Brazil
What do you do if you’re a World Cup sponsor and it isn’t feasible to fly all your customers over to Brazil? You can always bring Brazil to your customers. This is the approach Continental has taken, and over a three-week period the tyre and automotive systems manufacturer is inviting dealers and other guests to its own slice of South American paradise, some 30 miles north of the German city of Hannover.
Michelin has announced its intention to acquire all outstanding shares of Sascar, the leading Brazilian digital fleet management and freight security company. Michelin said that the acquisition would help to strengthen its global truck fleet telematics business, calling it an important growth area.
Vipal will exhibit its latest VL140 heavy duty pre-cure trailer and super single tread from Hall 10 Stand C32. The Brazilian retreading material supplier has taken its products to numerous trade shows already this year, including its home show, Pneushow-Recaufair , at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo.
New and returning drivers in what is described as being one of the world’s most cost-effective single seat motorsport categories are heading to Silverstone this weekend for the opening rounds of the 2014 BRDC Formula 4 Championship. As was the case during last year’s inaugural season, the control tyre for 2014 will be provided by Yokohama.
Orion Engineered Carbons Holdings Gmbh, which makes carbon black for printing and tyres, filed for a US initial public offering (IPO) worth US$300 million, according to document submitted to the American securities and exchange commission. The Frankfurt-based company, which used to be owned by Evonik, was acquired by private equity firms Rhone Capital LLC and Triton Advisers for $1.2 billion in 2011. Orion reported revenue of $1.8 billion last year.
Now in the second phase of its rollout of passenger car tyres, World Rally Championship tyre supplier Dmack is seeking the right partners around the world for its Shandong Yongtai manufactured road tyres. The company has quadrupled the number of sizes in its PCR tyre range of four patterns in the first half of 2014. Tyrepress interviewed managing director Dick Cormack, communications director Glenn Patterson, and newly appointed sales director Greg Graham at the company’s office and warehouse facility in Carlisle.
At this year’s Mid-America Trucking Show, Alcoa has rolled out what it claims is the world’s lightest heavy-duty truck wheel. The new 40-pound (18.1 kilogramme) wheel is 47 per cent lighter than steel wheels of the same size and five pounds (2.3 kilogrammes) lighter than Alcoa’s previous lightest heavy-duty truck wheel. This weight was able to be shed in the Ultra ONE through the use of a new, patent-pending alloy, MagnaForce. Alcoa says this is on average 17 per cent stronger than is 6061 alloy, the industry standard. The Ultra ONE is available in size 22.5×8.25 inches for heavy-duty, commercial transportation, and is being readied in all OEM customer data books.
FIFA World Cup sponsor Continental Tyres has embarked on a national roadshow that aims to take a little piece of Brazil to football fans across England. For this ‘Road to Rio’ campaign, the tyre maker has teamed up with Isuzu Truck (UK), which has donated an Isuzu Grafter 3.5 tonne truck to transport Fuleco, the official Brazil 2014 mascot, from town to town. The roadshow began in Liverpool on 11 March and was launched by former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler, a Road to Rio Ambassador for Continental Tyres. Road to Rio will continue until 11 May.
Brazil’s Vipal Rubber reports that its VL130 ECO pre-cured tread has become the company’s first product to be approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership. As expected from a SmartWay approved tyre, the tread’s design and compound aims to maximise fuel efficiency; Vipal reports that the trailer axle tread has a low bearing resistance that generates less heat, thus ensuring less casing fatigue and helping to improve retreadability.
Brake manufacturer Brembo S.p.A. has posted positive results for 2013 despite an 11.2 per cent drop in net profit during the final quarter of the year. The company’s revenues grew 12.8 per cent to €1.6 billion in 2013 while EBITA rose 23.5 per cent to €212.1 million, with a margin of 13.5 per cent. EBIT increased 35.6 per cent to €121.4 million, with a margin of 7.8 per cent. Net profit rose 14.4 per cent year-on-year to €89.0 million in 2013.
Pirelli & C. SpA has signed an agreement with Bekaert to sell 100 per cent of its steel cord activities to the Belgium-based steel wire company for an enterprise value of €255 million. At the same time, the two firms have entered into a long-term agreement for Bekaert to supply Pirelli with tyre cord. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second half of the year.
Following last year’s roll out of its third generation coach and bus tyre range, Continental will turn its attention to goods vehicles at the CV Show 2014. Conti plans to showcase the first two products from its goods vehicles range: the ContiEcoPlus and the Conti Hybrid. The manufacturer has begun a new naming system for its TBR tyres, with the nomenclature designed to describe more clearly the application the product is intended for.
Last month, Rio de Janeiro’s world-renowned Christ the Redeemer was damaged by lightning strikes, with a finger on the right hand especially hard hit. Pirelli has announced that it is financing restoration work on the statue; this has already begun after its official launch and blessing by Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, don Orani Tempesta, and is expected to last three to four months.
Football is Continental AG’s sponsorship medium of choice for its Continental tyre brand, and the German manufacturer has added to its existing agreements covering the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and UEFA EURO 2016 in France with a further UEFA deal. The agreement with European football’s governing body includes touchline advertising at European Qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and a presence on www.UEFA.com, the official website for the European Qualifiers. Continental will also enjoy a significant rights package at the UEFA Under 21 Championship 2015 and 2017, UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 and UEFA Futsal EURO 2014 and 2016 tournaments.
The latest market figures from Michelin were released on 23 January, and these show across the board year-on-year growth taking place within the European tyre market in December 2013. These results for Europe include the Russian and Turkish markets. Original equipment passenger car and light truck tyre sales were eight per cent up on December 2012, while replacement market tyre sales expanded by one per cent. Michelin noted that growing markets experienced a slight decline in Western Europe due to winter tyre sales. Heavy truck tyre market growth was even more pronounced and experienced what Michelin called a ‘technical rebound’. In December, the original equipment market was 26 per cent above where it was a year earlier and the replacement tyre market was 12 per cent higher.
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