears 10 percent ownership of SRI, following the companies global alliance, completed in September 1999. This ownership makes Goodyear SRIs second-largest shareholder. SRI holds 1.4 percent of Goodyears common stock.
Continue ReadingOriginal Founder Buys Finelist Brands
Chris Swan has bought the Autela and Edmunds Walker brands of Finelist, the car parts group which went into administrative receivership last year. Swan was the founder of Finelist in 1991, leaving the company in March 2000. The two brands will complement Bulldog Express, Swans new parts venture formed earlier this year, and together they claim to be the third largest player in UK automotive parts distribution market, which is estimated to be worth four billion Pounds.
Continue ReadingOE Success For Yokohama
The Super Sport Car V 12 Vanquish will be fitted by Aston Martin with Yokohama tyres AVS Sport in 255/40 ZR 19 (front) and 285/40 ZR 19 (rear). Yokohama has added the exclusive logo AML on the sidewall for the tyres delivered to Aston Martin.
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