On January 15 Michelin North America’s stake in the EnTire Solutions joint venture was acquired by TRW Automotive Holdings subsidiary, TRW Automotive US LLC, for an undisclosed sum. TRW Automotive says it has acquired the share as part of the company’s commitment to develop its portfolio of electronics systems.
Having heard about the rough ride Western car markets had in 2008, spare a thought for the booming Chinese market. In 2008 5,326,308 cars were sold into the Chinese market, up 6.7 per cent year-on-year. While carmakers selling into European markets would be over the moon with full-year growth of 6.7 per cent, this the lowest year-on-year growth reported in China for a decade. And what’s more in the month of December passenger sales actually fell 5.7 per cent year-on-year to 545,179 units in December.
According to Morgan Stanley’s Chinese automotive market analyst, this is mainly due to production cuts at the key OEMs. It could also signal that the emerging market’s rapid growth rate has peaked: “Although more supportive policy from the government may be implemented soon, such as purchase tax and consumption tax cut, weak car demand sentiment and consumer confidence are not easy to revive amid a slowing economy, in our view,” Morgan Stanley’s Kate Zhu said in an investor’s note.
Michelin North America has sold its share of a tyre chip development operation to TRW Automotive Electronics. The Michelin/TRW joint venture, formed in 2003 – EnTire Solutions – developed attire air pressure and temperature chip and reader system that Michelin attempted to market to the trucking industry.
TRW said it would continue development of the product. Ed Carpenter, vice president of TRW Automotive’s Electronics business, said: “This has been a successful partnership. TRW and Michelin have combined their respective expertise in electronics and tires to develop direct tire pressure monitoring systems that are recognized for their performance characteristics in the industry.” (Tire Review/Akron)
The vehicle selected by North American automotive journalists to be this year’s Car of the Year at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit is the Hyundai Genesis. More than 50 new vehicles were considered before the US and Canadian based journalists selected their three favourite cars and trucks. The Hyundai squeezed out the other finalists in the car category, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI and the Ford Flex, to take out the top honour. And a win for the Hyundai is also a win for Dunlop, as the company provides its SP Sport 5000 tyre as OE on the Genesis, in sizes P225/55R17 and the P235/50R18.
An article published by the Detroit Free Press states Continental AG expects to reduce its North American workforce by approximately 10 per cent this year. This information was obtained through an interview with the North American unit’s CEO Samir Salman, indicates the Detroit based daily.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday (13 January) announced a 50 billion euro package of measures designed to give the country’s economy a financial stimulus. One key measure sees the German government offer motorists 2500 euros to trade in over 9 year-old cars for new or 1 year-old vehicles. With 40 per cent of the German car parc (46 million vehicles) fitting into this category, Deutsche Bank analysts suggested that the measure could have a significant impact on automotive demand. This, in turn, is likely to impact replacement tyre sales.
“If 2 per cent (the estimated participation in the French scrappage scheme) were to take up these incentives, it implies a 12 per cent gross impact on demand (vis-à-vis 08 levels)…Given the substantially increased age of the parc, our current estimate of 2.8 million vehicle sales in 2009 (versus 3.1 million in 2008) might well prove too pessimistic,” the analysts commented. Deutsche Bank’s predictions are based on the assumption that the proposed measures get implemented quickly. This means a swift approval from Germany’s second house, the Bundesrat.
Kentucky, US based newspaper The State Journal reports that Topy America has laid of 45 hourly employees from its Franklin County steel wheel production facility. These redundancies represent approximately 16 per cent of the subsidiary’s Kentucky factory workforce. The company’s other US operations have not been affected.
According to plant director Tom Trzazkus, the layoffs were necessary “due to the current economic conditions and the slowing of sales within the automotive industry.” In addition to the redundancies, a raft of other changes were made “to ensure the continuation of this business in the short term,” a press release sent to the newspaper by Trzazkus said.
Apollo Tyres and leading national automotive magazine Auto India have on January 8 held their “Apollo Tyres Auto India Best Brand Survey Awards”, recognising the merits of various Indian market two and four-wheel vehicle manufacturers. The recipients of the awards were decided upon based on questionnaires filled in and returned by approximately 1,072 Auto India and Business India readers. Award categories included, amongst others, “reliable”, “well-made product”, “good customer service and advanced technology”.
Indonesia’s passenger car tyre production may prove to be weaker than initially expected in 2009, warns a senior representative from the country’s tyre industry. According to Aziz Pane, chairman of the Indonesian Tyre Producers Association, production may remain unchanged from 2008’s output of 41 million units.
“Initially, we expected car tyre production to hit 45 million units, but after the financial crisis demand is slowing,” he said. Pane added, however, that a recovery is anticipated before the end of 2009. Approximately 80 per cent of Indonesia’s passenger car tyre production is exported, therefore global automotive industry fluctuations are strongly felt by manufacturers.
On January 13 it was announced that Continental AG has entered into an agreement with T-Systems (the enterprise customer division of Deutsche Telekom) and business process outsourcing provider Cognizant. The two companies will jointly provide application management services to the research and development operations of Continental’s tyre divisions in Hanover, Germany, beginning in 2009.
The organisers of Automechanika Shanghai report that 30,845 visitors from 104 countries and regions visited China’s number one event for the automotive part, component and aftermarket industry. A total of 1,982 exhibitors from 23 countries and regions displayed their products during the December 2008 exhibition.
Automechanika Shanghai is organised by Messe Frankfurt, together with the China National Automotive Industry International Corporation (CNAICO). The next show will take place from 9 to 11 December 2009.
Unhappy in your job? Go and work for Continental. A survey undertaken in Germany indicates that workers at Continental are happier with their employer than the ‘industry benchmark’. And while Conti doesn’t state that its staff spring out of bed each morning with an unquenchable enthusiasm for the day’s work that lies ahead, it comments that the findings of the “BASICS live” employee survey conducted by the University of Manheim, in collaboration with the tyre and automotive components manufacturer, show Conti to have faired far better than the benchmark results in several subject areas.
It’s a hat-trick – the results of the latest J.D. Power and Associates UK Roadside Assistance Study are out, and the RAC has, for a third consecutive year, ranked highest in satisfying UK motorists requiring emergency roadside assistance. The study, now in its eleventh year, measures customer satisfaction with roadside assistance services by examining three factors: timing (the time taken for help to arrive and time taken at the scene); mechanic/vehicle driver (which includes items such as appearance, courtesy and ability to do what was needed); and operator/call centre (including friendliness, reassurance and time taken to answer the phone).
The EU Commission has granted approval of the takeover of Continental AG by the Schaeffler Group. According to an official statement released by the company shortly after the approval was granted on Friday 19 December, “the Schaeffler Group will now conclude the takeover without delay.” Schaeffler will pay 75.00 euros per share to the depositary banks of those shareholders who have tendered their shares to Schaeffler, on or around 8 January 8 2009. The depositary banks will then credit these payments to the shareholders’ accounts. According to the company, shares tendered for sale can be traded up until 2 January 2009.
“The takeover of Continental AG is a decision of far-reaching strategic importance for the Schaeffler Group. With Schaeffler and Continental we’re bringing together two excellently positioned German technology leaders. This merger will create one of the most successful global automotive suppliers with outstanding expertise in the high-growth fields of energy efficiency and alternative powertrain systems. It is our target to spearhead the global market,” emphasized Dr. Jürgen M. Geissinger, Schaeffler Group president & CEO.
Westfield Sportscars Ltd has welcomed the selection of the Caterham Superlight R500 as Top Gear’s Car of the Year 2008. Commenting on the announcement, Julian Turner, Westfield’s managing director said: “As a company already working intensively on the development of a lightweight electric race car, we welcome the recognition by the knowledgeable Top Gear Team of the significant potential performance of a lightweight vehicle powered by a smaller engine. The combination of smaller engines with the lightest chassis possible – without compromising safety, the use of alternative fuels and the application of eco-friendly methods of production; this approach should be a clear choice for the majority of manufacturers.”
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