Bridgestone Europe (BSEU) has bought mould producers, Mecamold. Mecamold’s acquisition comes after a long working relationship between the two companies. The Belgian company had been working with BSEU for 35 years and were its main supplier.
Toyota will increase capacity at its UK plant in Burnaston to 285,000 vehicles by 2005 (220,000 at present). The addition investment will total 50 million pounds. The Japanese car maker has begun a program of increasing capacity in Europe to 645,000 vehicles from 500,000 previously.
Goodyear has announced record sales of US$ 15.1 billion for 2003 and a net loss of US$ 802 million. Turnover in 2002 was $13.9 billion and the net loss $1.227 billion. $750 million of the increase in turnover came from favourable currency exchange rates. The company’s performance in Europe (both east and West) was satisfactory and, while Goodyear chief Keegan was very optimistic during a conference with analysts, but he had to admit that the much-needed turnaround in North America had not taken place as expected. In 2002 the corporation had to pay $241 million in interest and this sum escalated to 293.6 million last year.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., at the Meeting of its Board of Directors, decided the following changes in directorships and the introduction of the position of Corporate Officers, to become effective upon approval at the General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on June 29, 2004.
Promoted Director and Corporate Officer (Current position):
Yasuo Tominaga, Chairman and Representative Director(President and Representative Director)
Tadanobu Nagumo, President and Representative Director (Executive Director)
Keigo Ueda, Director and Senior Managing Corporate Officer(Managing Director)
Takashi Sugimoto, Director and Senior Managing Corporate Officer (Managing Director)
Toshihiko Shiraki, Managing Corporate Officer (Director)
Bridgestone Corporation announced that it has begun supplying Potenza RE050 runflat tires to BMW for factory installation on 6 Series models sold in Japan.
Continental AG (Hanover, Germany) and Daimler-Chrysler AG (Stuttgart, Germany) have signed an agreement on the original equipment delivery of commercial vehicle tires in the 2005 to 2007 time span. With the scope of the deliveries contracted, Continental becomes a volume-production commercial-vehicle-tire supplier to DaimlerChrysler. The agreement contains an option for 2008. Continental will equip the light to heavy trucks in the Atego, Axor, Actros and Econic model ranges with17.5″ to 24″ tires.
Start saving up now: Porsche has announced that its new 911 series Carrera and Carrera S sports cars will be launched in mainland Europe on July 17 and in the UK and US markets in early September. Pretax prices in Germany will be 64,700 Euro and 73,300 Euro respectively.
Hayes Lemmerz International received three prestigious quality awards at the Toyota Motor Europe Manufacturing supplier awards ceremonies recently held in Brussels, Belgium.
Pelmar Engineering, the Israel – based dealers in used, reconditioned and new tyre machinery, have recently bought the entire equipment released by Goodyear Wolverhampton as a result of closure of about 50 per cent of their plant. The equipment is now being dismantled and removed; part of it directly to customers and part to Pelmar’s warehouse in Manchester. It includes mainly rubber compounding and processing equipment, such as complete extruder lines, calendering lines, mixing lines and miscellaneous other machinery. Pelmar has seven warehouses in Europe, Israel and U.K., providing machinery, engineering and complete turnkey projects related to the technical rubber and tyre industries worldwide.
Industry analysts are cautiously optimistic about prospects for the tyre industry, following good sales in January and February. In Europe, there was year-on-year growth of 8.4 per cent in the passenger car tyre replacement market and in North America, 5 per cent growth. Some of this is down to pre-buying ahead of price increases and the analysts predict an increase in sales for the year of 4 per cent. The European truck tyre replacement market is up 8 per cent. More good news for the manufacturers; price increases seem to be sticking and in the US were up over 5 per cent YOY in February.
Continental believes that the company is well-positioned to benefit from the eastward expansion of the EU in May, having pursued a policy of strategic investment in eastern Europe for the past decade. The company has invested upwards of half a billion Euro in the area and now has manufacturing facilities for tyres or automotive components/systems in the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary and Romania (due to join the EU in 2007), employing over 11,000 staff. Continental’s interest in eastern Europe is not restricted to the production advantages, as it views the new member states as potential growth markets for truck and winter tyres as economic growth for 2004 and 2005 in the area is forecast to be four per cent.
The UK continues to lead the way in car sales as dealers throughout Western Europe enjoyed a mild recovery in March. Early sales trends show Britain outperformed other European markets with new registrations for the UK up by 11 % this year. A total of 466, 955 cars were sold in Britain during March. The German car market enjoyed a recovery with sales figures up 8 % to 345,000 units sold while France also saw an improvement of 5.6 % on the previous twelve months. Renault and Ford made the most significant gains within the UK market during March while Volkswagen topped the European market with an increase of 13 % as predicted by market watchers following discounts offered on the new Golf.
American auto supplier, Federal-Mogul, continued to make a loss during the first three months of 2004 but sales figures reveal a turnaround in trading. The company´s first quarter report show increased operating sales of $186 million resulted in net losses of $20 million – down $17 million on the same period in 2003. Federal-Mogul, which continues to undergo financial restructuring after filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in 2001, has attributed the improvements to higher sales of original equipment in both Europe and North America, lower interest payments and favourable exchange rates. Management have also stated that trading figures will not be adversely affected despite a substantial loss of equipment and stock following a fire at the company´s distribution centre in Tennessee. Federal-Mogul currently has one wheel plant, based in Poland, where it produces tyres for a number of German wheel manufacturers.
American re-treading company, Bandag, has posted an increase in net profit to $4 million for the first quarter of 2004 despite a fall in sales compared with the same period last year. Net sales for January to March 2004 totalled $173.5 million compared with $175.3 million (net profit $2.4 million) for the first three months of 2003. Bandag´s European division witnessed an increase in net sales of $2.2 million to $21.2 million (due mainly to favourable exchange rates) while sales volumes in Europe fell by two per cent.
Kleber has launched a new roadside assistance service for buyers of any car tyre from its range. Kleber Assistance is available free to drivers who purchase Kleber tyres. It offers three years free cover against tyre-related breakdowns and includes vandalism, punctures or any other type of accidental damage. The service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and assistance is provided within one hour, anywhere in Europe. If the tyre cannot be repaired at the roadside and the spare wheel is unusable, the vehicle will be taken free of charge to the nearest garage where the tyre can be replaced at the driver’s expense. In the event of no garage being open the vehicle and occupants will be taken to a place of safety such as a hotel or the driver’s home if nearer. Although new to the UK, Kleber Assistance has been running in parts of Europe for some time.
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