“Break Even” Forecast For South Pacific Tyres
Pacific Dunlop Chairman John Ralph told shareholders at the companys AGM that joint venture company South Pacific Tyres could return to a break even position by the end of the financial year. Earlier this year, 890 jobs were lost at SPT as the company restructured in a bid to cut losses, blamed on an influx of cheap tyres from overseas.
Continue ReadingReport Predicts 20 Per Cent Fall In US Auto Market
A report from automotive intelligence firm Autopolis predicts hard times ahead for the US auto industry, with demand falling by 10 per cent this year and 8.5 percent next. Sales of cars and pickups are forecast to fall until the first half of 2003 at 14.1 million units, down 20 per cent on the 2000 sales figure of 17.6 million units.
Continue ReadingThird Quarter Figures From Hayes Lemmerz
Hayes Lemmerz International has issued its third quarter figures. Sales for the three months ending 31.10.2000 were down to $558 million ($599 million in third quarter 1999). Sales for the first nine months totalled 1,696 million ($1,731 m). A drop in sales to the North American heavy truck industry and the weak Euro were cited as reasons for the decrease. Hayes Lemmerz has initiated restructuring programmes to reduce spending and dispose of surplus assets. The workforce will be reduced by 1,200 globally.
Continue ReadingOE Success For Hankook
Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook has received an order from Volvo to supply the spare tyre (size T 125/80 R17) for the models V70, S60 and S80, from 1st July this year. It is said that Michelin, who produced these tyres up till now, has delivery problems due to a reduction of production in Great Britain. The order from Volvo is worth around 5 million Euros and for Hankook, it is another foot in the Ford door after the company won its first OE order from Ford last year.
Continue ReadingMotorsport Earns Five Billion Pounds For UK
A report commissioned by the Motorsport Industry Association and researched by various universities and management schools has concluded that the motorsport industry is worth nearly 5 billion Pounds a year to the UK economy. It also earns over 2.2 bn Pounds in export earnings; more than steel and agriculture combined, as well as employing 40,000 people. Three quarters of the worlds single seater racing cars are made in Britain and, in F1, 7 of last years 11 teams were based there.
Continue ReadingRubberNetwork.com Joined By Yokohama
Within days of RubberNetwork.com receiving the all clear from the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), Yokohama Rubber Co has joined Continental, Michelin, Pirelli, Goodyear, Sumitomo and Cooper in the global electronic purchasing and procurement market. The RubberNetwork marketplace will be open to all tyre and rubber industry manufacturers and suppliers. The European launch of the market is scheduled for early July.
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 ReadingDirector Of Global Infrastructure For Goodyear
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has appointed Steve Buckus as director of global infrastructure. In his new role he will head up the companys IT group and lead efforts to globally integrate Goodyears IT infrastructure. Buckus has 20 years experience in the IT infrastructure field, and his previous post was as director, distributed systems for FedEx Services.
Continue ReadingVauxhall Masterfit Reaches 250
Vauxhalls dealer franchise fast fit operation now operates 250 outlets in the UK. The expansion of the fast fit chain within the dealer network emphasises the importance of the fast fit market to the viability of the UK car distributor network. The sector is growing in importance as it increases market share, taking fast fit tyre and exhaust business from the shrinking independent fast fit sector.
Continue ReadingBRV Meeting In Weimar – “The Future Used To Be Better”
The BRV invited its members to attend its annual meeting in Weimar, historically one of the most famous cities in Eastern Germany. BRV President Ludwig did not have only good things to talk about, as he believes that margins will fall even further and the tyre trade cannot afford more pressure on margins. He mentioned Michelin and Goodyear as brands sold to car dealers at prices which are unrealistic and, due to the fact that tyre dealers have not been successful in the fast-fit field, President Ludwig urged tyre manufacturers to give tyre dealers better buying prices than car dealers. The association also expressed concern that tyre manufacturers might establish direct selling contacts with big fleets.
Continue ReadingNew Production Director For Goodyear
Goodyears Wolverhampton plant gets a new production director. Hugh Thompson brings 30 years experience in the rubber and plastics industry to the operation. Thompson was the vice president of manufacturing for Dunlop Tyres in North America. He replaces Serge Lussier, who has moved to Brussels to take up the post of director of manufacturing, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Continue ReadingSell-Off Of Mannesmann Sachs – Continental The Favourite Bidder
Reports in the press say that Siemens is selling two businesses that it acquired with the purchase of Mannesmann Atecs. One of these is Mannesmann Sachs, manufacturer of clutches and shock absorbers and which is said to be worth one billion Euro. Continental was named as the front runner among those seeking to buy the company.
Continue ReadingPhilip J. Ringo To Head New Global E-Commerce Marketplace
RubberNetwork.com, LLC, a global electronic purchasing and procurement marketplace created by nine leading companies in the tire and rubber industry, has named Philip J. Ringo Chief Executive Officer and a Member of the companys Board of Managers.
Continue ReadingMichelin Suffers Under Bad Market Conditions
The French group has achieved a rise of 4.5 per cent in the first half of 2001, compared to the same period last year, and now has a turnover of 7710 million Euro, but the EBIT has fallen 9 per cent to 491 million Euro. Analysts had been expecting a slightly better result. As a prominent supplier of truck tyres, Michelin is suffering under the very bad market conditions prevailing in the US. Not only did the OE market fall, but – and this was unexpected – so did the replacement market, and the company cannot foresee any improvements in the US market for the second half of the year. Michelin as a group did not sell as many tyres as expected, as a result of the Fiestone recall, but the trend towards premium brands (the so-called flight to quality) still exists. The Michelin brand has sold a lot more tyres than in previous years, which gives the group much better margins. The return on sales for the whole year should be between 6.2 and 6.8 per cent – some months ago, 7.7 to 8.3 per cent was expected. Perhaps there might be some more good news for Michelin if Firestone and General were forced to recall more tyres.
Continue ReadingNew Trailer Tyre From Stomil
Polish tyre manufacturer Stomil-Olsztyn, a member of the Michelin-group, is offering a new radial tyre for trailers, called AM-17 Transport , size 400/70 R20 150D, through its German distributor Bohnenkamp (Osnabrück). Its higher loading capacity as well as the significantly reduced rolling resistance compared with its diagonal version shall make this new tyre to an economic alternative for the farmer.
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