Fit4Fleet, the GM-owned, UK-based network of independent tyre dealers supporting company car fleets, has announced an expansion of its activities into the Republic of Ireland. The network already has 60 centres in the Republic and the Irish Fit4Fleet operation will be headed up by Barry Eccles, who has extensive fleet experience.
The 2 billion Yen investment in production expansion in Yokohama Philippines (T&A website May 2003) is to go ahead after “a perceived improvement in the business climate of the Philippines” according to Takashi Sugimoto, managing director for overseas business. This follows the resolution of a court case involving a dispute between Yokohama and a trade union, decided in favour of the management. The dispute involved the laying off of 70 employees.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company’s Cooper-Standard Automotive has increased its ownership position in Jin Young Standard of South Korea from 49 to 90 percent and has changed the name of the company to Cooper-Standard Automotive Korea, Inc. This transaction will give Cooper-Standard Automotive a significant presence in Korea through a well-established company, and will facilitate the expansion of its automotive sealing operations in the growing Asian automotive market. Dug Soo Kim, president of Jin Young Standard prior to this transaction, will continue to head the company’s operations.
Indian tyre manufacturer JK Tyre has said that it will invest 105 crore Rupees US$ 22.45 million) over the next three years to increase capacity at its radial truck tyre plant in Mysore and to increase the number of service and tyre care centres. $16 million would go towards increasing annual capacity from 240,000 tyres to 350,000 units while the remainder would be spent on increasing the number of tyre care centres to 100 and adding five more service centres.
The agreement signed last August between Indian companies Apollo Tyres and Modi Rubber, whereby the Modi factory would produce for Apollo, is off. Apollo says that its requirements for increased capacity are “being satisfied through our own expansion and through other sources.” An Apollo spokesman also said that the company “was not averse to buying into the tyre business of Modi Rubber”, providing the right deal can be struck. The Modi factory has been closed for over 18 months.
Group Tyre has successfully negotiated with Deldo to become the exclusive UK distributor for the Sunny brand, which will be available in seventeen sizes up to 17 inch, with new sizes being added as the brand develops. Deldo, who have exclusive European rights on Sunny, took the decision to partner with Group Tyre based on their proven credibility as a national distributor. The addition of Sunny to Group Tyres’ existing exclusive brands, Stunner, Trayal & Eurotour, is another positive step forward in their continued expansion programme and further enhances their reputation as one of the UK’s leading independent distributors to the fast fit industry.
Bridgestone has announced that it is to build its third tyre plant in China at Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The plant, which will be the first one in China wholly owned by Bridgestone, will produce 8,000 car radial tyres a day for the domestic and export markets, starting from September next year. Bridgestone says that the investment totals $99 million and the company plans investments in its other factories to increase production of car, truck and bus tyres.
Scottish fast fit McConechy’s Tyre service has taken a giant leap in corporate development by buying 33 outlets from Goodyear and Dunlop.
Anyone in the tyre business who has spent holiday time in the South of Spain will probably have noticed the branding of Confort Auto – the red, yellow and black logo emblazoned across the frontage of the white and black tyre depots along with the eagle logo and the Grupo Soledad inscription. They may not have realised that, with 57 workshops, Confort Auto is the largest independent fast fit operator in Spain. They may not have made the connection with the retread industry either, for the parent company of the Confort Auto brand is Grupo Soledad, which is also the owner and manufacturer of the Insa Turbo retread brand of truck and car tyres. Given the poor reputation of retread tyres in the UK market it may be difficult for some to reconcile a retread operation with the modern and professional approach of Confort Auto. However, the history of the company runs deeper still. The retreading division is based at Aspe outside Alicante, and the operation has grown on this site gradually expanding to take in more and more of the available space here. There is a great deal of development in the area and further expansion is planned in the near future, with a new warehouse at an industrial site a few kilometres away. This will create space at the Aspe plant for further developments.
Bridgestone Firestone Europe is to increase its capital by 400 million euros before the year-end, which will be undertaken by Bridgestone Corporation (Japan). Bridgestone will use capital to rebuild its manufacturing resources and to reinforce its sales organisation and financial position. The production capacity for high performance tyres will be strengthened by strategic investment in passenger car tyre plants to facilitate quick changes to future products. This will include the expansion of the Poznan plant, which will increase its capacity up to 23,000 tyres per day from its current capacity of 10,000 tyres. In addition, Bridgestone will increase the truck and bus tyre output from its Bilbao plant from 3,500 to 4,600 units per day by the end of 2005.
KoSa is investing in the expansion of two of its tyre cord facilities; at Queretaro (Mexico) and Charlotte (North Carolina). Output at Queretaro will increase by 40 per cent, while the investment at Salisbury will mean higher quality product for packages.
Viking International, one of the UK’s leading tyre, exhaust and automotive wholesale company’s, has appointed Mike Curry as National Sales Manager. As part of the senior management team, Mike will be responsible for eleven business development managers that cover the country from nine strategically positioned regional warehouses. He will also play a leading role in key national account expansion. Mike Curry has over twenty years sales experience working with blue-chip companies in a variety of senior positions. His most recent appointment was as sales and marketing director with Tenneco Automotive who manufacture Walker exhaust systems and Monroe shock absorbers.
At Superior Industries 3rd quarter conference call the company announced expected growth of 15 per cent every year for the next three years. This was based on the expected demand from the OE market where the company was seeing growth in supplying the key manufacturers. Shipments to DaimlerChrysler were up to 6 per cent, whilst there was a 15 per cent growth in supplies to non-Ford/GM companies. Market share at Ford/GM continued to increase. However, the aftermarket revenue for the third quarter stood at 903,000 Dollars. Superior accepted that this was an indication that this sector of the market was nearing an end for the company. Current US capacity is around 14.5 million units, plus potentially 2 million from Hungary. In order to meet new demand the company was expanding production capacity at Rogers, Arkansas and at two other plants. Plus there was the possibility of another new plant being developed in the next two years, possibly in China producing wheels exclusively for the export market.
Cooper Tire & Rubber has published its third quarter figures. Turnover rose 6 per cent to $839 million (3Q 2001: $791 m). For the first nine months, sales have totalled $2.5 billion, with a net income of $88 million, up 87 per cent on the same period last year. Tyre sales were almost static in 3Q at $464 million ($462 m), while auto component sales were up 14 per cent at $381 million. The company’s overall net income for the quarter was $23 million, compared to a loss in 3Q 2001 of $20 million, due largely to charges relating to settlement of class action litigation.
In the USA, Robbins LLC has announced a substantial plant expansion and modernisation program, including a new mixing line and a new 1,800 square foot testing and quality control lab. The mixing line will be housed in a new 60,000 square foot plant extension. Robbins, which recently acquired all the assets of Presti Rubber Products Inc., manufactures curing tubes and envelopes for retreading plus custom mixing of rubber compounds.
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