Car registrations break 2.2 million mark, return to pre-recession levels
Car registration figures for 2013 appear to show that consumer confidence is increasing, with 2,264,737 cars registered in 2013, up 10.8 per cent on 2012. This exceeds the SMMT’s 2.25 million forecast for the year and is the highest annual registration total since 2007. December was the 22nd consecutive monthly rise.
Continue Reading
November winter tyre figures point to strong season
While Britain has been batter by storms this winter, and while the environment minister announced today (6 January) that some 1700 homes have been flooded this season, it has been relatively warm with much of Britain being buffeted by storms and at the same time experiencing high single-digit temperatures. Tragic for some. Inclement for most. But not the kind of weather that traditionally leads to increased winter tyre sales. Nevertheless, the latest data from market analysts GfK suggests that November sales are significantly up on both the previous month and when compared with the same time last year.
Continue Reading
Foj, Race2Recovery aim to build on 2013 success on Cooper rubber
Cooper Tire Europe will help two very different teams to build on the success they experienced in the 2013 Dakar when the 35th edition of the event begins on 5 January in Rosario, Argentina. Catalan rally ace and Cooper Europe 4x4 ambassador, Xavi Foj is looking for his third successive T2 Production Class title on Cooper rubber, while the Race2Recovery team returns to build on its impressive achievements in 2013.
Continue Reading
No deal – Cooper terminates Apollo merger agreement
The curtain has come down on a saga that made tyre industry headlines last year. On 30 December, Cooper Tire & Rubber announced its termination of the merger/acquisition agreement between it and India’s Apollo Tyres. The US tyre maker gave word of its action a day before the agreement was due to expire. “It is time to move our business forward,” wrote Cooper chairman, chief executive officer and president Roy Armes in a statement. “While the strategic rationale for a business combination with Apollo is compelling, it is clear that the merger agreement both companies signed on June 12 will not be consummated by Apollo and we have been notified that financing for the transaction is no longer available. The right thing for Cooper now is to focus on continuing to build our business.”
Continue Reading
November sales key to unlocking UK winter tyre sales trends
When it comes to analysing trends in the comparatively unpredictable UK winter tyre market, November unit sales figures are a key indicator of what is going on in the season. The latest figures arent out just yet, but GfKs Kevin Glynn talked Tyres & Accessories through the thinking behind the leading market research companys analysis.
Continue Reading
Dmack signs Tänak and Ketomaa for WRC2 team
Dmack is to augment its continued role as authorised tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship with a two car team in the WRC2 series. The British brand, manufactured in China by Shandong Yongtai, has announced the signing of Estonia’s Ott Tänak, who will join Finn Jari Ketomaa in a pair of Ford Fiesta R5 rally cars as the newly-formed Drive Dmack world rally team starts its campaign. Dmack has also announced a new range of rally tyres, as well as an extension of 60 sizes to its PCR range, coming in 2014.
Continue Reading
Triangle opens Shanghai international sales and marketing centre
So while production capacity and scale can be impressive, what most Chinese-based tyre manufacturers have failed to do is establish themselves as makers of quality products that command quality prices around the world. With this in mind, the fact that Triangle appointed a new global marketing vice-president (a European ex-Goodyear man Jenner Powell) in the middle of 2013 suggests that the company is taking steps to elevate perceptions of its products and consistently communicate its strengths to the market.
Continue Reading
Michelin lays foundation stone for R&D centre upgrade
On 16 December, Michelin chief executive officer Jean-Dominique Senard laid the foundation stone for the main building to be built as part of the company’s €270 million upgrade to its research and development facilities at the Ladoux site in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The stone-laying ceremony took place in the presence of members of Michelin’s Executive Committee along with representatives from architects Chaix & Morel and engineering group Ingerop.
Continue Reading
Court dismisses Cooper appeal
Three days before Cooper Tire & Rubber’s scheduled appeal hearing, Delaware Supreme Court has dismissed the tyre maker’s appeal. A court filing signed by Justice Randy J. Holland stated that “based upon the filings by the parties, the Court has concluded that this interlocutory appeal was improvidently accepted”, or in other words it shouldn’t have been accepted by the court to start with.
Continue Reading
Michelin inaugurates 8th earthmover tyre plant – just 17 months after groundbreaking
As reported yesterday, Michelin North America has held an event to mark the opening of its newest manufacturing facility, just 17 months after breaking ground at the site. Test production has already begun at the plant and the first commercially available tyres will be manufactured next month. Michelin says 80 per cent of the large earthmover tyres produced in the Anderson County plant will be exported to mining operations around the world.
Continue Reading
Truck tyre replacement demand up 14 per cent
The truck market was amongst the first to take steps to reduce costs when the credit crunch bit, but the flipside is that is also amongst the first to respond when conditions improve. And this is likely to have a knock-on effect on the tyre market that supplies it. Continental’s logic certainly fits with their figures. And the fact that marketing is growing again is evident based on the fact that UK and Irish truck and bus tyre replacement markets shot up 14 per cent and 5 per cent respectively in 2013. Now it is worth pointing out that these figures are based on ETRMA data which includes the top five and some other leading manufacturers, but not many of the imported brands that are popular to UK tyre buyers.
Continue Reading
The end in Anagni – Marangoni explains why it’s leaving the new tyre business
For Italy’s Marangoni Group, the decision about the future of its new tyre production plant in Anagni (near Rome) and its 400 employees was not an easy one to reach. Yet after many years of losses running into the millions and no prospect of this improving in the future, in September the company penned the final chapter on its almost quarter-century long engagement in new tyre production – and despite the difficult nature of this decision it comes as a weight off the shoulders for Marangoni’s management, and they are sanguine about devoting all their attention to the core retreading business in future and making strategic investments there. Speaking with Tyres & Accessories, Marangoni CEO Massimo De Alessandri explains what factors went into making the decision, which mistakes were made in the past, why the foray into new tyre production was understandable but – in hindsight –perhaps inadvisable, and what the Marangoni Group now plans going forward.
Continue Reading