Firestone Settles Another Case In Texas
Bridgestone Firestone USA has paid an undisclosed amount of money to relatives of a woman who died after an Explorer rollover in which her son was also injured. It will be interesting to see what Ford will do. Two weeks ago it was the other way around when Ford settled a case first and Firestone agreed later to pay US$7.5 million.
Continue ReadingBetter In Business With Michelin – New Program In Germany
In Germany, Michelin is offering, what it calls target-dealers a contract with a Bib-Program, meaning Better In Business. Michelin has developed a multi-brand strategy with its Michelin, Kleber and BFGoodrich brands and is offering important extras to the dealers who have to agree to give the group brands a certain portion ( the majority) of their total purchasing. As our sister magazine, NEUE REIFENZEITUNG, says: The multi-brand-strategy has arrived in Germany.
Continue ReadingPirelli’s Truck Business In South America Not For Sale
Some weeks ago, Pirelli announced that it was to take control of Telecom Italia. At the same time, the company said that it would sell its truck tyre operations. Now there has been a partial climb down: truck tyre activities in South America are considered of strategic importance to the Group and are consequently not for sale.
Continue ReadingBioTRED For Ford Fiesta
Goodyears BioTRED tyre which uses corn starch filler instead of carbon black or silica, is to be offered as an OE fitting on the Ford Fiesta. The BioTRED tyre is manufactured at seven European locations and is the first tyre to be manufactured with a renewable sourced filler.
Continue ReadingEuropean Replacement For Bridgestone/Firestone
Bridgestone/Firestone is offering to replace, free of charge, a small number of tyres fitted to European Ford Explorers even though there have been no tyre related roll-overs in Europe. The tyres are P235/75R15 and P255/70R16 Wilderness AT with DOT numbers ending in 4, 5, 6, or 7. Additionally, these tyres with the last three digits of the DOT number from 108 through to 188 are also included.
Continue ReadingSales Of Explorer Not Affected By Tire Recall
As US automotive sales figures revealed that the US domestic product was facing a massive slump in sales compared to almost universal increases by imported marques, sales of the Ford explorer held up against the national trend with sales rising 3.8% on the 1999 figure, despite the bad publicity onslaught from the Firestone recall.
Continue ReadingPositive Signs For Goodyear?
In discussions with analysts from the DB Group, Goodyear management expressed optimism that it might achieve a larger slice of OE business from the Detroit car manufacturers, at the expense of Firestone. Goodyear said it had received an order from Ford for 1.8 million tyres and is hoping for another big order from General Motors. Spokesmen from Goodyear said that they would resist Chryslers request for price reductions in order to overcome the difficult situation at Chrysler. At the end of January, many contracts between Firestone and its dealers expire and Goodyear is confident of winning over many of these dealers. On the other hand, Goodyear admits that the medium and heavy truck business will remain difficult during 2001. All in all, the analysts see more positives than negative risks at the moment, but they did not recommend Goodyear shares.
Continue ReadingOne Fifth Of DaimlerChrysler Workforce To Go
DaimlerChrysler has announced that it is to cut 26,000 jobs globally over the next three years, which equates to 20 per cent of the groups workforce. Production will be stopped or curtailed at 13 factories, cutting capacity by 15 per cent. DaimlerChrysler has also told suppliers to reduce prices by 5 per cent.
Continue ReadingKaizaki To Resign As Bridgestone President
The US recall of Firestone tyres has claimed its latest victim, as Yoichiro Kaizaki, president and CEO of the Bridgestone corporation in Japan, is to resign. The resignation is regarded by many as an admission of poor handling of the public relations side of the recall. From the beginning, Bridgestone/Firestone has been criticised for its mis-handling of the situation and the president of the American company, Masatoshi Ono, was replaced by John Lampe. The recall problem began last August, but it was not until one month later that Mr. Kaizaki first commented on the situation, promising total support for the Firestone brand and trying to link the Ford Explorer with accidents, denying that the problem was solely down to the tyres. Mr. Kaizakis replacement will be Shigeo Watanabe (58) who is a senior managing director at Bridgestone, and who has a strong engineering background. His appointment is expected to be ratified at a shareholders meeting on March 29th. Mr. Kaizaki will continue to remain at Bridgestone as a full-time adviser to the board of directors.
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 ReadingRubberNetwork Moves Forward
RubberNetwork.com, the electronic global purchasing marketplace set up by six tyre manufacturers, has taken a step forward. Transactions are due to begin in April and Bob Webster has been appointed as vice president of operations. A chief executive officer will be appointed at a later date. The organisation has also launched its own website.
Continue ReadingDivestment For Pacific Dunlop
Pacific Dunlop has announced it is to withdraw proposals to split its business into two independent publicly listed companies. The company told the Australian Stock Exchange it has decided to explore options to divest elements of the business and has appointed Deutsche Bank AG to assist. A profit warning for the second half to June 2001 was released, expecting profit to be up to 30 per cent lower than first half results.
Continue ReadingNew President For Snap-on Inc.
The American company Snap-on Inc., one of the biggest suppliers of workshop equipment and, among others, parent company of Hofmann Werkstatt-Technik, has appointed Dale F. Elliott as President. He succeeds Robert A. Cornog, who will stay as Chairman of the Board until the next shareholders meeting.
Continue Reading19th Autopromotec in Bologna – Good and Bad got close
From May 23rd to 27th, 2001, the 19th Autopromotec took place in Bologna’s exhibition center, where nearly everybody could have met who is traditionally engaged with some kind of vehicle care and repair. 924 exhibitors (7 percent more than in 1999) from more than 30 countries were presenting their products on the whole site of more than 90,000 square meters, divided into 12 exhibition halls and an outdoor area. Again, the complete service sector concerning the car was represented there: Garage alignment suppliers, remoulders with their material and equipment suppliers, garagists, manufacturers of wheels and vehicle parts, and last but not least, tyre industry as well as wholesaler and special trade organisations and companies. Visitors had been as international as the exhibitors – the organisers did expect more than 80,000 car repair specialists from more than 100 different countries. Although in the end there had been some 3,000 more, but without visiting every hall equally. And again, those halls got the visitors’ main interest where garage alignment suppliers, i.e. the manufacturers of balancing machines, alignment gauges, hydraulic ramps or even complete test lane automates had their stands. However, there had been considerably less visitors in hall 23, where remoulding technology was concentrated.
Continue ReadingHealth And Safety Protection At Dunlop Plants
Three of the four Dunlop plants in Germany – Hanau, Wittlich and Riesa, have been certified to the internationally recognised OHSAS 18001 standard in the fields of work safety and health protection. This expands on the plants existing health and safety management systems.
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