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Conti Promotes ContiCostCalculator at Crewe Roadshow Leg

Continental is spending this week in the grounds of the resplendent Crewe Hall in Cheshire with its European roadshow, promoting the new iteration of its long-haul and regional commercial vehicle tyres (see June’s edition of Tyres & Accessories – soon to arrive at subscribers’ addresses – and Tyrepress.com for more on last month’s launch). The pan-European tour will see Continental’s truck pitch its inflatable display tent in locations including Helsinki, Madrid, Bucharest and most countries in-between. As much as T&A would have liked to take the opportunity to see the display in one of Europe’s cultural capitals, Crewe presented a rather more convenient opportunity to see the interactive displays with which Conti is introducing its series two tyres alongside the innovative ContiCostCalculator, which promises to aid fleet managers in seeing detailed cost comparisons, certified by independent testing organisation Dekra.

11th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Sibur-Russian Tyres Announces Preliminary 2008 Results

In releasing its preliminary financial results for the 2008 year on June 5, Sibur-Russian Tyres stated that, in spite of “unfavourable trends” during the reporting period, the company’s consolidated revenue – 27.4 billion roubles – did not decrease compared with 2007. The tyre maker further commented that the year’s results were impacted by both increases in raw material costs, beginning in March 2008 and reaching an apex in August, and a decrease in tyre sales during the fourth quarter as a result of the global economic crisis.

8th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Opening First US Retail Outlet

June 3 marks the date on which Kumho Tire is opening its first retail tyre centre in North America. The first of Kumho’s “Tires 4U” shops to officially open is located in Beuna Park, California, and will stock a comprehensive range of passenger car, 4×4 and light commercial vehicle tyres plus offer mounting, balancing and alignment services. The new centre is reportedly similar to existing Kumho retail outlets operating in Asia.

2nd June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental 2 Series Commercial Tyre: More Details

As previously published on Tyrepress.com, Continental has launched a new range of commercial vehicle tyres, representing four new design features. The tyres feature entirely new inner liner technology, dubbed “AirKeep” for its ability to stay inflated for longer, in addition to modifications to the belt, bead and contour design. The tyre will be manufactured primarily at the company’s plant in Puchov, Slovakia. It comes onto the market at a tricky time, with EU and UK new truck tyre sales down 34 and 20 per cent respectively, according to figures quoted at the launch.

Conti is backing up its new range with a “Technology Truck” tour throughout Europe and the ContiCostCalculator, a new electronic tool based on research conducted by Continental and certified by DEKRA, which calculates the economic and ecological benefits of fitting the new range to customers’ fleets. These initiatives form part of the company’s response to the belief that, in these trying economic times, “you have to understand the pressures on customers and…be a business consultant,” as Conti’s general sales manager – truck replacement Barry Guildford said at the tyre launch in London. He also told Tyres & Accessories that the company was “heavily investing in training [its] salespeople”, in order to impress upon customers the long-term cost benefits of fitting the new Continentals. “It’s about educating the fleet,” he concluded.

26th May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Calculate Costs with Conti

Continental has claimed a world first with the release of its truck tyre division’s “ContiCostCalculator”. This software employs a DEKRA-certified database and enables customers to directly compare the purchase and operating costs of commercial vehicle tyres amongst all main tyre brands. The key aim of the ContiCostCalculator, the company notes, is to help calculate a commercial vehicle’s running costs and show ways to reduce them.

The ContiCostCalculator works out the ideal choice of tyre using the customer’s individual usage figures. The cost-saving potential compared with similar tyre products is calculated and the improvement in economy is shown. The application not only takes the kilometre costs and the fuel consumption into account for the overall calculation, it also covers additional income from the increased payload that a lower tyre weight makes possible.

22nd May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

CTNA Extends Engage360 Programme to CV Dealers

Continental Tire North America has released a new online training programme it says responds to the training and technical information needs of commercial vehicle tyre dealers. Called “Engage360 Untamed Innovation”, the programme is available in the commercial vehicle section of the company’s interactive training website for tyre dealers. According to Engage360 training manager Amy Spears, Engage360 Untamed Innovation allows dealership personnel to learn the basics about the construction of Continental premium commercial tyres, review product technical information and become certified as a Continental Commercial Tire Specialist.

22nd May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Reports Solution to Stöcken Factory ‘Conflict’

The conflict regarding plans to end commercial vehicle tyre production at Continental’s Hanover-Stöcken plant has been resolved, the company reports. Continental management, the IG BCE trade union and employee representatives have reached an agreement on a solution that, in Conti’s words, “makes use of all instruments the labour market provides and opens up prospects for 2010.” The agreement will see the suspension of commercial vehicle tyre production at Stöcken as of the end of 2009, a move supplemented by a number of other measures.

“The package is the result of several rounds of intensive talks that came close to being bro-ken off at a number of points. In the end, however, the two sides moved closer and, against the backdrop of a dogged and complex economic situation, faced up to their responsibility,” said Werner Bischoff of the IG BCE Executive Committee following talks on May 19.

19th May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental OE on Freightliner M2 Trucks

Continental Tire North America, Inc. is to supply Freightliner with original equipment tyres for all its Freightliner Business Class M2 medium-duty trucks. In addition, Continental’s range of commercial vehicle tyres will be optional on other Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA) brands including Western Star trucks, Thomas Built buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation chassis and all other Freightliner vehicles.

Melissa Clausen, Freightliner Trucks’ director of product marketing commented: “Continental’s heavy steer tyres complement our proven engineering for the Business Class M2 trucks. The M2 is designed for maximum reliability and fuel efficiency, and this is what we found in Continental’s product offering.”

12th May 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Prices May Plummet 35% as Tyre Sales Slow

International News

Global sales of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres may decline to 1.32 billion units in 2009 from 1.41 billion last year, said No Dock Moung, an analyst with the Singapore based International Rubber Study Group. The drop of almost 6.4 per cent would be the steepest since at least 1975, he said. And according to a Singapore based trading manager from Marubeni Corp., Japan’s largest rubber trading company, this could lead to natural rubber prices weakening by as much as 35 per cent.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Deestone: A Successful Entry into Radial Production

International News, Product News

Thai based commercial and two-wheel vehicle tyre specialist Deestone, through the founding of the new company Deestone Radial Tire Co. and the establishment of a new factory, has set foot into market territory held by the “Big Three”. The Thai radial tyre market, like almost every other around the world, is dominated by Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear. Yet the decision makers at Deestone Ltd. are losing no sleep over the position their own passenger car and light commercial vehicle radials hold in the domestic market – only two years after the opening of the company’s first radial tyre factory, its Thai market share has grown to five per cent. As Deestone’s business development manager Noppadol Nimdee explained during Tyrexpo Asia, this market share is expected to further increase.

15th April 2009/by Arno

Evergreen Global Ready to Enter Europe

During the past 25 years Evergreen Global has developed from a small Singapore based wholesaler into a well-known truck tyre supplier offering its own brands, “United”, “Global Star” and “Matrix”. The next stage in the company’s development, outlined general manager Lancy Nazareth during Tyrexpo Asia, is to establish a presence in the European market.

Since the early 1980s, when company founder Ram Niranjan Jatia moved his business – which in those days dealt exclusively with the yarn trade – from Mumbai to Singapore and entered the tyre business, Evergreen has seized the opportunity to set up branch offices in numerous global locations: Today the company’s network of offices includes sites in Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Dubai, India and Brazil.

14th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

A focus on changing perceptions

Retreading has long been recognised by commercial fleet operators as a major means of saving on operating costs, yet in some quarters retreads are still seen as offering less than their new tyre equivalents. Putting a stop to these misperceptions through elevating public awareness of retreading’s economic and environmental benefits has been a major focus of the US based Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau – more commonly known as TRIB – for almost four decades. Recently Tyres & Accessories spoke with TRIB managing director Harvey Brodsky about an industry that commercial vehicle operators simply cannot afford to ignore.

20th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Rhodia/Dow Corning Silica for NR Undergoing European Road Tests

When Tyres & Accessories met with representatives of Rhodia and Dow Corning at Tire Technology Expo 2008, they revealed that the fruit of their alliance to develop a silica/silane for use with natural rubber has already reached an advanced stage. The details of the project will be reported by T&A at length at a later date, however Rhodia’s global business director Peter Browning confirmed that two customers are already, somewhere in Europe, trialling truck tyres made with the silica/silane in a natural rubber compound.

19th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental AG Reports 2008 Record Net Loss

Continental AG has reported a record group net loss for 2008, following what executive board chairman Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann called “an unusual year.” The net loss was the result of the company having to write down 1.23 billion euros of “goodwill impairment” due to poor performance in the automotive group’s powertrain division. This was compounded by the effects of high raw material costs and dramatic falls in OE demand during 2008. Consolidated sales came in at 24.239 billion euros, with a group margin of 7.6 per cent – a figure within the company’s “EBIT target corridor.” Nevertheless Continental was able to reduce net indebtedness by roughly 373 million euros, leaving 10.483 billion euros.

Rubber group figures for 2008 faired considerably better with sales of 9.35 billion euros and 10.5 per cent margin. Passenger and Light Truck Tire posted sales of 5.1 billion euros, adjusted pre-tax profits (EBIT) of 644.8 million euros equating to a margin of 13.1 per cent. ContiTech’s numbers totalled 3 billion euros, 327.8 million euros and 11 per cent for sales, adjusted EBIT and margin. Commercial Vehicle Tire (CVT), however, survived on a slim margin of 2.7 per cent (36.3 million euros) despite sales of over a billion. Dr Hans-Joachim Nikolin, executive board member responsible for commercial vehicle tyres, explained that the virtual collapse of OE demand and raw material prices were at the root of the division’s narrow margins. The 290 million euros of increased costs the group had to pay as a result of raw material price increases at the root of CVT’s woes as this division had to face 100 million euros of this figure alone. However, commercial vehicle tyre’s particularly dependence on OE sales is also exposed in the full-year 2008 results.

19th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Vee Rubber Catering to Export Markets

In terms of the variety of tyre types produced, Vee Rubber Group is the leading company in Thailand – the company manufacturers a range that covers numerous applications, from go-kart to large commercial vehicle tyres. Most of the company’s production output – which in 2008 amounted to 24 million units – is destined for export, and Vee Rubber designs and manufactures tyres that are suited to their target markets.

Recently Vee Rubber introduced company’s first light truck and 4×4 tyre developed specifically for the North American market – the Taiga H/T. the new tyre was extensively tested in a number of different climates and on many different surfaces, including off road and the result, the company says, is a quiet, comfortable tyre with a long tread life; in the US, the tyre is offered with a 50,000 mile limited tread wear warranty. While the Taiga is not designed as a snow or all terrain tyre, it aims to allow drivers to face everyday driving with confidence, whatever the conditions.

10th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors