Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone concluded an investment contract with Mitsubishi Corporation, the Ulyanovsk Oblast government and the Ulyanovsk Region Development Corporation on 12 April. Under the agreement, Bridgestone and Mitsubishi will respectively hold 90 and 10 per cent equity ownership in a new tyre manufacturing company, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing C.I.S. LLC (BMCIS).
Japan’s Zeon Chemicals says its new solution styrene-butadiene rubber plant in Singapore will now enter operation in September, two months behind its initial projected start-up date. The hold up has been attributed to the construction of a number of public service tunnels. Despite this delay, the company states the plant will run “flat-out” as of September.
On 10 April the head of Continental’s Tire division, Nikolai Setzer, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning Continental’s consumer tyre factory in Púchov. The signing of the MoU at Continental’s headquarters in Hannover, Germany paves the way for an expansion project that will see passenger and light truck tyre capacity in Púchov rising by more than 5 million pieces a year.
Pirelli has launched the third generation of its Sottozero winter tyre. The Winter Sottozero 3 is designed for cars with medium to large capacity engines and places an emphasis on grip in all conditions and tyre longevity.
In its most recent report on market trends, Pirelli’s figures showed car and light commercial vehicle volumes in Europe to be down 13 per cent year-to-date in the OE segment and 10 per cent in the replacement business. While separate information for premium tyres is not given, on 5 April Pirelli stated that in response to the economic crisis in Europe and its impact on demand for premium tyres, it is “carrying out a significant review of its commercial structures” in the European market. The Italian tyre maker says this review entails, among other things, more closely integrating its high-end tyre production capacity in Europe with those markets where demand for premium products in highest. These markets are presumably the US and rapidly developing markets – areas where Pirelli says demand is growing approximately three times faster than overall global demand for passenger car tyres.
With Pirelli Group spending around 4 billion euro acquiring goods and services in 2012, you can understand why the company wants to honour its best suppliers. That’s why Pirelli today gave out its Supplier Award 2013, in recognition of the suppliers who have “contributed in a significant way to Pirelli’s Premium strategy throughout the world.”
In 2013, the Rösler retreading plant run by Indonesian coal mining contractor PT Pamapersada Nusantara (Pama) enters its sixth year in operation, and the German retreading specialist says that plant output will be increased this year. Rösler reports that Pama is currently “evaluating expansion plans to meet the increasing demand.” Details on planned capacity or other information were not given.
Aditya Birla Nuvo, a company within India’s Aditya Birla Group, has divested its carbon black businesses to another group company, SKI Carbon Black (India) Pvt. Ltd. The company says the decision to divest was approved in a committee meeting held on 6 April, and the carbon black business will be divested at an enterprise value of Rs 14.51 billion (£173.2 million).
Apollo Tyres is said to be finalising plans to establish a new greenfield factory in Asia. Indian financial daily The Economic Times reported on 8 April that the tyre maker is close to making a decision on location.
In response to growing demand in Asia for tyres to fit full-size motorcycles, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. has decided to install equipment for the production of motorcycle radials at its factory in Thailand. Approximately 1.4 billion yen (£9.9 million) is being invested in the motorcycle tyre project, and the new facility is scheduled to begin production in January 2015. By the end of 2018 the plant is expected to have the capacity to manufacture 64,000 motorcycle tyres a month.
Changes to the management structure of Pirelli Deutschland’s sales and marketing team took effect on 1 April. Amongst these tweaks is an extension of Sascha Kemper’s area of responsibility. In addition to his current position as Germany-wide sales manager for the original equipment truck business and Northern Germany sales manager for the replacement market truck business, Kemper has taken over as head of the replacement truck business in Southern Germany from Sascha Ihrig.
Yokohama Rubber has announced three personnel changes that will take effect on 1 May.
Hikomitsu Noji has been appointed CEO of the tyre maker’s US operation, Yokohama Tire Corporation, and CEO of Yokohama Corporation of North America. Noji retains the title of president and representative director of parent company Yokohama Rubber. Noji is expected to travel to the United States regularly in his new role but will remain based at Yokohama Rubber’s headquarters in Tokyo.
On 1 April, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations celebrated the implementation of capacity expansion projects at its Aiken County plant in South Carolina. The facility has begun production of an additional 12,750 passenger car radial and light truck radials per day following a US$346 million investment that has created almost 300 full-time jobs.
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship has launched its 2013 season at Donington Park with a full to capacity, record grid of 32 cars from 18 teams. 26 of these will be next generation touring car specification, while the remaining six S2000 cars will compete for the Jack Sears Trophy. The home broadcaster of the BTCC, ITV announced that its support would continue to at least 2017, with more than 230 hours of coverage planned for 2013 across ITV and ITV4, on which live coverage will be broadcast. Tyre supplier Dunlop introduced its tyre range for the championship, with the most notable change from the 2012 season being the introduction of a soft compound slick. Dunlop representatives told Tyrepress.com that the change in tyre regulations would help the brand “to converse about tyre characteristics”, giving a fillip to its overall marketing profile.
Yokohama Rubber’s tyre plant in China, Hangzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd., has benefitted in RMB 13.47 million (£1.4 million) in grants from Hangzhou City and the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone (HEDA). The grants cover the period between December 2012 and March 2013 and the Japanese manufacturer says they were given in recognition of the company's economic and environmental activities. The grants awarded to Hangzhou Yokohama are said to represent the largest amount awarded to a single company (as opposed to a group of companies) amongst the 340 or so located in the HEDA.
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