Africa
Birla Tyres says it is ready to get its passenger car tyre factory project back on track, and the Indian tyre maker also intends to target export markets, including Europe, with its agricultural and other niche products.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has announced what it says are record second quarter earnings, and even its European business showed signs of improvement. Net income more than doubled year-on-year from $85 million in Q2 2012 to $181 million, or $0.67 per share. This exceeded the average analyst estimate by $0.19, and company chairman and CEO Richard J. Kramer said the result demonstrates “the disciplined execution of our strategies by Goodyear associates around the globe as our operations become more efficient, reliable and integrated.”
Exhibition organisation company ECI International has announced dates for the forthcoming 2014 British tyre exhibition, Brityrex International, which will run from 7 – 9 October 2014. Like the last edition of the show, the 2014 event will once again be held at the EventCity exhibition centre in Manchester.
Serbia’s Ministry of Finance and Economy has published its list of the country’s leading exporters in the first quarter of 2013, and the automotive sector was amongst the major contributors in this area. Third on the top exporter list, behind Fiat Automobili Srbija and the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), was Tigar Tyres.
Vipal has been recognised for its activities in international markets in an awards ceremony hosted by Porto Alegre trade association ADVB. President Arlindo Paludo received the 2013 Export Award for Market Diversification on 8 July, joining other exporters from the state of Rio Grande do Sul in a variety of categories. Paludo said: “This award is one of the fruits of Vipal’s entire 40 year history. We have always bet on developing products featuring high quality and technology, and have never set environmental preservation aside. It’s a great pleasure to see important competitions like the Export Awards recognizing that.”
Following its employment of a full Michelin tyre policy for its trailer fleet in July 2011, Manchester based logistics specialist Davies Turner estimates it has saved more than £20,000 as a result of the decrease in tyre failures. The company says that pre-Michelin it dealt with at least one tyre-related breakdown per month from competitor remould tyres. The haulier’s 42 trailers collect hanging garments from North Africa, transporting them through Europe to the UK, with third party hauliers providing the traction. Each tyre failure that occurred overseas cost approximately £900 in call-out charges, tyre replacement and associated downtime.
Following the agreement reached between Apollo Tyres and Sumitomo Rubber Industries about the future of the Dunlop brand in Africa, Apollo Tyres South Africa (Pty) Limited has initiated an investment programme at its Dunlop Zimbabwe Limited manufacturing company. The Dunlop Zimbabwe plant in Bulawayo will no longer produce Dunlop tyres and is apparently being tooled up to manufacture the Vredestein brand. Six new presses have been purchased for the Bulawayo plant so far and a further 18 are expected.
Is this the opening shot in the anticipated round of consolidation within the tyre industry? Or is it merely an expression of courage, or cockiness, with Indian tyre manufacturer Apollo in the role of a predator, seeking to grasp the much-larger rival Cooper as prey and in doing so exposing itself to the risk that the US$2.5 billion price will land it in debt above its head? Is attack the best form of defence or has the Indian company overreached with this ambitious and financially-edgy expansion plan?
Kenda Rubber Industrial Co has reported its intention to increase its global production capacity for passenger car tyres by 50 per cent in 2013. The company will manufacture 38,000 units per day by the end of 2013 in order to meet rising market demand, with the increases coming in both its home market of Taiwan and in two Chinese factories. These include the Tianjin factory, which produced its first prototype tyre in May.
With the ink still drying on Apollo Tyre’s agreement to purchase Cooper Tire and Rubber, on 27 June Tyres & Accessories met with Apollo vice chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar at the company's new global marketing office in central London in order to get the inside line on the deal, the impending integration and the strategy behind the purchase.
In 2010, Apollo's owners, chairman Onkar Kanwar and vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar, told the world that the company was aiming to break into the global top 10…at least. At the time this announcement was made you could be forgiven for thinking such a proclamation was either an exercise in hyperbole or in corporate goal setting. And why not? There's nothing wrong with aiming high, as many of the world's fastest growing tyre companies are clearly doing. After all, as the saying goes, “he who aims at nothing hits it”.
But with all the speculation that surrounded the company's decision to engage in takeover talks with Cooper at the end of 2012, the fact that the deal has now been agreed arguably isn't as much of a surprise as the speed with which the top 10 goal has been attained. Early indications suggest that the amalgamated Apollo/Cooper will be the seventh largest tyre company on earth. So what’s next? The exclusive club that is dominated and fiercely defended by the big five? Or, as is more likely, a period of integration and consolidation while the dust settles?
Hercules Tire Company of Canada has named Terry LeBlanc to the newly-created role of vice-president of Sales. LeBlanc begins in this position on 2 July and reports directly to Hercules Canada President, Rob Keller. He will take on responsibility for Hercules’ Canadian national sales team, P & L, customer relations, and have full responsibility for the strategic direction and management of the company’s sales strategy.
Continental has confirmed it will invest around €100 million increasing production capacity at its Puchov truck and bus tyre factory in Slovakia, boosting capacity from some 2.6 million tyres a year to over three million tyres. Puchov, Continental’s largest truck and bus tyre production facility within the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, will also receive “extensive upgrades” to machinery and infrastructure in order to achieve maximum production efficiency.
Starco reports that it has expanded its South African operation. Starco ZA, created in July 2012 to serve the South Africa market and provide a bridgehead for further expansion on the African continent, was established as a partnership with former local distributor Mac and TireCity, an already well-established firm with three strategically located distribution outlets in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. A fourth Starco ZA distribution outlet, in Port Elizabeth, has now been opened and will support the growing fork lift truck tyre service market.
In late May, Brazilian tyre industry association the ANIP (Associação Nacional da Indústria de Pneumáticos) reported that the country’s tyre production only increased four per cent during the first four months of 2013, despite a year-on-year growth of 17 per cent within the automotive industry between January and April. ANIP blamed this growth congruence on increased tyre imports, prompting association president Alberto Mayer to comment that many imported tyres were not legal imports, were of a quality below that set out by national accreditation body Inmetro, and avoided the end of life tyre handling fee charged on domestically-produced tyres.
The Association of European Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers (EUROBAT) has elected Johann-Friedrich Dempwolff, general manager and vice-president of Industry and Governmental Relations for Johnson Controls Power Solutions EMEA, as its new president. The appointment took place last week during EUROBAT meetings in Italy. Dempwolff will serve as president for two years.
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