Brazil
Vipal – the leading Brazilian company in South America and one of the largest retreading and repair material manufacturers in the world – has shared details of its exhibit at this year’s Reifen 2012 show which will be held in Essen, Germany, from 4 – 8 June. In short Vipal will present three new designs of pre-cured treads.
A recently published report by TechSci Research suggests that the Brazilian replacement tyre market will grow as the country’s increasing prosperity encourages drivers away from retreaded tyres. Karan Chechi, research director with TechSci Research argues: “The Brazilian tyre market is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 13 per cent for the next five years. It is forecast that its replacement tyre market will grow at a much faster pace than anticipated earlier due to the increasing number of automobiles on Brazilian roads, [which is expected] to reach 63 Million units by 2016.”
Ground breaking for Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ first tyre factory in Central and South America recently took place in Fazenda Rio Grande City, Brazil. A ceremony was held on 27 January to mark the commencement of work on the new plant, which is scheduled to start operation in October 2013. Around R$560 million (£206.8 million) is being invested in first-stage construction work at the plant. By the time this initial stage project is operating at full steam at the end of 2016 the Fazenda Rio Grande City plant will produce 15,000 passenger car radials per day (2,200 tons per month).
Transense sales subsidiary Translogik Limited reports that it has received an order from Bridgestone Brazil iProbe commercial tyre inspection tool. According to the company, Bridgestone began work on integrating the iProbe into its systems in April (see announcement dated 21 April 2011). This work is now complete and, following a successful field trial and positive feedback from Bridgestone's customers, it is anticipated that further orders will follow as part of an on-going deployment programme by Bridgestone.
Kumho will be the sole tyre supplier to the international Auto GP series for 550bhp single-seat racing cars. In a change for the 2012 season, all Auto GP teams will be required to use two specifications of tyre per weekend, a parallel to the tyre regulation in Formula One. Kumho says the management of prime and option compounds will strengthen the series’ role as a “premier schooling grounds for Grand Prix drivers”. Auto GP will also include a KERS-style boost system giving drivers an extra 50bhp up to 10 times per race, and a mandatory pit stop for each race.
On 2 February Brazilian firm Iochpe-Maxion S.A. announced its acquisition of wheel manufacturer Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc has been finalised. The company has now established a new combined global wheel business, Maxion Wheels, which will be headed up by former Hayes Lemmerz chief operating officer Fred Bentley. In his new role of Maxion Wheels’ chief executive officer, Bentley will report directly to Dan Ioschpe, chief executive officer of Iochpe-Maxion. The business will have its headquarters in Northville, Michigan, USA.
Brazilian retreader, Vipal’s mobile training unit helped to qualify 909 industry professionals in 2011, travelling nearly 23,700km across Brazil. In the last five years, the Carreta-Escola, as the mobile unit is called, has conducted 553 training sessions, delivered to 7,006 people across Brazil, with the number of participating companies reaching 334. Vipal expects to train about 1,050 people in 2012.
Just days after signing a significant distribution deal in China Transense has announced a similar arrangement in another emerging market. Transense’ trading division, IntelliSAW, has reportedly entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Adperc of Brazil. Adperc has forecast sales of the IntelliSAW monitoring system in Brazil of at least $2.8 million over the next three years and will have to achieve this to maintain exclusivity in the territory. Adperc will provide distribution, system integration and marketing services for IntelliSAW's innovative wireless/passive temperature monitoring system throughout Brazil in electric power transmission and distribution systems. Like China before it, Brazil has been identified by Transense directors as a key geographical region for IntelliSAW.
An agreement between Huf Hülsbeck & Fürst GmbH & Co. KG and BorgWarner Beru Systems GmbH has been reached regarding Huf Electronics’ take over of BorgWarner Beru’s tyre pressure monitoring system business and acquisition of all shares in its Beru Electronics GmbH subsidiary. Subject to approval by the antitrust authorities the acquisition and merger of the Bretten, Germany based subsidiary, which employs some 230 people, will take place at the end of this year or early in 2012.
In an interview with the Hindu Business Line, Apollo Tyres vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar stated he expects to see more gains like those the company experienced in Europe during the second quarter of the financial year. “The trend will continue, Kanwar told the paper. “Already we are seeing good growth even in Q3. In fact, in Europe, Q3 will be much better than Q2, both on sales and profitability.”
Pirelli ends its first season in Formula One for 20 years at Interlagos this weekend, with 71 anticlockwise laps, an uphill start-finish straight that increases the risk of the anti-stall mechanism kicking in at the start and varying elevation in Brazil. Here are some of the key points of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace from a tyre point of view, as seen by Pirelli.
At its ‘Rubber Days’ event held in Japan and South Korea during November, chemical company Lanxess reported it currently working on a feasibility study regarding switching production at its Triunfo site in Brazil from emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber (ESBR), which is used in standard tyres to solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR). According to the German company, ESBR capacity at Triunfo is currently 110,000 tonnes per annum and a changeover to SSBR would “potentially require a medium-size, double-digit million euro investment.” A final decision on converting the Triunfo facility in order to supplement existing SSBR production in Cabo de Santo Agostinho (Brazil), Orange (USA) and Port Jérôme (France) will be made in mid-2012.
Malaysian news agency Bernama reports that Silverstone Bhd intends to begin exporting tyres to Brazil and Argentina early in 2012. Speaking with the agency at the launch of the company’s Atlantis V7 passenger car tyre, Silverstone CEO Paul Chan said the tyre maker, who was acquired by Toyo Tire & Rubber last year, expects to export more than 10,000 tyres per month to Brazil and Argentina.
Demand for tyres is reported to have slowed during October, showing “further weaknesses,” according to financial analysts. The October decline is said to have been especially prevalent in North America and in the truck aftermarket globally. Commenting on the news, which follows Michelin's publication of its regularly market overview figures, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote: “While we believe consensus already expects a slowdown, we think risks to fourth quarter 2011 and 2012 volume are still high.”
Following the publication of positive nine-month figures yesterday (8 November), Pirelli chairmain Marco Tronchetti Provera today released details of the manufacturer's goals between now and 2015. The headlining statement of intent is the desire to be "global premium leader" (following a so-called "local by local" strategy) by 2015. And in order to achieve this Pirelli is increasing capital investment up to a value of 2.2 billion euros for the period 2011-2015.
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