The Board of Directors of automotive safety systems specialist Autoliv Inc. has elected former Continental AG deputy chairman Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Ziebart to the Board, following the announcement that Board member Per Welin will retire from the board at its 2009 AGM.
Delticom AG’s client base may grow by as much as a quarter in 2009. In an interview, company CFO Frank Schuhardt said that Delticom’s retail customer base could reach three million by the middle of the year, compared with 2.4 million at the end of September 2008. Sales at the German company for 2008 will be “in the middle” of a range of 240 million euros to 260 million euros, he added.
Only days after Suzuki announced it will not participate in the 2009 World Rally Championship, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of the Subaru vehicle brand, announced on December 16 its withdrawal from the WRC at the end of the 2008 season.
The Japanese manufacturer has participated in the WRC together with UK based motorsports and automotive engineering group Prodrive during the past 19 years. Its reason for involvement was to enhance awareness of the Subaru brand by showing the vehicles, with their horizontally-opposed engine and symmetrical all-wheel drive system as core technologies, offer safe, comfortable and pleasurable driving regardless of weather or road conditions. From the beginning FHI also wished to featuring horizontally-opposed engine and transfer the results of race-tested technical improvements into Subaru passenger vehicles.
The 30,000th flow meter produced by specialist flow meter maker Litre Meter is being used by tyre manufacturer Michelin to measure water spray. The LMH Pelton wheel flow meter was shipped to Michelin for use in its rubber mixing operation in South Carolina. Rubber is mixed to the exact ratio required to make tyres for the automotive industry. The meter forms part of a spray system that is used to jet hot water onto the rubber mixture to maintain a constant temperature as it passes through the production line. It precisely measures the amount of water passing through the spray system in order to ensure consistency.
Fred Tienken, mechanical design engineer at Michelin North America, said: “We use Litre Meter flow meters throughout the rubber mixing process. It is essential that the water flow rates in our spraying system are kept constant and the Pelton wheel flow meter enables us to achieve this.”
Cabot Corporation reports it is expecting a significantly lower volume of sales in the first quarter of the 2009 financial year, and has decided to embark on a series of “aggressive actions” to address these ongoing market challenges.
“Global weakness in the tyre, automotive and construction industries, intensified by customer inventory reduction, is causing significant volume declines during the first quarter of fiscal 2009 in each of our major geographies,” said Cabot president and CEO Patrick Prevost. “First quarter volumes in our Rubber Blacks, Performance Products and Fumed Metal Oxides Businesses are expected to be 20-30 per cent lower than in the same period last year.
Shanghai Baolong Automotive Corporation is one of the leading manufacturers of non-lead balancing weights in China. It boasts certificated products and names Chinese Ford, Nissan and Volkswagen branches among its customers.
Established in 1998, Shanghai Baolong is a leading manufacturer of wheel balancing weights for automobiles in China. It specializes in producing all types of wheel balance weights, especially non-lead wheel balance weights. The company uses the zinc and steel blend that is more environmentally-friendly and complies with European and U.S. directives. They are designed and produced for vehicles with either steel or alloy wheels, with the same functionality, appearance, and fit characteristics as conventional wheel weights.
Schaeffler Group has signalled that it is willing to consider abandoning the investment restrictions it agreed earlier this year to pacify its hostile takeover of Continental – much to the annoyance of Conti executives. Schaeffler sources told Financial Times that the investment agreement had become obsolete “as it was constructed at a time when the world was very different.” The agreement limits the ball-bearing maker to a 49.99 per cent stockholding in Continental and upholds the tyre and automotive supplier’s independence as a legally separate entity.
Schaeffler initially said it was only interested in holding a minority stake in Conti, however, as it stands the company holds the rights to more than 90 per cent of the shares. In addition, on 14 December Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s Sunday edition printed an interview with Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler and company chief executive officer Juergen Geissinger, in which the executives revealed they are seeking four seats on Continental’s supervisory board. According to Reuters, Schaeffler would like the four seats it is seeking to be occupied by company CEO Juergen Geissinger, CFO Thomas Hetmann, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler and her son Georg.
A recurring theme towards the end of 2008 has been that of difficult times. Barely a day passes in the automotive industry where news of a factory pausing production or ceasing operations altogether is not reported, and sales of new cars in the UK took a hammering in November. For this month the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders recorded 100,333 sales, a staggering drop of 36.8 per cent compared with November 2007. And while comparing favourably to this sobering statistic, November registration figures for two wheeled vehicles show this sector of the market is also not immune to the economic downturn.
Group Auto Union (GAU), has adopted Dickies as its principal workwear and corporate wear supplier. The GAU membership can now stock a wide range of workwear and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for the workshop including coveralls and safety footwear, along with a selection of high visibility garments designed specifically for the vehicle rescue and recovery industry. Workwear manufacturers since 1922, Dickies products combine traditional materials and manufacturing techniques with the latest developments in fabric technology has resulted in a workwear range that will meet the demands of the automotive industry.
Schaeffler Group needs somewhere between 4 and 7 billion euros of new share capital, Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday 12 December. According to a Perella Weinberg study presented to Continental’s supervisory board, Schaeffler has net debt of around 11 billion euros (six times annual EBITDA), Handelblatt reported. The newspaper’s banking sources said at the end of November no changes would be made to Schaeffler’s 16.1 billion euro syndicated loan before 2009.
At the same time as Handelblatt published its story, Wall Street Journal Europe reported that Continental is in talks to restructure the multi billion euro loans it arranged for the purchase of Siemens VDO Automotive. However, Reuters reported that Continental is not trying to restructure these “at this stage.” Quoting a source familiar with the matter, the newswire said it may have to do so next year if Schaeffler increases its stake to a majority shareholding or if the economic environment worsens dramatically.
Continental AG’s Supervisory Board has extended Executive Board Chairman Automotive Group Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann’s contract for a further five years. Dr. Neumann, who is also head of the company’s Automotive Group, has been a member of Continental’s Executive Board since October 2004 and chairman of the Executive Board of Continental AG since September 1, 2008.
A US importer warned consumers on December 9 that they should check the stem valves on their vehicle’s tyres, after it became apparent that 1.8 million Chinese made tyre stem valves sold in the country may prematurely weather and crack, resulting in a loss of tyre pressure. According to North Carolina based Dill Air Controls Products, the problem is with two batches of valves totalling about 198,000 units, but because the valve stems are not traceable by lot number after installation, the recall involves all valves sold between November 2006 and July 2007.
Vintage Tyres has added a new member of staff to its expanding export department. Muriel Colange has a long history on the European classic car scene, having worked for various specialist parts distributors across France, as well as spending time working for a Lotus car distributor, where she participated as an active member of its racing team.
As befits the staff of the company, which supplies specialist tyres to classic cars, Colange possesses a great interest in and passion for cars. She has two early-model Minis and is president of the French Mini Owners Club. With a diploma in automotive commerce and marketing, she will specialise in the European development of the Vintage name. Vintage is based at The National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire.
In preparation for the its Capital Markets Day, held in early December, Trelleborg reiterated the company’s long-term strategic approach, which it says is currently focused on cash flow and adjustments to the prevailing market situation. “We have an increasingly focused and profitable operation within large segments of our business, and we are convinced that we will emerge strengthened from the slowdown that we are currently experiencing in many markets,” said Trelleborg CEO Peter Nilsson.”
Michelin has reportedly teamed up with a Chinese company to jointly develop electric powertrains. Information published by Automotive News indicates that the French firm has signed an agreement with battery material supplier CITIC Guoan Mengguli (MGL) to develop electric powertrain systems for electric vehicles and plug in hybrids. The system will integrate Michelin’s active wheel technology with lithium ion batteries from MGL, and the two companies will jointly develop controllers for the system.
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