TBC Corporation Completes Acquisition of NTB
TBC Corporation, one of the USA’s largest marketers of automotive replacement tyres, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of National Tire & Battery from Sears, Roebuck and Co.
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Goodyear steer tyre praised
Goodyear’s most high-tech truck tyre ever has received recognition that labels it as “terrific” and “one of the best product introductions of 2003,” according to Truck Sales & Leasing publication. The Goodyear G395 LHS steer-axle tyre for long-haul applications was honoured as one of “Terrific 20” of 2003 by the magazine. Winning products are chosen for their innovation, serviceability and performance, according to the magazine. Dave Beasley, Goodyear’s director of sales, commercial tyres said, “We are honoured to have this new tyre recognized as one of the best products in the trucking business. The tyre was designed to be a product that its users could rely on, mile after mile.”
Michelin tops JD Power Taiwan survey
Michelin has come top of the JD Power Asia Pacific 2003 Taiwan OE Tyre Customer Satisfaction Index. 900 owners of new vehicles in Taiwan were questioned about their tyres up to 18 months after the purchase. Michelin scored 827 points out of a possible maximum of 1,000. Goodyear was the second-placed brand, with 810 points.
The Sleeping Giant Stirs
The Micheldever wholesale operation has been rapidly growing but until 2001 had been concentrated in the South. However, the desire to replicate the wholesale success achieved in the South had led Tony to search for strategically placed wholesale premises initially in the Midlands and North of England, and when Southam Tyres came on the market in October 2001, Tony beat off competition from UK, European and Far Eastern wholesalers to acquire the Southam business. This immediately provided Micheldever with the UK’s most successful 4×4 tyre distributor and its specialist sales team, plus exclusive distribution rights to BFGoodrich 4×4, General Tire and Roadhog. However, due to virtually zero investment from its previous owners, the Southam warehouse was poorly equipped, lacking adequate storage systems and having an ageing fleet of vehicles.
The Micheldever investment came swiftly, with a new fleet, tyreracking systems and a vastly increased range of stock. The benefits of having the most comprehensive range of car and 4X4 tyres available in the Midlands quickly led to excellent sales results for the previously product starved Southam sales teams.
However, the move that really sent the message out that Micheldever had intentions to become a national player was the announcement of the new Halifax depot. A purpose built warehouse on four floors it will have a capacity for 600,000 tyres. By mid 2003 work was progressing well at Halifax, and finally in Sept 2003 the UK’s largest tyre warehouse commenced deliveries on a phased schedule.
Obviously for Micheldever the main thrust of the business at present is the development of the wholesale division and taking the offer to the trade across the UK. One of the much-vaunted drivers for offering national coverage is the potential to be developed in the franchised dealer network. The opportunity to supply tyres as first fit on fleet cars through the franchised dealers is reportedly enormous.
Tony Todd is adamant that there are two factors to being successful. The first is that you can’t sell it if you haven’t got it; the second is that you can’t do the job unless you have got the right tools and the right people in place.
Michelin in JV with Apollo
Apollo Tyres has joined with Michelin in a joint venture company called Michelin Apollo Tyre to manufacture, market and sell truck and bus radial tyres. “We are scouting for an appropriate location in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The commercial operations will begin by September 2005,” said Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres Ltd. Michelin will have 51 per cent shareholding and Apollo 49 per cent in the new Michelin Apollo Tyre Ltd. The Apollo board of Directors has also approved Michelin’s purchase of 14.9 per cent of equity share capital by means of a preferential allotment from Apollo Tyre Ltd for about 28 million US dollars. The joint venture comes in the wake of ongoing road improvements and highway building projects being currently undertaken in India. While the Radialisation level in the passenger car segment is around 75 per cent, in bus and truck, it’s less than 2 per cent. “We plan to increase this to 5 per cent in next three years,” added Kanwar. Edouard Michelin, President Michelin said, ” We want to become Indian in India, French in France and Chinese in China and we believe that we have just the right tyres to match the Indian conditions.”
Tyre Wars: An overview of the wholesale tyre conflict
The tyre trade has been buying and selling tyres for over 100 years. One might have imagined that it would have settled on a profitable, manageable and structured method of distributing car tyres from manufacturer or importer to retailer by now. However, it hasn’t and one suspects it never will.
Way back in the mists of time life was simpler. The tyre manufacturers supplied their tyres to the vehicle manufacturers and tyres were supplied at the local garages. The number of brands available was limited and people tended to buy what they wanted at the garage displaying their brand’s logo.
In the 1960’s tyre manufacturers would have supply arrangements with local dealers who would agree to take their brand of tyres and then redistribute to local tyre fitters, all at fixed retail prices of course. Then the manufacturers decided that they could deliver, and they cut out the local dealer, they set up their own logistics operations and offered to deliver tyres to anyone who would buy them. The result was chaos.
In the meantime, the network of local tyre wholesalers in the UK was developing. The manufacturers realised that they could not survive delivering just their own brands so they delved into the market with their own tyre wholesale operations.
At the same time there had been the development of a number of regional tyre wholesalers. Of which Stapleton’s had become a national player.The co-operation of strong regional wholesalers across the UK culminated in the establishment of Group Tyre.
Whilst Stapleton’s and Group Tyre dug in for a long war a third player entered the fray. Hampshire-based Micheldever, the sleeping giant, decided to make some moves to expand out of its Southern base. It first bought Southam Tyres, then opened a warehouse at Chepstow, and now Halifax with rumours of interests in the North East being rife. Battle was joined.
To listen to the larger operators it would be fair to presume that no independent had any involvement in the fleet market or the franchised dealer sector. However the independent trader is well aware of the situation and whilst some may be content to work on ever diminishing markets, others may be taking another view of the situation.
VW Lupo through 20 countries… with just 100 Euro on fuel
Austrian journalist and ‘fuel economy record man’ Gerhard Plattner succeeded in crossing 20 European countries in a VW Lupo 3L TDI, with a fuel budget of less than 100 Euros. Plattner relied on Bridgestone Ecopia low-rolling-resistance tyres that are fitted as standard on the Lupo. Their fuel-saving capabilities helped him to achieve a record average consumption of a mere 2.78 litres/100 km. The attempt began on 3 November 2003 in Oslo, Norway, and ended 4,683 kilometres and four days later in The Hague, The Netherlands. Running at an average speed of 80.76 km/h, the Austrian managed to complete the trip having spent only 90.94 Euro from the budgeted 100.
John Lampe: “Family-Channel was our escape”
John Lampe, who is CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding and the first foreigner to become a member of the board of the Japanese parent company, certainly enjoys great respect among American tyre bosses. Even a forced tyre recall that cost the company more than 1 billion dollars couldn’t bring Bridgestone to its knees. After a billion dollar loss in 1999, last year Bridgestone/Firestone Americas could again report 90 million in profits. And this positive trend doesn’t seem to be coming to an end. “Obviously we are far away from what a business with an 8 billion dollar turnover has to achieve,” John Lampe tells TYRES & ACCESSORIES at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Lampe doesn’t speak in terms of “yesterday and today”, but in categories “before and after the recall” and explains to T&A the measures taken for recovery and change. It is like this: all “core products” will be marketed exclusively through Bridgestone’s “Family-Channel”. As well as the Bridgestone sales chain, independent tyre dealers belong to the Family-Channel.
Pirelli is on schedule
For Pirelli the current year is on schedule in the face of good sales and earnings. Higher prices for raw materials won’t burden Pirelli’s results before the new year. Talking to TYRES & ACCESSORIES at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Dr. Francesco Gori, Managing Director of the Pirelli Tyre Sector, again affirms the good business in the USA. For the second time in a row Pirelli will end a year making a profit on the biggest tyre market in the world. This is even more remarkable, because Pirelli has just opened its MIRS-plant in Rome, Georgia, for which the company has incurred launch costs. During the last years the Italian company was pleased with an annual sales growth of about 20 per cent. This was partly because of the OE business Pirelli undertakes with car makers Ford and Chrysler. But not only that, the tyre maker has gained ground also on the replacement market after the sell-out through mass merchandisers has been stopped. In Latin America Gori expects Pirelli to be clearly number one ahead of Goodyear, whose Mexican activities structurally belong to the North American business (Nafta). The prospects are rather good that Pirelli will generate sales of more than 3 billion euro during this year solely with tyres; during last year this economic indicator stood at 2.857 billion euro. Exact figures concerning third quarter performance will be published on November 11.
Williams criticises FIA investigation
Williams Technical Director Patrick Head has criticised the FIA for its investigation into Ferrari’s Bridgestone tyres, used at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The FIA took away a left front tyre and a right rear tyre and Head says that, due to the conditions at Monza, these tyres require a harder compound, while a softer compound would be an advantage on the left rear and right front. Had Ferrari been mixing compounds, this would not have become apparent, says Head, who described the investigation as “not very useful”.
Michelin Ranks Highest in Germany OE Tyre Customer Satisfaction
Michelin ranks highest in original equipment (OE) tyre satisfaction for the third consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2003 Germany Original Equipment Tyre Customer Satisfaction Index Study released today.
US Consumer mag rates Falken and Goodyear
US consumer magazine Consumer Reports’ has issued its annual UHP and all-season tyre ranking and Goodyear and Falken head the listings. The Falken Ziex ZE 512 came first out of 18 H-speed rated, all-season performance tyres and the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 topped the ranks of 13 Z-rated, ultra-high performance summer tires. The Bridgestone Turanza LS-H came in second on the magazine’s all-season list, and the Toyo Proxes T1-S ranked second in the ultra-high performance list.
BAR-Honda to switch to Michelin
Despite Ferrari’s F1 Championship win on Bridgestone tyres, BAR-Honda, the second-most successful Bridgestone team in this year’s competition, has announces that it will switch to Michelin tyres for next season’s campaign. Bridgestone is investigating the legal implications of the request, while Michelin regards the move as a vote of confidence in its F1 tyres.
Hong Kong to introduce tyre tax
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s (HKSAR) government is proposing that all new tyres are registered and taxed. A spokesman said that new car buyers will be required to pay an annual tax of HK$100 (11 Euro) for the five tyres on a car. The money will be used to buy and operate machinery to turn scrap tyres into rubber bricks, used to pave roads, and once the capital outlay for the machinery is recouped, the tyre tax will be lifted. The proposal has the backing of the Hong Kong Automobile Association.
Siemens and Goodyear work on “intelligent tyre”
On show at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September was what was described as “the second generation of tyre pressure control systems”, developed by Siemens VDO Automotive, in conjunction with Goodyear.
This unit is more than just a pressure sensor, as it can record mileage and tyre wear, moving one step further towards the “intelligent tyre”. The new sensors operate with an indirect power supply and allow electronic identification of the tyres, as they are embedded into the tyre carcass, rather than part of an external sensor fitted to the wheel.
As well as the sensor, the system incorporates an antenna in the tyre and a transmitter/receiver in the cabin. It is this latter unit that supplies the tyre with energy. Should there be a drop in pressure, the sophisticated software recognises this and sends a warning to the driver. Additionally, a chip in the tyre records the mileage and the distance that can be travelled without sufficient pressure.
The electronics are only a few square millimetres in size and they measure the tyre temperature and, with the aid of a micromechanical sensor, the air pressure in the tyre. The system evaluates additional information such as wheel speed, then the software calculates the nominal air pressure, notifying the driver if this falls below pre-determined levels. The driver can also request the current pressure or mileage of each tyre at any time.
Because the sensors are a permanent component of the tyre, data such as tyre type can be sent directly to the vehicle electronics, which is also helpful for the ABS and other chassis control systems. Another advantage is that the new system does not require a separate sensor to be fitted to the wheel and, if the tyre is changed from one wheel to another, there is no transfer of sensor needed.
Finally, the light weight of the sensor means that it has no adverse effect on tyre performance or vehicle handling.
