(Akron/Tire Review) Contrary to some reports in the wake of the recently completed World Tire Expo, TIA’s board of directors and officers have made no decision regarding the future of the biannual conference and trade show.
(Tire Review/Akron) Delegates from the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) International Union will vote on a proposed merger between the two at each of their annual conventions being held this week in Las Vegas.
The USWA convention is being held 11-14 April at the Las Vegas Hilton Conference Center, and the PACE International convention is being held at the Las Vegas Riviera Hotel 12-14 April.
A combined convention of 5,000 delegates from both unions will meet on 14 April at the Hilton, subject to approval of the merger. The merger will reportedly create the largest industrial union in North America.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., will participate in the three-day Aircraft Interiors Expo 2005, which starts today at the Hamburg International Exhibition and Conference centre. The annual event is the world’s largest for aircraft interiors. The company will exhibit its lavatory modules and water tanks in its first appearance at the exposition.
Plans are already well advanced for the NTDA’s spring conference, which is being staged alongside Brityrex in May. It will be the first time that the NTDA has organised an interim event between its major conferences and the occasion will serve as an opportunity to update its members.
John Tarbox, chairman of the organising committee, commented: “We felt very strongly that so much came out of our Marbella event we should provide an opportunity to update the industry on the different projects which came to the fore at that conference and also give those members, who did not attend in Spain, an opportunity to add their voices to the ideas already put down – and also add a few more.”
After issuing a profit warning last week, General Motors has suggested that it may phase out one of its weaker brands if sales fail to meet projections, company vice chairman Bob Lutz said on Wednesday. A Detroit News report described GM’s Buick and Pontiac as “damaged brands” due to lack of investment over the years, something that GM is working to correct with an array of new vehicles coming to market, Mr Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive conference in New York.
But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, “then we would have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don’t have to do that. What we’ve got to do is keep the brands we’ve got.” According to the report sales for both Pontiac and Buick have lagged in recent years.
The Auto Mobil International 2005 motor show, Leipzig, 5-6 April, will again host the road safety forum organised by the VDIK and TÜV SÜD Group.
Amongst others the conference will address car manufacturers and suppliers, state authorities and associations as well as car safety experts and biomechanics.
The road safety event is titled ‘Integrated Safety Concepts and Reliablity’ and the two day agenda will discuss, amongst other issues, the European Commission’s Road Safety Action Plan.
Exhibition space at Autopromotec 2005 is all sold out, with a number of company’s even joining a waiting list to take part in the show, exhibition organisers have reported. Furthermore, they are forecasting that attendance at Autopromotec 2005 will exceed the 2003 show, which counted 83,850 industry professionals from 103 countries.
The NTDA has announced that it will be staging several events alongside the Brityrex exhibition.
As well as holding its Update Conference the day before the show the association has organised a dinner on the night of the conference which will be attended by conference delegates and many of the Brityrex exhibitors. A guest speaker is due to be announced in the coming weeks.
Michelin supplied teams took all but one of the top eight places at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. The opening race of the season saw Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault win at the chequered flag, followed by Rubens Barichello’s Bridgestone equipped Ferrari. Fisichella’s teammate, Fernando Alonso took the final podium position. In a further development, the Red Bull team’s drivers (David Coulthard and Christian Klein) took fourth and seventh place respectively.
During the official press conference that followed the race, racewinner Giancarlo Fisichella told journalists: “Honestly because of the first part of the race I was a bit conservative on the tyres. I never pushed to the limit, only at the end when Rubens was catching me.”
“It’s going to be a lot closer this year, but I do feel we’re going to be in with a shout all year,” Renault’s technical boss Pat Symonds also commented.
Clemson University will host the 21st annual Tire Industry Conference from 9 to 11 March at the Hilton Head Marriott Beach & Golf Resort in Hilton Head, South Carolina, Tire Review has reported. The conference will focus on changing facets of the tyre industry and how tyre and automotive manufacturers and consumers are affected. Twenty presentations will be conducted by representatives from the tyre manufacturing industry, academics and government. The impact of the economy on the tyre industry, vehicle dynamics and how the industry is addressing tyre safety issues are other issues that will be addressed at the conference. In addition, tyre-monitoring technologies, retreading, scrap tyres and the safety of oversized tyres promise to be hot topics, according to the magazine.
Birla Tyres is expecting its turnover to reach 6.5 billion rupees (£80 million), New Delhi’s Business Standard has reported. Speaking to a press conference at the launch of a new truck tyre (the BT 339+), Amit Choudhury, vice president (technical services) Birla Tyres, said: “With several products already launched and a few more in the pipeline, Birla Tyres is on a fast growth track. We garnered a market share of 11 per cent in truck tyres across the country, and 30 per cent of our products are exported to about 30 countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Belgium. We expect our turnover to touch 6.5 billion rupees in the current fiscal.” Referring to the newly-launched product, he said: “The new product is an extension our main brand BT 339, with higher physical dimensional features. It is specially designed for multi-axle vehicles.”
At present the company’s truck tyre factory in Balasore, Orissa, produces 87,500 truck tyres each month. “The production capacity will go up to 93,000 tyres per month by June 2005,” Mr Amit explained. The Balasore plant was formed as a technical collaboration with Pirelli Ltd. The company owns 2,000 retail outlets, 52 stock points and 80 carrying-forward agents across the country, he added.
The NTDA has organised a series of focus groups, involving around 70 volunteers, designed to assess the needs of women in the tyre market. Women account for a growing proportion of the tyre buying public, with some estimates showing that they represent a third of all retail tyre purchases.
Speculation around Hankook’s suggested move to Eastern Europe continues. For months now different sources have suggested that the South Korean company is planning a plant to supply regional carmakers like the Slovak unit of Kia Motors Corp.
Jon Rich, president of Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s North American division, is “extremely bullish” about 2005, according to a Tire Review report. “New products are going to be the lifeblood of the new Goodyear,” Mr Rich, told delegates at the company’s annual dealer meeting in Dallas. The theme of this year’s conference is “capture the moment, create the future,” assuring dealers there was more to come.
Russian tyre company, Sibur, has conducted a conference for its dealers in which to discuss the future development strategy of the business and to form a plan to increase the effectiveness of the regional commercial partners.
The company directors gave a presentation on the current state of the business, emphasising that an increase in the effectiveness of the tyre business is the company’s top priority. The company has already initiated a new development strategy for the tyre business in April last year, in order to improve the quality of production and to meet the requirements of today’s market.
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