Saudi Arabia-based diversified chemicals company SABIC is launching a new range of synthetic rubbers, which are being manufactured for the first time in Saudi. The products made their debut at the K-Show Europe Exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany, 19-26 October 2016.
On 22 September 2016 Doublestar Europe Ltd was registered as a UK company based in London. Tyres & Accessories understands that the company is a joint venture between Zenises and growing Chinese tyremaker Qingdao Doublestar designed to bring Chinese products into European markets.
Shangdong Hengyu Technology has become the latest tyre manufacturer to announce that it is making tyres based on the Nobel Prize-winning material graphene. Other firms using graphene in tyres include bicycle tyremaker Vitorria and fast-growing Chinese manufacturer Sentury Tire.
According to the company supplying Hengyu with Graphene (The Sixth Element Materials Technology), Shangdong Hengyu has developed “tyre formulations” that the companies say demonstrates the positive impact of graphene on the performance of tyres.
What does Brexit mean? …Brexit? Breakfast, as the apparently hungry Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies mistakenly said in the mother of all Freudian slips during this year’s Conservative Conference in Birmingham? Who knows? Indeed, as a certain Tyres & Accessories colleague remarked upon hearing Davies’ innocently accidental verbal pratfall, Prime Minister Theresa May’s favourite phrase on the subject – “Brexit means Brexit” means just about as much as “Brexit means breakfast”!
Hot on the heels of the news that Michelin’s year-round summer tyre (the CrossClimate) has beaten all-season tyres at their own game in a magazine tyre test (see “Summer tyre wins all-season test”, which reports on the ADAC test originally published on 22 September), Michelin previewed the next generation of its category-defying product – the CrossClimate+ at the Paris Motor Show at the start of October. In addition to the original product’s unique summer-tyre-with-a-three-peaks-mountain-snowflake qualification, the latest version is said to improve winter performance and consistent whole tread life performance. This latter point picks up on what appears to be an increasingly important theme to Michelin – that tyres should performs consistently well through right up to the 1.6mm legal tread depth limit (see “Michelin reaffirms opposition to 3mm replacement” for more on this).
The France-based Mobivia Groupe, Europe’s largest independent automotive maintenance and repair services group, based in France, has agreed to acquire leading German autocentre chain ATU. Combined annual sales are expected to be roughly 2.7 billion euros, while there will be close to 2,000 automotive workshops and retail stores and over 20,000 employees in the group.
The European Parliament’s car emissions inquiry urgently needs more information from the EU Commission, it says in a recent resolution. Half-way through its mandate, the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS), has yet to receive some Commission documents on emission measurements and details of expert group work on vehicle type approval procedures, notes the text. The inquiry’s final report is due in spring 2017.
Specialists chemicals firm Biesterfeld Group has established Performance Rubber GmbH, which commenced operations on 1 July 2016. The new division combines all international business activities of the rubber processing industry. The aim is to further develop the rubber business strategically, while strengthening the Group’s role as a leading European distributor in this industrial segment.
Chem-Trend, the release agents, purging compounds and other ancillary moulding products supplier, and its parent company Freudenberg Chemical Specialities (FCS) have broked ground on the construction and expansion of its facilities in the Maisach Gernlinden area outside Munich, Germany. Chem-Trend’s European headquarters, already located at the site, will expand as part of the project to create an approximately $45 million complex that will also encompass facilities and services for two additional FCS business units, Klüber Lubrication Munich and OKS Specialty Lubricants. FCS is a member of the Freudenberg Group, a technology company active throughout the world.
Markets hate uncertainty. So it was no surprise that the pound fell to its lowest point in 30 years and the FTSE (as well as other European stock markets) took something of a beating in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s 23 June referendum decision to leave the European Union. But these were just the initial reactions. As we went to press (a few days after the Brexit vote), the FTSE has recovered, but not to pre-Brexit levels, while the pound remains at a 30-year low. A rally of this kind could be a sign of a return to stability. It could point to a new, upward trajectory. It could be the calm before the storm. But who knows? Now the British public has spoken, the question is: what does Brexit mean for tyres?
Cooper Tire Europe has opened a new European Fulfilment Centre (EFC) located in Hamburg, Germany. According to the company, the EFC will “serve customers throughout Europe and Scandinavia”.
This UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he would step down by October, following yesterday’s referendum result supporting a British exit – or Brexit – from the European Union.
The markets responded with historically high level of volatility – especially in terms of sterling’s value against the dollar and at the FTSE 100. This in turn led to calming statements from Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who reassured investors of Britain’s financial capabilities and contingencies.
The UK electorate has voted to leave the European union in a decision that is sending shockwaves through financial markets. It was only the third referendum in British history (two of which have related to the UK’s role in Europe).
John Leech, Head of Automotive at KPMG in the UK, has highlighted concerns relating to what would happen to the UK automotive market in the event of Brexit. With SMMT data suggesting that more than nine out of ten automotive market members are in favour of remaining, his views add detail to that consensus perspective. He said:
At present there are 220 Apollo Vredestein tyre specialists in the UK, and Apollo Vredestein says this number will increase by almost 30 per cent by next year, with 280 centres expected to be operating. This growth in the UK network is occurring as part a wider push to expand the network in Europe.
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