Goodyear reported net losses of $104 million (£85.81 million; 96.71 million euros) in its fourth-quarter 2022 results. By comparison, the same period of 2021 saw $553 million of income. Meanwhile, net sales grew six per cent to $5.374 billion in the period despite 3 per cent lower unit volumes compared with the same period in 2021.
Following the news that the UK Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into Yokohama’s acquisition of Trelleborg Wheel Systems (TWS), Trelleborg representatives have clarified that – in their view – “…there are no reasons why this deal should not be approved.”
Together with Allianz Partners, Bridgestone EMIA is rolling out a commercial vehicle tyre insurance programme as the first product in a partnership that will co-create new offers and services around each firm’s key areas of expertise. The programme is fully launched in Italy and being piloted in France, Germany, and the Benelux. The tyre insurance programme covers the replacement of flat tyres caused by sharp objects or curb side collisions, which are typically not protected in the case of damage.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is planning “rationalization and workforce reorganization” actions that would result in a 5 per cent reduction in salaried staff globally, or about 500 positions. According to executives, the move has been prompted by the “challenging industry environment and cost pressure driven by inflation.” However it is also attributed to weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results:
On 19 January, the European Commission extended anti-dumping duties on aluminium road wheels from China for a further five years. The extension follows an expiry review investigation, which showed that these wheels continue to be dumped on the EU market and that industry within the European Union would suffer significant harm if the measures were allowed to lapse.
The European Commission has provisionally recalculated anti-Chinese-produced truck tyre import tariffs to between €21.12 and €61.76 per tyre, equating to a reduction of between 0 and 51 per cent, depending on the manufacturer. Consultation on the provisional recalculation is now open until 23 January, before the final determination will be made on 25 January 2023.
On 4 January Marco Giuliani physically rejoined Michelin Headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand after a number of years to take on the role of vice president corporate Sales and Distribution Europe.
The Zhongce Rubber Group (ZC Rubber) has a new sales manager for agricultural tyres in Europe. Mark Turner has taken on the role of European sales director agricultural tyres.
From next year, Qingdao Sentury Tire will manufacture passenger car tyres under the Nokian brand name for the Central European market. Under a recently-signed contract manufacturing agreement between Nokian Tyres plc and Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd., production of a selected range of Nokian-designed and -tested tyres will commence in the first half of 2023, with products reaching the market in the second half of the year.
At the end of the second quarter ended 30 September 2022, Apollo Tyres Ltd reported double-digit increases in sales and profitability that point to even great performance in the first-half of the company’s current financial year. And the data shows that company’s European operations are at the forefront of leading the company’s strong performance.
Passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tyre production trends in Western Europe have been scaling down over the long-term. The move to larger production facilities in the comparatively low-cost labour markets in Eastern Europe, or greater reliance on imports from Asia, has seen a steady stream of plant closures and conversions to speciality, short-run production capacity – on in the case of Cooper Tire’s UK plant, for example, one followed by the other – in the region. A new assessment of the most recent three-year period by tyre industry analyst Astutus Research suggests that the overall picture has been of a decline similar to the period following the 2008 financial crisis, which was itself a catalyst for this trend. Yet digging a little deeper into the figures shows several dynamics at play in European PCLT tyre production, including supply chain disruption and spiralling energy costs. For comprehensive analysis of global tyre market trends, a series of reports by Astutus Research are available to buy now in the Tyrepress Reports Shop – click here for more details.
During Apollo Tyres’s recent celebration of 25 years of Traxion agricultural tyre technology, Europe president Benoit Rivallant set an ambitious target of growing the company’s off-highway tyre (OHT) revenue by 50 per cent. In Europe, 16 per cent of total revenue originates from the off-highway tyre sector. This compares with 63 per cent from passenger car tyres, 12 per cent from truck and bus tyres, 8 per cent from spare tyres, 1 per cent from bicycle tyres and 1 per cent from other products. In other words, the 16 per cent originating from off-highway tyre sales is a strategically important figure, 92 per cent of which comes from the agricultural sub-segment. Tyres & Accessories took time out with the company’s European head in order to find out more about how executives plan to achieve such ambitious targets in the context of a broadly challenging tyre market environment.
On 14 October, Guizhou Tyre (also known as Advance Tyre) answered several questions from investors during an online T&A. Tyrepress has analysed the questions and presents a selection of Guizhou Tyre’s answers here.
June and July saw a spate of factory investment and opening announcements. First there’s the news that Linglong manufactured its first tyre at its brand-new Serbia tyre production plant at the end of June. Of course, this project has been underway for some time, but the fact that it got going just before the end of the first half of 2022 is noteworthy for two reasons. Firstly, notwithstanding the inhibiting effect of general market headwinds associated with pandemic fall-out and war in Ukraine, the project is basically on-schedule. And secondly, it demonstrates that no enthusiasm for Western and specifically European tyre production has been lost since the nullification of European import tariffs against Chinese-produced truck tyres roughly a month ago.
During the recent IAA 2022 truck event in Germany, Chinese tyremaker Prinx Chengshan released its TH155 truck tyre pattern. The new trailer hybrid, OE oriented tyre is described as having “outstanding overall performance”, something that is attested by its “A” and “B” ratings for wet grip and fuel consumption on the European tyre label (in 385/65 R22.5). The tyre will be marketed under the Austone ATH155 and Fortune FTH155 brand names.
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Goodyear
Goodyear
S. Hermann & F. Richter; Pixabay
Maxam Tire International
Apollo Tyres
Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd.
Online investor Q&A
Prinx Chengshan