Following media reports the day before, on 19 February Honda confirmed it will close its Swindon car manufacturing facility with the loss of around 3500 jobs. According to Honda, the closure forms part of wider global restructuring plans. Honda also said the news comes as the Japanese firm “accelerates its commitment to electrified cars, in response to the unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry”.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have met with Michelin Dundee stakeholders as part of a visit to officially open Dundee’s V&A Museum of Design.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber has ceased tyre production Venezuela. In a statement the company said the local economy and US sanctions were behind halting production:
Work to find a sustainable future for the Michelin Dundee plant is now underway – after Scotland’s Economy Secretary Derek Mackay convened the first meeting of the Michelin Dundee Action Group yesterday. Meeting in Dundee, Mackay tasked the group with exploring what can be done to retain the plant in Dundee and how it could be repurposed in the future towards manufacturing related activity.
Scotland’s Finance and Economy Secretary, Derek Mackay, held urgent talks yesterday with trade unions and the management of Michelin Tyre Company Ltd. to discuss the future of the Dundee car tyre plant, following confirmation of Michelin’s intention to close the plant by 2020.
An analyst report published by Jefferies International Limited has stated that the closure of Michelin’s Dundee plant “supports [the company’s] intent to accelerate cost savings during 2019-20.” Presenting its nine-month 2018 results in October, Michelin warned that demand had deflated in the car and truck markets and it was revising down its guidance; subsequently Michelin shares fell to a seven-year low.
The Schaeffler Group, best known to us as major shareholder (through holding company IHO Group) in tyre and automotive systems manufacturer Continental, has announced its intention to close two of its three plants in the UK. And Brexit, in part at least, is to blame.
Two months after the tyre manufacturer began a restructuring programme at its factory in Dundee, Michelin is set to close the plant at the cost of about 850 jobs. Michelin, which has run the Dundee site since 1971, says it plans to leave the city by 2020.
According to a statement issued on 7 September, Pirelli has disposed of its car tyre factory in Guacara, Venezuela and all other activities within the country. As Pirelli’s Venezuelan subsidiary was deconsolidated as far back as 31 December 2015, the tyre maker says the operation’s divestment “has no financial effects on the group.”
After a stoppage of two days, Pirelli’s tyre factory in Guacara, Venezuela is said to be operating again. Venezuelan daily El Universal reports that the country’s Ministry of Labour has intervened in the matter, and this led to production recommencing on 29 August.
The Pirelli factory in Guacara, Venezuela hasn’t escaped the economic turmoil the country is currently experiencing, and plant workers received a nasty surprise upon arriving for yesterday’s shift. Local news sources report that the factory has been shuttered as it lacks the raw materials needed to maintain production. Pirelli is also allegedly unable to pay the wages of its 704 unionised workers and approximately 175 other employees in Guacara following the introduction of currency reforms on 20 August.
In mid-June US president Donald Trump announced plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods. However, the above round of tariffs was actually an additional wave that followed as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war with China. Steel is at the centre of this dispute, with President Trump suggesting that China is dumping steel in America. But now US tyre cord makers could close due to steel tariffs.
Bekaert Group is closing its rubber reinforcement entity in Figline e Incisa Valdarno, Italy and cease all activities there.
Production at the Michelin tyre plant in Ballymena, Northern Ireland came to an end last week. Although the facility won’t officially close until 30 June, The Belfast Telegraph writes that production ended last Wednesday, with the final tyre finished the following day.
Michelin has announced plans to convert part of the site of its closing Northern Ireland manufacturing plant to a business park following its sale to Silverwood Property Developments. The tyre manufacturer will complete the closure of its Ballymena plant in June, after the last tyre rolls off its production line in April, ending 50 years of manufacturing. Some of the site – reportedly around 10 acres – has been earmarked for Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, as it attempts to win its bid to host a regional Heathrow Logistics Hub, supporting proposed construction work at the West London airport.
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