Africa
(Douglasdale, South Africa/S.A. Treads) A man who first started his tyre career with Michelin 19 years ago as a sales representative and went on to become familiar with every aspect of the business, from the tyre manufacturing process to servicing the commercial sector, marketing and communications, now heads up Michelin Tyres SA.
(Douglasdale, South Africa/S.A. Treads) Renault Trucks is Europe’s first truck maker to offer Goodyear Duraseal Technology. Customers ordering vehicles from the brand-new Renault Kerax of construction range, which were launched at the IAA Truck Show in Hanover recently, will have the choice of Goodyear Omnitrac mixed-service tyres featuring Duraseal Technology. This means less downtime and reduced tyre costs.
The exclusive distributor of Marshal tyres in the UAE and Iran, Varga Trading co. LLC has announced that it will be providing a 4-year warranty. “Most people in this region are shocked to hear that our tyres have such a long-term warranty, our tyres are of the highest quality and we are convinced that they can out-perform many of the very expensive brands. The stated four-year warranty is a message of confidence to end-users about the quality of Marshal tyres and a message to our dealers that we are committed to providing them with superb after sales services,” said Varga’s VP, Alireza Moaref.
Apollo Tyres is considering sourcing OTR tyres from its acquired South African production facilities in order to meet increased demand from the construction and mining sectors. These tyres will most likely come from the 252,000 sq ft Dunlop plant in Durban, which Apollo acquired in April 2006 along with another facility in South Africa and two in Zimbabwe. Ten thousand tyres are produced every day at the Durban site.
With the chronic shortage in heavy haulage tyres causing inflated prices and end users purchasing inferior quality products, the giant mining and resources company Rio Tinto has decided to take matters into their own hands. The company has announced that they have set up their own tyre retreading facility in Western Australia, not far from their sizable mining operations in the state’s Pilbara region.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has stated that its affiliate company in Poland plans to invest more than US$100 million to expand production of high-value tyres. The investment, which will be implemented during the next four years, will be made at Goodyear’s TC Debica plant, one of the company’s lowest cost facilities. The investment is consistent with Goodyear’s current strategy of upgrading and expanding existing capacity to produce HP and UHP tyres.
Apollo Tyres is reportedly planning to open a retreading tyre plant in Haryana, India. The company will invest 50 million rupees in the satellite plant, according to Business Line. Apollo intends to have 2-3 such satellite plants strategically located in the country. The company has invested in imported machinery for the new plant though it will run a retreading process that was designed in-house.
Since the “Dunlop Rubber Company (India)” was registered in 1926 as the first tyre manufacturer in India – when the country was still a British crown colony – the local tyre market has developed into an important but at the same time somewhat backward market. The sheer size of the market makes it internationally important, but Indian products are rarely sold in the most advanced Western markets. However, in the recent past some manufacturers have invested and continue to invest strongly into new technology in order to tackle problems such as low margins, growing competition from Western companies coming to India and increasing imports from low-cost countries such as China. This process of international adaptation and adjustment on the part of Indian tyre makers has already begun to bear fruit. Nevertheless, the Indian tyre market remains what it always has been: an almost completely closed market and an oligopoly whose future direction is difficult to foresee.
Sun lovers at a secluded naturist beach have been forced to share their sandy haven with a large mysterious visitor that, like them, seems happy to flaunt what others may prefer to keep discretely tucked away. And while regulars at Cape Town’s Sandy Bay inlet may be used to seeing all manner of sagging and rubbery apparitions during the course of a day at the beach, this particular one is turning heads, as it is a tyre from an airliner.
(SA Treads, Douglasdale, South Africa) When we first met Claudio Boezio in early 2005, he had just assumed responsibility for Continental Tyre SA in his role as MD. At the time and by his own admission, he was fortunate to inherit a well-run, stable ‘ship’. But if there’s one thing that remains constant in the tyre industry, it’s change.
MRF Ltd. has been India’s most important tyre manufacturer since the industry’s earliest days in the subcontinent. The company was founded in the city of Chennai, previously known as Madras – hence the abbreviation MRF, which is short for “Madras Rubber Factory”. Today the manufacturer can proudly look back at its 60 years of history, and also show pride in its current annual turnover of 42.5 billion rupees (£486 million). According to analysts, MRF today holds a 24 per cent slice of the Indian tyre market and is also very active in export business as well as motorsports. Company sources state that MRF currently exports its products to 75 countries.
(Akron/Tire Review) India’s Apollo Tyres Ltd. unveiled the first of its new Indian made Regal brand radial truck and bus tyres. The line was launched with the Regal Transport RS (steer axle) and the Regal Transport RD (drive axle) at the Bus World exposition taking place in Mumbai, India.
Research analysts in India have given Apollo Tyres their stamp of approval as a good investment due to the tyremaker’s focus on product development, expansion plans and increasing international presence.
At the end of January, Apollo Tyres Ltd, published un-audited financial results for the 2006/07 financial year that show net sales grew by 26 per cent year-on-year to 8.575 billion rupees (£100 million). At the same time net profit as a percentage of sales increased to 4.1 per cent from 2.4 per cent.
(Akron/Tire Review) At the 2006 SEMA Show, a panel of international journalists presented Firestone Industrial Products Co. (FSIP) with an International New Products Award for its new Air-Rite digital air command and Red Label air springs.
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