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CV Show and ATS – Another Success

The SMMT have described this years Commercial Vehicle Show and Automotive Trade Show as “an outstanding success.” Provisional figures show that almost 27,000 visitors attended the three-day event at the NEC last week.

“The CV Show and ATS is the most successful show of its type in Europe,” said SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan. “Last week’s excellent event reinforced that market-leading position, delivering multi-million pound business opportunities to 632 exhibitors and thousands of trade visitors. We know that many exhibitors made good use of the opportunities we delivered and collectively announced billions of pounds worth of new business.”

14th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Coker to Offer Michelin Lifestyle Products

(Akron/Tire Review) Michelin Lifestyle Ltd. has signed a licensing deal with Coker Tire Co. for the development and marketing of Michelin-branded products, including garage accessories, apparel, personal accessories, high-end memorabilia and collectibles.

According to Michelin Lifestyle, Coker will offer these products through Coker Tire’s North American catalogue operations and online store at www.coker.com.

14th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

And Then There Were Three

The live finals of the Top Technician 2005 competition were held at the Automotive Trade Show last week. The event saw 12 finalists competing in three challenges under the eyes of ReMIT assessors Terence Smith and Melvyn Morgan and chairman of judges, Dave Garratt.

The three finalists were Clive Atthowe AMIMI, of Clive Atthowe Tuning, Iain Kershaw MIMI, of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and John Tinham CAE AMIMI, of John Tinham Motor Engineer. They will each go forward to the award ceremony, which takes place in London next month, but only one can win the £2000 cash prize.

“The level of skill and knowledge exhibited by finalists was incredible and marks were very high across all twelve,” said Dave Garratt.

13th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Automotive Appoints Director

(Akron/Tire Review) Continental Automotive Systems has appointed David M. Mestdagh as director of the company’s North American aftermarket business.

Mestdagh will be responsible for overall business strategy, product quality and performance and will oversee development of sales and marketing activities for the company’s ATE brand.

Previously, Mestdagh served as national accounts sales manager for Visteon Corp.’s aftermarket group and has held various positions – including national retail sales manager, program group manager and sales and marketing development manager – at Federal-Mogul Corp.

12th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Montupet Invest in North Irish Wheel Production

Automotive supplier Montupet S.A. (France) felt a recession of around three to four per cent in sales in 2004, or 423 million euros. However the company’s annual general meeting has reported a net profit of 17.72 million euros, but more importantly reduced its debts to 22 million euros. Investments including that into Renault engines, a Canadian plant for Chrysler/USA and the modernisation of a Belfast aluminum cast wheels factory, were valued at 26 million.

12th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Rubber Industry Consumes 1 Million Tonnes

(Rubber Asia/India) The Indian rubber industry used up a total of over a million tonnes of various types of rubber during 2003/04, according to data compiled by the Automotive tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA).

Of this, the tyre industry alone (including cycle tyres & tubes and camelback) consumed 478,734 tonnes of natural rubber — 66.5 per cent of all natural rubber (NR) consumed by the Indian industry as a whole. The tyre segment was also by far the largest consumer of synthetic rubber (140,960 tonnes out of a total of 210,190 tonnes) and reclaimed rubber (38,532 tonnes out of 70,460).

More importantly, the Indian auto tyre segment still has 73.34 per cent of its rubber consumption in the form of natural rubber with synthetic rubber (SR) accounting for 23.73 per cent and reclaimed rubber 2.93 per cent. This NR:SR ratio is almost the reverse of the pattern elsewhere in the tyre-making world.

7th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Stapletons Appoints Interim Retail General Manager

Stapletons Tyre Services has appointed a new Interim retail general manager to join its expanding business. Keith Pringle joins Stapletons from his previous position at the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), where he was a management consultant. Previous to that, Keith was director of operations at national pub retailer, Scottish and Newcastle.

7th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Officially Opens Chinese Plant

Bridgestone has officially opened its Chinese Jiangsu Province facility that produces rubber anti-vibration components for automobiles in China. The plant is in the city of Changzhou, about 160 kilometres west of Shanghai.

Present at the ceremony were representatives from the Chinese government and municipal officials, as well as from Bridgestone. Tatsuya Okajima, a Bridgestone board member responsible for original equipment, and Hiromichi Odagiri a vice president and senior officer who serves as chief representative of Bridgestone tyre operations in China attended the event.

4th April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Private Venture Capital Company Acquires Credential

Credential Environmental Limited, one of the UK’s leading automotive waste collector/reprocessors, has been acquired by private venture capital company Ailsa3 Ventures. The Leeds based investment company has taken a 76 per cent stake in Credential, with management retaining the balance of the equity. Nigel Taunt, managing director of Impax Capital structured the deal.

1st April 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Maywood Launches New Catalogue

Maywood Equipment Group is due to launch the latest edition of its price list on 1 May. The new catalogue covers more than 50 different models including the Europa range of two and four post lifts, as well as scissor lifts. A number of OMER brand scissor lifts will be introduced in the updated brochure.

31st March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Sumitomo Establish New Company

(Akron/Tire Review) Sumitomo Chemical has announced plans to establish a new company in southern China to manufacture and sell polypropylene compounds for automotive applications.

The new subsidiary, Sumika Polymer Compounds (Zhuhai) Co, will be 55 per cent owned by Sumitomo Chemical and 45 per cent owned by Toyo Ink Manufacturing (not related to Toyo Tire & Rubber Co.). The planned facility, which should open in mid-2006, will have an initial capacity of 10,000 tons/year, with a target of 20,000 tons/year at full capacity.

30th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Celebrity Wheels

Well known celeb Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs has put his name to a new line of aluminium wheels. His partnership with American company, Weld Wheels, will produce a line of Sean John-branded custom one- and three-piece precision-forged aluminium wheels for the sport truck, luxury SUV and high-end American and German luxury car markets. The custom designed wheels made their world debut at the Greater New York Auto Show last week.

29th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

BBS Sales Up, Earnings Down

Despite tough conditions overall, in 2004 BBS Kraftfahrzeugtechnik AG increased consolidated sales by 1.2 per cent to 190.4 million euros. This rise was exclusively driven by business outside Germany, which expanded 4.3 per cent from 94.6 million euros to 98.6 million euros. Consolidated EBIT fell from 10.5 million euros to 7.2 million, while consolidated net income for the year decreased from 4.4 million to 1.0 million euros.

24th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

The End of the Line for One GM Brand?

After issuing a profit warning last week, General Motors has suggested that it may phase out one of its weaker brands if sales fail to meet projections, company vice chairman Bob Lutz said on Wednesday. A Detroit News report described GM’s Buick and Pontiac as “damaged brands” due to lack of investment over the years, something that GM is working to correct with an array of new vehicles coming to market, Mr Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive conference in New York.

But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, “then we would have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don’t have to do that. What we’ve got to do is keep the brands we’ve got.” According to the report sales for both Pontiac and Buick have lagged in recent years.

24th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Equipped Cayenne Breaks Record

(Akron/Tire Review) A Toyo Proxes S/T equipped Sportec Cayenne Turbo SP600M broke the Fastest SUV in the World title by lapping the Automotive Testing Papenburg oval test track in Germany at a top speed of 191.65 mph. The test was held 10 March, according to Toyo officials. Driven by Sportec’s Andreas Hodel, the new mark shattered the previous record of 175 mph set in 2003 by a Kleenman ML55K also running on Toyo’s Proxes S/T tyres.

”We are very proud of this record set through a collaborative effort between Toyo and Sportec, said Travis Roffler, Toyo Tire (USA) Corp.’s senior director of marketing. “The fact that another world class tuner selected the Proxes S/T to break such a prestigious record demonstrates their continued confidence in the engineering excellence and overall quality of Toyo products.”

24th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors