Michelin is planning to increase its activities in Russia. Bloomberg writes that Michelin Russia will double capacity at its Davydovo passenger car tyre plant to four million units per annum, and also next year open a facility for retreading commercial vehicle tyres. This retreading operation will apparently serve as a precursor to local truck tyre production.
As part of its drive to increase localisation and provide better technical support to customers in the Chinese market, Continental AG has opened its new Asia headquarters and research and development centre in Shanghai’s Yangpu district. The new 16-floor 15,000 square metre facility currently houses around 700 employees from Conti’s Automotive Group, and a further 200 will relocate there by early 2010. The site will function, says Continental, as its Asia headquarters as well as an “important technical centre for the design and development of vehicle electronics”. The new R&D centre is the second Conti has opened in Shanghai; the company’s Continental Automotive Tech Centre in Jiading focuses on vehicle application development and systems testing for electronic brake systems, hydraulic brake systems, and engine management and system control. Some 60 million euros have been invested in both sites.
For almost nine years responsibility for Continental AG’s global communications has rested in the hands of Dr. Heimo Prokop, and during this time the senior vice president of Corporate Communications has, in Conti’s words, been “a formative influence on communication in decisive phases of the corporation’s development”. On November 17 Continental announced that Dr. Prokop will leave his position with the company at the end of 2009.
As part of its long-term strategy of investing in markets offering favourable growth potential, Trelleborg has announced plans to further strengthen its presence in Brazil. On November 16 the company inaugurated a new facility near São Paulo, where the manufacture of high-performance seals for such items as aircraft and passenger cars, as well as for industrial applications, will take place. The plant is part of the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions business area and will initially employ about 100 staff.
Government has committed to create an Automotive Council to strengthen engagement with industry and set a long-term plan for its development. This follows its endorsements of the New Automotive Innovation and Growth Team's (NAIGT) recommendations on the development of the sector over the next 20 years. NAIGT, consisting of a cross-industry group of senior executives, produced the report earlier this year setting out a framework for industry development to ensure it maximises the opportunities presented by the transition to a low carbon agenda, and to promote the UK as a key player in a global industry.
Imports of truck and bus tyres into India have risen sharply since may in spite of government restrictions. The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) reports 138,347 truck and bus tyres entered the country in August, up from 20,222 units in April. The majority of these were produced in China, the organisation adds – imports from China reached 100,772 units in August, a dramatic increase on the 9,594 tyres imported in April.
During a meeting of Australia’s Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) on November 5, Australia’s state environment ministers agreed upon a new national policy on waste and resource management. This National Waste Policy sets the agenda for waste and resource recovery in Australia over the next decade, and as part of it the tyre industry will develop a scheme to increase waste tyre recycling in Australia.
China is the world’s largest consumer of rubber, and growth in the use of compound rubber – a substance containing 99 per cent natural rubber but attracting 15 per cent less tax than its pure 100 per cent counterpart – is colossal. This year the country is expected to import 950,000 tons of compound rubber, a leap of almost 71 per cent from last year. Many rubber exporters in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are now focusing on producing compound rubber more to take advantage of China's import duty structure. "Compound rubber import volume was increasing in recent years because the customs tax was lower than [for] natural rubber," the China Rubber Research Institute said in a report prepared for an international conference in Vietnam.
Sales of cars in China increased more than 84 per cent in September, and for the first time passed the one million unit mark. In order to meet increasing demand from for automotive parts, Mitsui Chemicals and China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec), Asia’s largest oil refiner, plan to spend 60 billion yen (£406 million) to build two chemical factories in Shanghai. One of the plants will produce the synthetic rubber EPT, which is widely utilised in vehicle components.
Michelin has leant financial support to the development of a green engine, which reportedly has the capacity to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 20 per cent. The fuel-lean Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Engine (HCCI) has a flameless, low temperature combustion which enables it to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, combining the emissions benefits of a gasoline engine with the low fuel consumption of a diesel engine. The HCCI technology has been developed by Dundee based Oxy-Gen Combustion Ltd, with much of the research and development undertaken by the company's managing director David Tonery, who invented the enabling HCCI technology while a mechanical engineering undergraduate at the University of Dundee.
Continental may buy Schaeffler Group’s automotive assets (namely LuK clutches and/or INA bearings) and then float its Rubber Group to pay for it. That’s the view of Klaus Pflum, head of investment bank Nomura's European automotive mergers and acquisitions operations, who made this prediction at the Reuters Auto Summit in Paris. In his view Continental is more likely to opt for an initial public offering (IPO) and this route may raise more money than a divestment and direct sale: "I don't see any banks who are willing to finance a four to five billion euro debt ticket,” Pflum told the conference.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association projects an approximately 13 per cent decline in US tyre shipments will occur in 2009, principally as a result of a sharp decrease in demand for original equipment passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres. Total tyre shipments are anticipated to reduce by approximately 36 million units to 246 million. The RMA notes this decrease reflects the “difficult economic environment for automotive manufacturers over the past year, continued low consumer confidence and high unemployment.” This year’s projected total shipments represents a 23.4 per cent decrease on the peak of 321 million units reached in 2000.
The use of simulation technologies by tyre manufacturers and race teams to improve performance is not new. The perennial challenge is validating tyre models to the required level of accuracy to allow a reliable simulation of reality. To gather the vast amount of data required to make a tyre model, manufacturers can acquire tyre performance during the race and then desktop simulation tools can help to validate it – but this is often not enough. The challenge is compounded now that data for thermal modelling is required in conjunction with structural models. Driver-in-the-loop simulators, such as Cruden’s latest generation 6DOF Hexatech model, allow experienced racing or development drivers or to inject a significant dose of reality; data based on actual feel.
Every day in the United States of America, one in nine senior citizens – an astonishing five million people – face the threat of hunger. And it is projected that 75 per cent more seniors will be facing the threat of hunger by 2025. In an effort to combat this disgraceful and growing problem, Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC (BSRO) and the Meals On Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) – the oldest and largest organisation in the United States representing those providing meal services to people in need – have announced a national partnership.
A new show catering to those with an interest in Chinese produced tyres and automotive components will debut next year. Called the China (Guangrao) International Rubber Tire & Auto Accessory Exhibition, the government organised show will take place at the Gurangrao International Expo Center on 9 – 11 May 2010. The exhibition area is anticipated to be as much as 11,000 square metres and host around 300 exhibitors. The organiser predicts more than ten thousand buyers and visitors will attend over the exhibition’s three days.
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