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US Survey Of SUV Tyres Puts Bridgestone Top

For a change, some good news for Bridgestone regarding SUV tyres. The Bridgestone Dueler AT 693 came out top in a survey of SUV tyres in US magazine Consumer Reports. The tests for the all-terrain tyres included wet and dry braking, emergency handling, noise, rolling resistance, traction in snow and braking on ice. The Bridgestone tyre was followed by (in order) Kelly Safari AWR, Dunlop Radial Rover, Cooper Discoverer A/T, Firestone Wilderness AT II and Goodyear Wrangler AT/S. In a separate table of all-season SUV tyres, the BFGoodrich Radial Long Trail T/A came top.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Integration At Goodyear Austria

The Austrian Dunlop and Goodyear companies have been integrated into the new Goodyear Dunlop Tires Austria company, which is under 100 p.c. ownership of Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe B.V. located in Brussels.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Changes In Pneumant Management

Dr. Rainer Schieben, who used to be managing director of Pneumant-Reifenwerke GmbH, is now managing all associated brands under the umbrella of Goodyear-Dunlop Tires Europe BV. His successor in Fürstenwalde is Mr. M. Bald. Dr. Schieben has also been elected as Chairman of the Pneumant Supervisory Board.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

EUROC for the Chop?

After the STW race series, the new European Roadster Challenge (EUROC) is also under threat. As it seems that the German Touring Car Championship (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) will be successfully revived this year, well-known drivers anticipated to take part in EUROC have begun to look elsewhere at the last minute. Who will be equipping the Touring Car Championship teams with tyres is also not yet clear, although an exclusive contract is talked of, with auto motor und sport magazine already naming Dunlop. On the other hand the involvement of the Michelin subsidiary BFGoodrich in the EUROC series seems to have come to nothing even before the first race, unless Bernie Ecclestone can be persuaded to allow these cars, in which immense sums have already been invested, to take part in the Formula One circus.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Cosmetic Cracks Compound Firestone Troubles

Cosmetic cracks found in the sidewalls of Bridgestone/Firestone tyres fitted to Toyota Tundra and Sequoia trucks have resulted in more attention for the troubled tyre giant. Cracks were discovered by workers at Toyota’s Indiana plant and 2001 model Sequoias not yet delivered to dealers have been fitted with Dunlop tyres as a precautionary measure. Toyota plan to resume using Firestones shortly, and Firestone has given assurances that the cosmetic cracks do not in any way affect safety. The tyres were manufactured at their Wilson North Carolina plant, where Steeltex brand tyres, under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are also manufactured. However, Spokesperson for Firestone , Christine Karbiwiak said, “There is no reason to believe there is a defect at the Wilson plant”.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Under One Umbrella – Motorway And Hi-Q

Paul Harrell, the MD of Dunlop-owned retail chain Motorway, has been appointed General Manager, Retail operations UK by the Goodyear group. In his new role he will be responsible for the operations of both Motorway and Goodyear’s Hi-Q retail chain.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Successful Dunlop Cloverleaf Comes To An End

Dr. Volker Wingefeld (49), Finance Director of Dunlop GmbH, is leaving the company within the next few weeks to join the board of Buderus AG, responsible for finance. Dr. Manfred Gerresheim (61), board member responsible for technical development and Robert Schäfer (61), chief executive of Dunlop, are considering leaving at the end of this year. The Dunlop management team is completed by its fourth member, Hans-Jürgen Wagner and, during the 90s, was very successful, turning in several record profits in a row.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

At Last The Number One Again – “Goodyear, All Systems Go!”

Imagine the scene; Goodyear chairman Sam Gibara addresses an audience of 144 leading managers from around the world, telling them of Goodyear’s ambition to be not only the world’s biggest tyre manufacturer, but also the most profitable. He tells them of the reasons behind the Dunlop joint ventures and spells out the goals for which the Goodyear ‘family’ has to strive to achieve the company’s aims. What lies in store for Goodyear? Does size matter? What changes are needed in management attitudes, distribution policy and brand strategies if Goodyear is to be the best? How important is the adoption of a mullet-brand strategy in the various world-wide markets? These and other thought-provoking questions are discussed at length. As we said earlier, imagine the scene. The truth is there was no meeting in Hawaii and Mr. Gibara did not make the speech – but he certainly could have. The article can be downloaded in full length as PDF file (size: 2.84 Mbyte, Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Cost-Cutters Instead Of Architects – Goodyear Facing The Year 2001

There was much celebration when Goodyear announced its “joint venture” with Dunlop, designed to make the group the biggest in the world. Since then, things not been going according to plan, with Goodyear’s share price plummeting. A new president has been appointed and an in-depth article in our January issue which can be downloaded in full length as PDF file (size: 1.20 Mbytes, Adobe Acrobat Reader required) argues that the group desperately needs to reorganise and change the way that decisions are made, to get closer to the market and to re-define areas of responsibility. An increase in size has brought inflexibility and a slowness to react, which is stifling the company’s chances of future growth. Our article suggests one possible solution to this problem, but it is one which will involve a radical change of philosophy and methods of operation.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Dedicated Dunlop Tyre Lines Available At Goodyear Retailers

In the USA, Goodyear has announced that three new dedicated Dunlop tyre lines will be available from Goodyear and Gemini outlets. These are the Dunlop Citation, the Citation HP (both for passenger cars) and Dunlop Pioneer for 4×4 vehicles.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

New Exhibitor Record For Automechanika

Automechanika – the International Trade Fair for Car Workshop and Service Station Equipment, Automobile Spare Parts Accessories – has set a new exhibitor record: 3,909 exhibitors occupied all of the approx. 300,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor exhibition space to present their latest products and technical innovations. The almost three percent increase in exhibitor numbers was the result of growth in the number of German exhibitors. 67 percent of all exhibitors came from outside Germany. The top five exhibitor nations were Germany and Italy, followed by Taiwan, the USA and Great Britain. The exhibition ran from 6 to 10 September 2000 and Messe Frankfurt welcomed around 150,000 trade visitors from all over the world during the five days of the fair, where exhibitors took many orders and transacted a lot of business. In contrast to this positive attitude at the trade fair, the background situation of the market does not look that good: The car boom of previous years came to a sudden end this year. The EU-Commission in Brussels is thinking about ending the exclusive distributor networks of car retailers. Parallel to this the car manufacturers – especially Ford and Mercedes-Benz – are restructuring their distributor networks, which means that they are reducing the number of their retailers. The pressure on the suppliers exerted by the car producers continues to increase and as a result they are showing a stronger interest in the aftermarket business. Furthermore Goodyear/Dunlop’s daughter company Pneumant was the fist tyre producer for several years to have a booth at the Automechanika. However, it is doubtful that this is the first example of a growing trend, as the “Reifen” exhibition, central event of the European tyre world, was held just a few months ago and it is to be considered that – in contrast to the alloy wheel business – the target audience of the tyre manufacturers is most probably not those who attend the Automechanika. In NEUE REIFENZEITUNG 10/2000 we review the show.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

DTM Go With Dunlop And ATS

DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters), the popular German racing series, will be revitalised this year. Dunlop is supplying all participating teams (Audi, Opel and Mercedes have confirmed their participation) with tyres. AMG-Mercedes’ teams, eight expected, will have wheels fitted by ATS.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

More managers are leaving Viborg-Group in Germany

The Viborg-Group, which bought first Stinnes Reifendienst and later Gummi Meyer and now has more than 400 depots in Germany, is facing more departures by Managers. The relatively young managers Scharwenka, Rudolph, Roth and Lemle do not see their future within the group any longer and are leaving. As far as business in general for the Viborg-group in Germany is concerned we hear very different opinions. Viborg is asking for the deepest price and in addition to that for an overhead of 10 %, giving them a real advantage over all competitors. Strategic partners at the moment are Michelin, Pirelli and Dunlop. It is not clear whether all of them are paying the extra price of 10 %. Other tyre manufacturers can see how difficult it is for the Viborg Group to fulfil their promises despite the fact that all the warehouses are completely full. There will be a long article in a future issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG. Furthermore, Viborg’s management is not willing to talk to the press and is urging employees not to talk to the press otherwise their jobs will be in jeopardy.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear File Impressive First Quarter Figures For 2000

Following an increase in turnover from US$ 3 billion to US$ 3.5 billion, which incorporates US$ 577 from acquired Dunlop activities, Goodyear has reported a net income of US$ 63.6 million for the first quarter of 2000. The company sold 54.8 million tyres during this period, which is 9.1million more than in the corresponding quarter last year. 8.9 million of this total were manufactured by Dunlop. And as result of this quite impressive report anticipated by the market Goodyear shares have recovered recently.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

“Intermot” Munich – Many New Motorbike Tyres

Munich’s “Intermot” has become the main fair for motorbikes, the supplying industry and for dealers involved in motorbike tyres. Although the German market for motorcycles declined by 7 % (Europe: + 7 %) in the first half of this year, once again, “more than 150,000” visitors from 84 countries (1998: 150,368 from 80 countries) came to visit the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from 13 to 17 September to find out about the products and services of 1,033 exhibitors and 56 additionally represented companies from 35 countries (1998: 836 exhibitors from 33 countries). As in the premiere event in 1998, the proportion of trade visitors was approximately 35 %, with more than a fifth of their number coming from abroad. The largest contingents of trade visitors from abroad came from within the European Union (67 %) and the rest of Europe. Visitors’ interest encompassed all areas of the fair, with the top favourites being motorised vehicles (72 %), parts and accessories for motorised two-wheelers (47 %) and clothing and rider equipment. Therefore many companies from the tyre business were among the exhibitors in Munich: Cooper-Avon, Continental, Dunlop, Metzeler/Pirelli and Michelin showed their latest products and the tyre trade was present too. And there were a lot of new tyres to discover. For example a winter tyre for scooters, or Continental’s move into the radial segment, seven new tyres from Michelin and many more premieres for the upcoming motorbike season 2001. NEUE REIFENZEITUNG reviews all the news from the show in its October issue.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors