Based in Japan, Bridgestone Corporation is the world’s largest tyre and rubber company.
The first 100 per cent electric car, Nissan’s Leaf signed Bridgestone to provide its Ecopia EP150 tyres as original equipment earlier in the year. Now the tyre manufacturer has helped to cement its relationship with the 2011 European Car of the Year with fitment on the Leaf of Nissan GreenSource Team Holland in the e-Miglia rally across the Alps on 5 August.
Although the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year caused original equipment tyre sales to decline there, mid-2011 financial quarter results show aftermarket sector sales are continuing to improve, building on signs of recovering demand first seen – as figures recently published by the Japanese Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association show – in 2010. The association’s report, titled “Tyre Industry of Japan 2011”, reveals growth occurred in both the original equipment and aftermarket segments last year, the first time production in Japan has increased in the last three years.
To quote Tesco’s inescapable catchphrase, every little helps, and Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations’ US$56.6 million expansion project at its Des Moines, Iowa agricultural tyre facility has gained a small boost from the Polk County Board of Supervisors. At a meeting on August 16, this administrative board for the Des Moines factory’s local area approved a $50,000 grant and a $50,000 interest free loan for the project.
Despite the fact that their homeland suffered the combined catastrophe of earthquake and tsunami earlier this year Japanese tyre makers faired surprisingly well at the stock exchange in August at a time when the share prices of virtually all the other tyre majors took a beating. (See “Bloodbath at the stock exchange”).
The Czech Republic Grand Prix weekend saw the introduction of a change in the regulations for tyre allocation, giving riders one more front slick tyre each, a third softer compound option and greater choice of both front and rear slick compound allocation. Bridgestone motorsport tyre development general manager Tohru Ubukata commented that while the weekend had not shown the true impact the regulation changes should have, it had provided a good trial run for riders and teams, The new rules are designed to provide softer compounds for increased safety in cold weather. Ubukata said the impact on the company was purely in increasing the number of tyres it must now bring to each Grand Prix. The tyre supplier also took the opportunity to continue the development of its 2012 tyres, “designed for the new 1000cc engine regulations”.
The number of people killed in accidents caused rapid deflation of tyres or blowouts in Abu Dhabi rose to 13 in the first six month of 2011, according to report in UAE newspaper The National. There were 41 accidents caused by burst tyres during the first half of the year, compared with 30 during the same period last year. Thirteen people died as a result of those accidents compared with 10 last year. The number of injuries nearly tripled in the same period, from six to 17.
The figures follow the news in June that the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology announced it was working closely with the Ministry of Interior to review the tyre regulations. A task force comprising the country's largest tyre suppliers and manufacturers has been assembled to look at the technical aspects of the regulations. The proposed regulations on the manufacture, handling, and storage of tyres, will be presented to the country’s Cabinet next month for approval.
Casey Stoner clinched his sixth victory at Brno on Sunday following an early battle with teammate Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on the third lap, leaving the remaining two steps of the podium to be fought over by Andrea Dovizioso, who finished second, and Marco Simoncelli who secured his first podium in the premier class. Every rider on the grid used the softer option rear tyre for the race, and almost all riders used the harder option front. The only riders who didn’t were Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista, who was chasing down Valentino Rossi for sixth position when he crashed out, and Lorenzo, who led early on before crossing the finish line fourth ahead of his Yamaha teammate Ben Spies.
US publication Tire Review says Bridgestone Americas has referred to the actions of one of its former employees, which resulted in a homeless man suffering significant injuries, as “appalling and senseless. The 64-year-old homeless man, Ruben Sandoval, suffered third-degree burns on his arms and face on January 2, 2010, when a service technician working at a Firestone Complete Auto Care store in California tried to scare the man away by dousing his shopping trolley with petrol and setting it on fire.
Following earlier reports from multiple sources that Indonesian tyre manufacturer Mulistrada is for sale, further details of the potential purchase have emerged. We already heard that Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) was said to have been named as advisors relating to the sale, but the latest update is that the floor price for the final bid is at least 600 rupiah per share, reflecting 15.07x price to earning ratio (PER) in 2011. Dealer blog Insider Stories reported its sources as saying: “I heard that the floor price is 600 per share. But, there is an opportunity to raise the bid up to 800 rupiah per share.”
ARC Fleet Solutions has switched its tyre-servicing relationship from a large national provider and appointed ATS Euromaster to supply, fit and service tyres across its 300-strong business rental fleet. The executive car and van hire specialist reportedly chose ATS Euromaster for the wide range of tyres it stocks in each of its 370 centres.
For the six months to June 30, 2011, Bridgestone Corporation reports net sales of 1,459,125 million yen (£11.7 billion), 1.4 per cent lower than the sales projection announced on May 13 and 5.3 per cent higher than net sales for the first half of 2010. Operating income during the first half of this year was 93,629 million yen (£751.0 million), 30.0 per cent higher than projected, and ordinary income amounted to 91,880 million yen (£737.0 million), 43.6 higher than the projected figure. Net income for the six months to June 30, 2011 was 54,115 million yen (£434.1 million), a 54.6 per cent increase on the May 13 projection and up 21.6 per cent year-on-year.
Bandvulc Tyres suffered a serious fire on Friday 5 August, but the company reports that business is able to continue. According to a statement released by the company, the fire broke out just outside one of its tyre production areas, which spread into the building through the roof. However “damage to production machinery and stock was thankfully a lot less than had been expected,” Bandvulc representatives explained. BBC news reported that more than 40 firefighters spent the night tackling the fire, but no-one was injured.
In order to meet growing medium to long-term demand for passenger car radials, Bridgestone intends to increase production capacity at two of its factories in China. The Japanese company will invest a total of around RMB 1,617 million (£153 million) to lift capacity at its Tianjin, Bridgestone (Tianjin) Tire Co., Ltd and Bridgestone (Wuxi) Tire Co., Ltd facilities. The part of this additional capacity is expected to be available in May 2012 when a further 4,100 tyres per day capacity will be added to capacity at the Wuxi plant; this increase will be funded through a RMB 563 million investment and give the facility a total daily capacity of 16,300 tyres. Extra capacity at the Tianjin plant is expected to be available as of July 2012; the RMB 1,054 investment there will lift the factory’s production capacity by 8,800 tyres a day to a total of 25,300 per day. Bridgestone says it intends to particularly focus upon increasing production capacity for ‘eco-friendly’ tyres, such as its Ecopia range, at both facilities. It will also begin winter tyre production at the Tianjin plant.
Cambrian Tyres has just released the second edition of its 2011 price catalogue. The 170 page catalogue lists the full ranges available from Avon, Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Metzeler, Michelin and Pirelli and reflects recent price increases made by the manufacturers. The price list also features a fitment guide to aid customers in selecting the correct size tyres for all bikes made in the last 35 years.
The bloodbath at the stock exchange continues, with share prices of all the leading tyre makers falling sharply. The attention grabbing headline news is set-against strong half year figures from all leading tyre manufacturers which range from very good to excellent. And it is more than likely that the industry will set new record figures at the end of the year in terms of turnover and profit, which in normal circumstances virtually guarantees rising share prices. However, for the last 10 days the contrary has been true.
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