New Management Team At Pneumant
Gerd Stubenvoll (39), who has worked for Dunlop for ten years in different positions in the mid-European sales companies, has been named as managing director of Pneumant, with special responsibility for sales. Jeffrey Smith (53) has been appointed production director in Fürstenwalde. His predecessor, Alexander Bleider (42) is now responsible for production at the Luxembourg plant. Dr. Rainer Schieben (38), MD of Pneumant until last autumn, has, for some months, been responsible for sales as sales and marketing director for associated brands at Goodyears European HQ in Brussels.
Continue ReadingLegal Action Threatened In Poland Against Michelin
Press reports say that financial investors in Stomil Olsztyn, the Polish tyre maker, are threatening to take Michelin to court over alleged abuse of the rights of minority shareholders. There is a shareholders meeting, at which the disaffected investors are set to demand the appointment of an independent auditor to look into the financial links between Stomil and Michelin. Failing this, legal action will be taken, says the investors group.
Continue ReadingFocus On Core Business As Continental Seeks To Sell ContiTech
The executive board of Continental has said that it is looking to sell major parts of the ContiTech group in order to reinforce Contis core business as a supplier of chassis technology to the auto industry. The revenue generated will enable Conti to make further acquisitions. ContiTechs sales last year were 1.4 billion Euros and it employs 14,000.
Continue ReadingDirector Of Marketing Appointed At Goodyear USA
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has appointed Kevin Kramer to the post of director of marketing, consumer tyres for North American Tire. Kramer has been with Goodyear for 18 years and has held numerous marketing appointments in the USA and Singapore. He is replaced in his former post of general business manager for the Southern Region by Steve McClellan, recently general manager of Allied Tires, a Goodyear-owned subsidiary.
Continue ReadingNew Brake Venture Plans For Future
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Denso Corporation, Aisin Seiki and Toyota have announced a joint venture to share technology in a brake development and sales operation. Aisin Seiko will hold 40% of share, each of the other contributors taking 20% each. The new products will address requirements of ABS, Vehicle Stability Control, and the need for regenerative brake systems in hybrid and electric vehicles. Operations are due to begin in October 2001 with a sales target of 250 billion yen in 2005.
Continue ReadingMexican Plant To Be Closed By Goodyear
Goodyear has announced that it is to close its tyre manufacturing factory at Tultitlan, Mexico. 1,559 employees will be paid off. The plant was opened in 1941 and Goodyear said that the reason for closure was that the plants high costs are incompatible with current economic conditions.
Continue ReadingAlliance For The Development Of Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems
Lear Corporation (Southfield, Michigan/USA) and Beru (Ludwigsburg/Germany) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly design and develop Tyre Pressure Monitoring systems for the global automotive market. Under this strategic partnership, the two companies will develop Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems that will relay information to drivers through the electronic architecture used for the Remote Keyless Entry System. The joint venture will combine Lears capabilities as the North American leader in Remote Keyless Entry Systems with that of Beru, the market leader in Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems in Europe.
Continue Reading“Business As Usual” As Trelleborg Acquires All Of TWS
The Trelleborg group has purchased Pirellis 40% share of the agricultural joint venture company Trelleborg Wheel Systems. Recently-appointed President of TWS, Maurizio Vischi, said that the customer would not notice any difference in products or service and that TWS would continue to have a close relationship with Pirelli. Later on this year TWS will manufacture Trelleborg-branded radial tyres at its Tivoli factory.
Continue ReadingSeat Arosa Saves Fuel With Conti Tyres
With an average consumption of 3.18 litres Diesel per 100 kilometres, a series Seat Arosa 1.4 TDI completed the 6,367 kilometres distance from Nordkap to Tarifa in the south of Spain. Across Europe In 100 hours, For 200 Euro was the target of the fuel saving ride, made on ContiEcoContact EP tyres with an insignificantly higher-than usual pressure (2.8 bar) and at an average speed of 83 km/h.
Continue ReadingStrengthening of Continental Brake Business
Continental Teves plans a joint venture with the Shanghai Automotive Brake Company (SABC) – subject to the approval of the Chinese authorities. The aim is to provide the market with a complete brake systems package from one source. SABC already manufactures Continental Teves brake components under license, and produces components for both Volkswagen and General Motors.
Continue ReadingBlimps Support Tire Safety Awareness
Goodyear is sending its biggest attention getter across America to support a consumer awareness campaign focused on tire safety. Starting in July, Goodyears fleet of North American airships is visiting more than 25 major cities on a Safety Tour promoting tire care and educating consumers concerning what they can do to aid in the safe operation of their tires.
Continue ReadingOE Tyre Satisfaction Study Rates Dunlop And Michelin
The latest study by J.D. Power & Associates, measuring OE tyre satisfaction, puts Dunlop at the head of light truck OE tyres for the first time and Michelin tops for passenger vehicles, for the fourth year running. The study sought the views of more than 39,000 consumers in their first three years of vehicle ownership.
Continue Reading50 Years of Eibach
In Mid-September, the Spring-, Suspension- and Chassis-specialist celebrated its 50th anniversary in Finnentrop, with the slogan: 50 years of experience – Ready for the future. More than 400 guests accepted the invitation for the central celebration event, approximately 50 percent of them being customers, coming from 40 countries. The terror attacks in the USA had their effect on this event too: is it possible to celebrate an anniversary thinking about thousands of victims in the States and the pain of their families? The main impact has come from our colleagues in the United States, who wanted us to continue with the programme. We also want to give a example of multinational understanding and positive relations, declared a visibly-moved Wilfried Eibach, head of the family owned company. The success story started in 1951 with the production of industry springs. In the Seventies the department for automotive springs was founded. Nowadays the name Eibach is known world-wide as a synonym for leading chassis technology. For some years the programme has gone far beyond the pure spring. The construction process has been supported by CAD-applications and it has carried out pioneer work in the field of new methods of corrosion-protection. Also the chassis system harmonisation is a huge field of activities in the year 2001. Today Eibach AG stands as a family holding on top of the German company group, consisting of four daughter companies. Abroad, Eibach is represented with production, engineering and/or distribution facilities in Irvine (California, USA), Broughton Astley (Leicestershire, GB), Tokyo (Japan) and Warriewood (New South Wales, Australia) and through more than 50 exclusive distributors. In Germany the 250 employees have achieved a turnover of 25.2 million Euro. The world-wide turnover in 2000 of the 400 employees amounted to 48 million Euro. During the celebration guests had practical experience of the secret of Eibach’s success: the fact that – beyond the many technological qualifications – the family owners have never neglected the human dimension, and they have always been aware of their social responsibilities.
Continue ReadingWarnair From Dunlop Is Standard In The New Mini
The new Mini will be equipped with Warnair as a standard feature. Dunlops tyre pressure warning system notifies the driver if a tyre loses more than 30 per cent of its air. Approval of the system for the Mini represents the first time that Dunlops Warnair has been included as standard equipment for a model in the small car sector. Since the introduction of Warnair in August 1997, 500,000 such tyre pressure monitoring systems have been installed worldwide. In addition, Dunlop is offering 26 additional sizes of the SP Winter Sport M3 which was developed for all categories. The tyre is now available in diameters from 13-19 inches.
Continue ReadingFormula One: McLaren On Michelin Tyres
McLaren International and Michelin today announced that they have entered into a long term agreement for the supply of tyres to the West McLaren Mercedes Formula One racing team with effect from 2002. In 1984 this successful pairing claimed 17 race wins and both the constructors and drivers world championship.
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