Asia
Europe-wide online tyre retailer Delticom AG says it will once again maintain a presence at the Reifen show in Essen, Germany. At this year’s exhibition, the company will present its full portfolio of services at its stand (hall 3, stand 303), including its core passenger car tyre business, its wholesale two-wheel tyre segment and the company’s fleet vehicle, truck, industrial and special tyre segments.
The organisers of Singapore tyre and equipment show Tyrexpo Asia have reported a fast start to exhibitor bookings for its 2013 exhibition. By mid-April, 11 months before the show gets underway, more than 62 per cent of space in Hall 2 of the Singapore Expo Centre has been reserved as regular exhibitors and new suppliers attending the bi-annual event for the first time confirmed their presence. Tyrexpo Asia veterans Stamford Tyres, YHI Corporation, Elgi Rubber, Omni United and BKT have secured prominent gateway stands in the main entrance area. Joining them will be Indian tyre manufacturer CEAT, who return to the show for the first time since 2007. The show will take place at the Singapore Expo Centre on 19-21 March 2013.
Last November, Pirelli signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesian automotive component manufacturer PT Astra Otoparts Tbk regarding a joint venture factory. Now, on 24 April, the tyre maker reports it has signed an agreement with Astra to build a new factory in Indonesia – its first in this country – for the production of cross-ply motorcycle tyres.
Audi AG has agreed to buy Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. for a reported £708 million. According to the company, the transaction will be completed “as quickly as possible” once authorized by the competition authorities. Ducati is now a third pillar for Audi AG in Northern Italy alongside Lamborghini and Italdesign. The company sees the move as "another building block in its growth strategy."
Since its formation in Thailand in 2004, Singapore-based Stamford Sport Wheels has evolved into one of South East Asia's leading and most successful alloy wheel manufacturers, exporting products to European and North American markets. Its manufacturing complex is based in the province of Nonthaburi, approximately 60km north of Bangkok and consists of two production facilities spanning around 30,000sqm. The company currently has the capacity to manufacture over 900,000 wheels a year; the current SSW product portfolio includes fitments between 13” and 20”. This allows it to serve the growing demands of Asian markets while continuing to serve global export goals. The company now aims to enhance its image as a producer of quality alloy wheels in particular throughout European markets – including the UK.
Kent-based wheel distributor Wheelwright launched its Calibre Couture range onto the UK market and made substantial upgrades to its website, including an improved e-Commerce platform, in the first quarter of 2012. Tyrepress.com spoke to Wheelwright managing director, Kevin Greer, who presented details on why the Calibre range has been “a real success story” following its introduction. Since its launch the distributor has introduced retro, utility and the Couture prestige ranges to its private wheel range, making Calibre its “umbrella brand”. Greer also talked Tyrepress.com through the upgraded website, which aims to serve modern shopping habits, without treading on the toes of the retail businesses it supplies.
Singapore’s Stamford Tyres was awarded the 'Gold Award' for the most innovative stand at the recent Tyrexpo Africa Show 2012 in Johannesburg. Stamford says it prioritises visual presentation and the latest accolade further emphasises its dedication to the highest standards in its show stands. Daniel Eng, Stamford Tyres assistant vice president for international distribution says: “Receiving this prestigious award is a rewarding conclusion to a very successful show for Stamford tyres and South East Asia in the global tyre industry.
GT Radial took its European dealers to Test World’s Mellatracks Proving Ground in Ivalo, Finland on 19-24 March to test the Champiro WinterPro and studded Champiro IcePro winter tyres. Facing a range of snow and ice handling tests, the brand showed its winter tyres’ ability; the unstudded WinterPro, most suitable for European markets such as Germany and the growing UK segment, is TÜV-SÜD accredited, having completed a tyre comparison test in 2010.
On 19 March, Japan’s JSR Corporation and its joint-venture partner Bangkok Synthetics Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Solution Polymerization Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (S-SBR) plant to be constructed by their company, JSR BST Elastomer Co., Ltd. (JBE). The Muang, Rayong Province-based plant is scheduled to enter operation in June 2013; the facility will be the first S-SBR manufacturing plant in Thailand.
The makers of the Hofmann Power Weight brand of balancing weights will present various innovations and new products at this year's international tyre fair in Essen between 5 and 8 June (hall 1.0, stand 411). The theme at the Wegmann Automotive stand will be motor sports, a sector that’s all about speed. Wegmann has chosen to go for a motor sport motif as it says its new products, which have been developed on the race track and optimised for the workshop, can be mounted extremely quickly and easily.
On 28 March Continental celebrated the groundbreaking of not just one, but two tyre factories. Along with the new plant in the US state of South Carolina, reported yesterday by Tyrepress.com, the company broke ground on extensions to its passenger car factory in Hefei, China. The project calls for a 134 million euro investment, and this will allow for a doubling of capacity to eight million passenger car tyres per annum. Hefei plant output includes the ContiComfortContact 5, which it began producing last year, and ContiMaxContact 5, which entered production in 2012; both of these tyres have been tailored for the Chinese market.
Some 2.3 million truck tyres are currently sold in South Africa each year, with the market fairly evenly divided between sales of new tyres and retreads. Competing in the retread market are numerous familiar global names such as Bridgestone Bandag, Michelin and Goodyear Dunlop, yet one of the longest established retreading sector firms is local player Leader Tread. The Johannesburg-based company has been in the business for almost half a century and in recent times awareness of its products has also increased outside of Africa. In February, Tyres & Accessories spoke to Leader Tread managing director Brett Sproson and gained an insight into a company that is active and growing in all areas of the retreading and retreading materials market.
Schaeffler Group has reported record 2011 sales of 10.7 billion euros and a 12 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to 1.7 billion euros. It is the first time in the company’s history that sales topped the 10 billion euro mark. Schaeffler Group directly owns a 49.9 per cent stake in Continental AG.
Commenting at the press conference where the news was announced, Schaeffler AG CEO Dr Juergen Geissinger said: “Following our success in 2010, we were able to further improve our earnings across the board in 2011. That demonstrates the dedicated commitment of our employees around the world. Our wide range of components and systems for the automotive and the industrial sectors puts us in a very good strategic position as a globally oriented company.”
This month US wholesaler Tire Group International celebrates 20 years in the business. On 3 March 1992 the Miami-based company opened its doors and began trading; TGI says its main objective since that day has been to offer its customers the entire spectrum of tyre sizes and patterns at reasonable price points, to build long-term relationships with customers and suppliers and to exceed their expectations every time they deal with TGI. For this reason, TGI says it has developed a very close relationship with all its partners around the world.
They say that all publicity is good publicity, but Goodyear executives probably could have done without the publicity it got from CNBC last week. The consumer news and financial information channel asked why Goodyear shares had fallen 13 per cent this year in an improving environment during a 7 March broadcast. The answer that Jeffery B. Middleswart, president, director of research at Behind the Numbers, was blunt to say the least: “This is a company basically bleeding to death.”
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
