Europe Archives - Page 178 of 179 - Tyrepress

Posts

Is Continental Chasing Matador?

Since January 1999 Continental has held a 75% stake in Matador’s truck tyre production. Now rumours suggest that Continental is seeking the same deal for passenger car tyre production. There is no confirmation of this from Continental. Up until now Matador management has been keen to remain independent as far as passenger car tyre production is concerned. Matador see opportunities to develop passenger car market share throughout Europe as well as maintaining its successful position in Russia.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Wants to Grow Faster than the Market

Dr. Paolo Masera, the current boss of Pirelli Reifenwerke, is convinced that Pirelli has every reason to look to the future as a profitable, independent tyre manufacturer. The revolutionary production method MIRS will not only make it possible for the Italian manufacturer to gain cost leadership, he believes, but the automated production process also promises a great improvement even on today’s quality. He stresses Pirelli’s role as the well-accepted technology partner of the motor manufacturing industry in Europe, supplier to Porsche, BMW, Rover, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Volkswagen, Audi, Opel and others. Pirelli will not offer a multi-brand strategy because users are less interested in so-called cheap brands; they would rather buy first-class brands at a more favourable price. That does not exclude arrangements with larger customers for the supply of certain group house brands, e.g. Courier, if there is a call for it. The German organisation is facing a fundamental change. In future the emphasis will be more on key accounters, and so-called “channel marketing” is to be strengthened.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Profit Warning from Goodyear

After Goodyear gave a profit warning for the second quarter its share prices fell yesterday by 10% to US$22.5; in June 1999 the price was US$58.7. The increase in raw material costs (rubber, oil, carbon black), the failure of securing better prices and extremely competitive prices in the UK and Germany, as well as the weak Euro against the dollar are the main reasons. US economy magazines yesterday wrote about the necessity for Goodyear “to make immediate drastic moves over there (meaning Europe).

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Sava Tires Presents New “Effecta” Summer Tyre

Sava, the Slovenian tyre manufacturer – 60 p.c. owned by the Goodyear group since 1998 – presented the “Effecta” to the public for the first time in mid-March. This S/T summer tyre, developed in cooperation with its European group headquarters in Luxembourg, a non-directional successor to the “Exact” line, is to be introduced in the market in 28 sizes, from 135/80 R 12 68 T to 185/65 R 15 88 T, by June this year. More than 300 tyre traders in total from 35 countries, among them far-flung places like Iceland or Lebanon, had assembled in the idyllic holiday resort of Bled to see the new Sava product launched. The German contingent consisted of about 50 members of Team, which markets all segments (car, light truck, truck) of the Sava brand exclusively in Germany. The new tyre is the first new product development since Goodyear took over almost two years ago. It derives directly from the Luxembourg research and development centre and is thus destined to represent Goodyear “state of the art” technology. What this means and how the “Effecta” could support Sava raising brand awareness in Western Europe which is one of the tyre manufacturer’s most important aims can be read in the April issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Recall No Problem For Firestone In Europe

From 1991 up to the present, only about 16,000 tyres of the size in question have been sold in Europe. Most of these are no longer in use.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Higher Turnover For Metzeler

The turnover of the motorcycle tyre division of Pirelli Germany (brands: Metzeler & Pirelli) in 1999 amounted to 94.9 million Euro; 1.4 p.c. more than the previous year. In motorcycle tyre terms, Pirelli is the market leader in Germany, Italy and Europe as a whole.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Out of Sight – Out of Mind

According to results from Tyrecheck 2000, carried out by Police forces throughout the UK, as many as one in ten cars on UK roads may be running on illegal tyres, 27% are, at best, close to the end of their safe and legal life. That’s in excess of 13million illegal tyres in use every day. Imagine then the figures for faulty shock absorbers hidden out of sight? Recent research carried out in the UK suggested that over 6 million out of 25 million (24%) cars on the road were running on at least one faulty shock absorber. Belgian research confirmed that this is not purely an UK problem when figures produced there showed 20-25% of motorists driving with faulty dampers. If the car driver is unaware of a problem, how can the industry realise the potential sales in the shock absorber aftermarket? The market is estimated by Datamonitor to be worth in excess of 124M Euro at Retail Selling Price (RSP) in the UK alone, and across Europe has a value of some 471M Euro at Manufacturer Selling Prices (MSP). How does the fast fit salesman persuade the customer that he needs a new shock absorber? Moreover, how does he persuade him that he needs to change a pair? More about this can be found in the December issue of TYRES & ACCESSORIES.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Finelist In Bid Rumours

There are rumours that an unnamed rival from continental Europe is to make a takeover bid for Finelist, the UK-based distributor of car components. Finelist has 40,000 trade customers and, during the last financial year, made pre-tax profits of £26.3 m (Euro 43.6 m) on a turnover of £483 m (Euro 801 m).

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

High Performance Growth Predicted By Michelin

Michelin recently described the V/Z sector as ‘the most dynamic sector in today’s market’, increasing by the rate of 15% per year in Europe and growing five times faster than the overall market. By 2003, Michelin estimates that 35.7 million tyres will be sold in this sector, accounting for almost one quarter of the replacement tyre market.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

It’s M+M After All!

In its last issue NEUE REIFENZEITUNG speculated about an agreement between Montupet and Michelin in the area of aluminium cast wheels. The talks seem to be “on hold” for the time being, because at the moment both partners have their hands “full with orders”. Montupet is currently doubling its capacity to 2.5 million cast wheels. Kronprinz, the Michelin subsidiary in Solingen, is able to cast 1.4 million wheels with the equipment already in place. In its search for a strategic alliance partner (without seeking a direct participation) Michelin has now found steel wheel manufacturer Meritor, which has factories in Mexico and Brazil. Meritor is a business division of Rockwell, the large supplier to the automotive industry, and is also known by the trade name Fumagalli. With an annual capacity of about 25 million steel and aluminium wheels Michelin is roughly double the size of Meritor. The strategic benefit for Michelin is not only the geographical location of the two Meritor factories, but above all the close relationship between the supplier Rockwell and Chrysler. The principal reason for the cooperation between M+M, however, was Renault’s decision to produce the Mégane also in South America with the same steel wheels as in Europe, where they are made by Michelin. To comply with local content requirements, the South American Mégane will have Meritor wheels.

7th December 1999/by Tyrepress Editors

Gummi-Mayer Goes to Viborg

Assuming the approval of the Competition Commission, the Danish tyre dealer and retreading company Viborg Gruppen together with the British Legal & General Ventures Limited (LGV) will take over all the tyre distribution activities (150 service centres) of Gummi-Mayer retrospectively from 30th September 1999. The integration of Gummi-Mayer into the existing companies of Viborg Gruppen will create the largest independent distribution and service company in the European tyre business. At the beginning of the year Viborg/LGV took over the tyre distribution activities of Stinnes AG in Germany, Holland, France, Austria and Switzerland and now has a close-knit Europe-wide service net. The sale includes all domestic tyre distribution and service activities trading in Germany under the names Gummi-Mayer and Autechna. All employees will be retained by Viborg, which has the right to the use of the Gummi-Mayer name initially for a period of ten years. Pending the approval of the Competition Commission, Gummi-Mayer will continue to be run by Hans and Franz Mayer. After the incorporation of Gummi-Mayer Viborg Gruppen will have a turnover of nearly 1.4 billion marks with more than 3,000 employees.

7th December 1999/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian to purchase ISKO

Nokian Tyres has agreed to purchase up to 94 % of the ISKO-shares. ISKO is the largest Finnish Tyre wholesaler and retailer. As soon as the transaction has been completed Nokian Tyres will have the largest equity in “Nordic Europe” consisting of 117 depots with 750 employees in Scandinavia together with Estonia and Latvia.

7th December 1999/by Tyrepress Editors

Ford Ambitious to Become Largest Tyre Marketer in USA

American trends, schemes that have proved successful on the other side of the big pond, will spill over to Europe after a short delay. That has always been so. So watch out for the letters FCSD and remember that they stand for Ford Customer Service Division. The car giant has just started a strong advertising campaign in North America, introducing to the public “America’s Newest Tire Store”, a network of 2,400 of the current 5,000 Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers. According to a Ford spokesman, this is the latest step in providing customers with everything they really need, and all at one stop. The Ford and Lincoln dealers, he claimed, have suitable business premises, sufficient relevant expertise and the scope to offer competitive prices – with the express advance warning that Ford has no intention to be cheap but will market tyres “at a fair price”. Tyre manufacturers build tyres to Ford specifications, the spokesman explained, and it would therefore only be a natural progression for the company to market “original replacement parts”. Thus only original equipment suppliers will be able to take part in the Ford replacement business. To give the project a kick-start the company currently runs a lavish and expensive TV campaign (costs are not disclosed), later to be supported and partly replaced by radio advertising and direct mailing. Carl Bergmann, Customer Service Operations Manager, can see no point in sending customers away in future when they want to buy tyres. And these are certainly not empty words: In July 1998 the Ford organisation sold a mere 700 tyres, the figure for this July was 97,000, and that is only a start. The sales target for the current year is one million tyres, three million in the year 2000, to be doubled again to six million units in 2001, at least according to a Ford Motor Co. spokesman talking to the press. These are large numbers indeed, but not unrealistically so, because if each of the currently participating 2,400 dealers only sells one set of tyres per day, the three-million barrier will be breached.

7th December 1999/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear: Berckholtz Takes Over Original Equipment Germany

Günter Sommer (63), Manager Original Equipment Germany, will retire at the end of the year. Jan Berckholtz (55), Director in the European management for Sales and Marketing Original Equipment Consumer Tires Europe since 1992, will take over his responsibilities and move to Cologne.

7th December 1999/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone/Firestone Europe Appoints General Manager OE Sales

Bridgestone/Firestone Europe (BFE) has appointed Mr. Uwe Kaster as General Manager of European OE Sales. He will be based at Bridgestone/Firestone Deutschland. The company says that the appointment has been made in response to its increasing growth with European vehicle producers. Mr. Kaster joins BFE from the Rutgers Automotive Group.

7th December 1999/by Tyrepress Editors