China Archives - Page 85 of 240 - Tyrepress

Now one of the largest tyre-producing countries in the world, China has an indisputable influence on the direction of global tyre trade. The home of both fast-growing up-and-coming brands as well as a burgeoning domestic market, this tag chronicles China’s involvement with the tyre business.

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Cooper Rongcheng strike is delaying shipments

Representatives of Cooper Tire’s Findlay, Ohio corporate headquarters have confirmed that the company is facing strike action at its Rongcheng, China plant. In answer to Tyres & Accessories questions, a company spokesperson confirmed that as a result the dispute the factory is “in communication with customers…regarding product supply”. No further details of what this means in practice have been released. However T&A has seen once such customer communication, which suggests the strike, which has reportedly been going on for around a month, is resulting in the delay of export shipments.

23rd July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo: Cooper Chengshan on track despite strike reports

Following news of industrial opposition to the on-going Apollo/Cooper takeover and even strikes at Cooper Chengshan in China, company representatives have broadly confirmed that there has been disquiet. However, while the local news coverage suggests this has been the case for nearly a month, Apollo representatives did not confirm this detail and report that the deal is very much on-track and indeed entering the end-game of what they referred to as a “compelling strategic transaction”.

22nd July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Reports: Cooper Chengshan strike over Apollo acquisition

Company News, International News, News

Workers at Cooper Chengshan, a joint-venture between Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (USA) and Chengshan Group (China), are reportedly on a strike in protest against Apollo’s proposed acquisition of Cooper. If correct the reports could throw up a fairly significant spanner in the works as the trade union which represents workers at what is deemed to be “the largest, most profitable and fastest-growing factory of the eight” plants that come as part of the Cooper deal, Cooper Chengshan, have expressed their opposition to the deal.

19th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Rob Henderson joins Enjoy Tyre

Contract tyre manufacturer Enjoy Tyre Co Ltd appointed Rob Henderson as general manager for UK and Europe. Based in Hangzhou, China, Enjoy Tyre has been established for 23 years supplying its Rotalla car tyre brand across a number of global markets. The company reports that it is currently investing in the development of a new Routeway car tyre range for 2014 to add to its existing truck and bus radial range. According to the company, Enjoy Tyre intends to establish an increased trading profile across Europe and view Rob as the “perfect springboard” to achieve this objective.

17th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre markets – June 2013

The latest figures from Michelin show growth in Europe’s (including Russia and Turkey) tyre markets during June. Both the original equipment and replacement passenger car and light truck tyre markets enjoyed a year-on-year rise; original equipment markets were two per cent above those in June 2012, while the replacement market showed a three per cent increase. Year-on-year growth for Europe’s original equipment heavy truck market amounted to two per cent, with five per cent growth seen in the replacement market.

17th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

New Michelin solutions division launches with Effifuel

A new division within the Michelin Group dedicated to improving its customers’ fleet fuel efficiency has launched with what it claims is a unique offer for truck and trailer fleets. The Effifuel solution, targeted at both hauliers and own-account operators, is designed to help customers contain and reduce their fuel costs. Through the new initiative Michelin solutions will work with fleets to define a contractual commitment based on fuel savings and the resources to be deployed to attain them. The savings generated by the solution will be shared by the partners.

12th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Dmack tyres on 3 Fiesta R5 WRC crews

Tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship Dmack has been chosen as the first fitment to three of the five new Ford Fiesta R5s built by M-Sport debuting on the Neste Oil Rally Finland next month. Local driver Jari Ketomaa and Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen in Autotek-run Fiesta R5s wrapped in Dmack 2013 livery, and Robert Barrable from Dublin, Ireland in his CA1 Sport Fiesta plan to line up at the start of the event in Jyvaskyla with Dmack’s DMG+2 gravel tyre. Dmack, a brand manufactured in China by Shandong Yongtai and developed over the past few years in tandem with Carlisle-based Dick Cormack, faces stiff competition from the other WRC tyre supplier, Michelin. Dmack launched a range of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres through a number of global distribution partners in 2012.

10th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli wins VW global supplier award

Pirelli has won the 2013 Volkswagen Group Award for its global partnership, product quality, competitiveness, project management and flexibility. According to the company, VW’s “global champion” Pirelli has produced more than 200 homologations that equip some of the Wolfsburg carmaker’s most prestigious models. Another 250 homologations are currently under development, many of which will go into production within the next few years.

9th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Natural rubber ‘sustainability’ discussed at IRRDB IRC 2013

For the first time in 20 years the UK hosted the International Rubber Research and Development Board’s International Rubber Conference in 2013. The return to the country is well-timed; the Malaysian Rubber Board’s Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2013, effectively elongating the IRC into a week-long event culminating in a well-attended visit to the picturesque Brickendonbury Estate near Hertford, where TARRC is now based, and which for 20 years was the home of the IRRDB. On Monday 24 June the event, jointly organised by the IRRDB, the MRB and TARRC, opened in Mayfair’s Millennium hotel, with the morning sessions in particular providing topics of interest to tyre manufacturers.

8th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Linglong rated “most valuable Chinese tyre brand” for 2nd year running

World Brand Lab has named Linglong in its latest brand valuations ranking – the ‘Top 500 Most Valuable Chinese Brands’. And what’s more they report places Linglong as the highest Chinese tyre brand, with its brand value judged to have increased from 11.652 billion yuan (US$1.86 billion) to 14.372 billion yuan ($2.30 billion) over the past 12 months. This increased the company’s ranking on the ‘Top 500’ list to 127th place.

8th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Triangle’s 2013 global summit exemplifies Chinese globalisation ambitions

International News, News

The theme of globalisation loomed large over Chinese tyre manufacturer Triangle’s latest Global Business Summit, held in the China Hall of the older Grand Tower of Pudong, Shanghai’s Shangri-La Hotel. While the chairman of the board Ding Yuhua’s conference starting theme speech riffed on the theme with regard to manufacturing processes, employee base and international trends, the presence of delegates from around the world reinforced the message the world’s 16th largest tyre manufacturer’s message – Triangle suppliers from three continents travelled with Tyres & Accessories to the Shangri-La from Pudong International, to underline a point. In the coming year, Ding Yuhua said that Triangle is seeking to “speed up the transformation and upgrade [its] manufacturing to synchronise with the global economy,” while focusing on the environmental standards Triangle now characterises as part of the “mainstream” in the post-REACH, post-labelling landscape – in China as well as the rest of the world. This involves greater investment in green production technology that he says is yielding a “four per cent increase in energy efficiency yearly”.

5th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Andrew

Apollo and Cooper – is this the start of the expected wave of consolidation?

Company News, News

Is this the opening shot in the anticipated round of consolidation within the tyre industry? Or is it merely an expression of courage, or cockiness, with Indian tyre manufacturer Apollo in the role of a predator, seeking to grasp the much-larger rival Cooper as prey and in doing so exposing itself to the risk that the US$2.5 billion price will land it in debt above its head? Is attack the best form of defence or has the Indian company overreached with this ambitious and financially-edgy expansion plan?

5th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop to supply Flybe expansion

Europe’s largest regional airline Flybe has selected Birmingham manufacturer Dunlop Aircraft Tyres to supply its expanding fleet of Embraer jets. Dunlop has been awarded an exclusive five-year deal to supply new and retreaded nose and mainwheel tyres for Flybe’s fleet of Embraer 175 aircraft and radial nosewheel tyres for the carrier’s Embraer 195s. The deal continues a long-standing relationship with the airline, while Dunlop is currently present on many other Embraer aircraft.

4th July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Kenda announces 2013 production capacity increase plans

Kenda Rubber Industrial Co has reported its intention to increase its global production capacity for passenger car tyres by 50 per cent in 2013. The company will manufacture 38,000 units per day by the end of 2013 in order to meet rising market demand, with the increases coming in both its home market of Taiwan and in two Chinese factories. These include the Tianjin factory, which produced its first prototype tyre in May.

2nd July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper acquisition is a game changer – Apollo MD talks to T&A

Company News, International News, News

With the ink still drying on Apollo Tyre’s agreement to purchase Cooper Tire and Rubber, on 27 June Tyres & Accessories met with Apollo vice chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar at the company's new global marketing office in central London in order to get the inside line on the deal, the impending integration and the strategy behind the purchase.

In 2010, Apollo's owners, chairman Onkar Kanwar and vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar, told the world that the company was aiming to break into the global top 10…at least. At the time this announcement was made you could be forgiven for thinking such a proclamation was either an exercise in hyperbole or in corporate goal setting. And why not? There's nothing wrong with aiming high, as many of the world's fastest growing tyre companies are clearly doing. After all, as the saying goes, “he who aims at nothing hits it”.

But with all the speculation that surrounded the company's decision to engage in takeover talks with Cooper at the end of 2012, the fact that the deal has now been agreed arguably isn't as much of a surprise as the speed with which the top 10 goal has been attained. Early indications suggest that the amalgamated Apollo/Cooper will be the seventh largest tyre company on earth. So what’s next? The exclusive club that is dominated and fiercely defended by the big five? Or, as is more likely, a period of integration and consolidation while the dust settles?

1st July 2013/12,345 Comments/by Chris