Debica S.A.
At the start of March, Goodyear launched the Dębica Presto in Europe. The Dębica Presto is aimed at “modern SUVs” and is said to offer “excellent wet grip and efficiency”. The first new SKUs have been available since January. A total of 22 new sizes will be on the market by August 2024.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has further confirmed its brand strategy for the coming years, the so-called “redefined roles” for Dunlop, Avon and Cooper, amongst others. The company has de-premiumised Dunlop in anticipation of growth within tiers 2 and 3 of the tyre market in the next half-decade at the expense of tier 1.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company estimates that fire damage to its manufacturing facility in Dębica, Poland will reduce sales by up to US$40 million and lower operating income by as much as $30 million. After resuming production two days after the blaze of 20 August 2023, production has slowly risen from around 55% of capacity to approximately 70% by the end of September. Goodyear does not expect a full ramp-up of production until Q4 2024 due to the lead time to replace damaged equipment.
The car tyre production hall at Goodyear’s Debica factory in Poland caught fire late on 20 August. According to multiple local news sources, more than 20 fire engines attended the scene before midnight and no injuries were reported. Official statements issued by the tyremaker suggest the company’s truck tyre production area remained unaffected and that some passenger car tyre production resumed on 22 August.
The management board of Firma Oponiarska Dębica S.A. concluded a loan agreement with Goodyear S.A., Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg on 20 December 2022, under which Debica will grant Goodyear a loan worth 100 million Polish Zloty (£18.333 million; 21.338 million euros; US$27.676 million). The loan repayment date has been set at 19 December 2023.
A new SUV winter range is available from Dębica. Called the Frigo SUV2, the newcomer is described as a “wallet-friendly tyre that is suitable for all winter conditions.” It joins the Frigo 2 and Frigo HP2 in the Dębica winter portfolio and will be available in six sizes. The first three come to market this month and a further two are scheduled to launch before the end of the year.
Following on from the release of new summer UHP products for its Fulda and Sava brands, Goodyear has introduced a UHP tyre range for its Poland-based brand, Dębica. The tyre maker states that the new Presto UHP2 offers greater mileage than the previous-generation tyre thanks to the use of a ‘Uniform Contact Pressure’ design, which distributes pressure over the whole tread contact area and thus spreads wear more evenly. Rolling resistance has also improved through the use of an optimised rolling resistance chafer that controls energy dissipation via the tyre’s rim.
Motorwelt, the members’ publication of German motoring organisation the ADAC, always held a prominent position amongst magazine tyre tests. Whether this will change due to the recent scandals remains to be seen. But in its recently-published summer tyre test, the organisation states in bold that it doesn’t collude with tyre makers in any way, shape or form: “For more than 40 years the ADAC has tested tyres – neutrally and independently”. For this latest test, the ADAC tested dry weather characteristics at Bridgestone’s European Test Center in Italy and wet weather characteristics at Continental’s Contidrom facility. While the German tyre maker’s EcoContact 5 and the Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 were respectively the top and fourth-rated of the 16 size 175/65 R14T tyres tested, in the size 195/65 R15V test Bridgestone only managed 12th place out of 17 with its Turanza T001, while Continental’s PremiumContact 5 ended up one position lower. If the tyre makers did have a hand in manipulating test results for the 15-inch tyres, they didn’t do a very good job of it.
On 1 July, Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires will mark 15 years in the business. The tyre maker purchased the Slovenian firm in 1998 and says that since that time it has grown into one of the largest and most successful US-invested firms in the country. Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires, or GDST, now employs some 1,400 people and has received over 200 million euros in investment from its parent company, including 15.5 million euros in 2012. The company says it has produced 100 million tyres since 1998.
On 13 August Polish tyre maker TC Dębica informed the Warsaw Stock Exchange of further reductions to its planned 2012 production of passenger car, truck and agricultural tyres. These changes approved by the company’s Board of Directors come on top of cuts announced in March and May, and reduce Dębica’s planned 2012 passenger car tyre production by an additional four per cent, truck tyre production by one per cent and agricultural tyre production by nine per cent.
TC Debica has reduced its production output after Goodyear, who owns 66.05 per cent equity in the Polish tyre maker, reduced its orders with the company. In a statement, Debica said that in March 2012 it will produce approximately ten per cent less passenger car and truck tyres and 4.5 per cent fewer agricultural tyres than planned. In relation to the company’s annual product plan, this equals a one per cent reduction in passenger car and truck tyre output and a half per cent decline for agricultural tyres.
The point-S organisation has made the headlines again. Following the dismissal of point S Germany’s managing director Jürgen Benz last December, a move that took many by surprise, point S France now appears to have interesting times ahead as it distances itself from the most important player in the nation’s tyre market: Michelin. French media sources report a “thunderclap in the tyre world,” in which point S in France has failed to reach a consensus with Michelin regarding terms and conditions for the coming year and as a result has excluded tyres sourced directly from the market leader from its range. Michelin reportedly accounted for at least 40 per cent of the point S operation in France’s total turnover, thus market observers view the organisation’s decision as quite a dangerous one. But where exactly lies the danger?
In the third quarter of 2011 Polish tyre maker Debica S.A. reported sales of PLN 717 million (£138.6 million), a 38.9 per cent year-on-year increase. Operating profit in the July to September quarter rose 61.6 per cent year-on-year to PLN 59.9 million (£11.6 million) while net profit, at PLN 32.6 million (£6.3 million), was down 9.62 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2010.
As of July 1, Slovenia’s Sava Tires will be known as Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires. This name change was announced by Sava Tires management at a press conference on June 28; the reason given for adopting the new name was that it will bring the Sava operation’s company name in line with the other Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe companies. Furthermore, it is expected the new name will give the company greater visibility and strengthen its market position.
One outcome of the recession has been increased awareness of the need to maximise tyre value through related services. Several manufacturers of budget-segment brands have shared with Tyres & Accessories their view that simply producing affordable tyres holds little future; service, they realise, will increasingly be a dividing point between brands that do well and those that don’t. Established tyre majors, such as Goodyear Dunlop, enjoy a significant head start in this area, and this is helping them gain a better foothold in a market increasingly focused on whole-life savings.
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