Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co. Ltd. (the parent company of Maxxis International) is investing over US$500 million in building new plants in Indonesia and Taiwan as well as expanding three existing plants in China.
Fresh from entering into the top 10 of global tyre makers, Giti Tire has announced that it will build a new $560 million passenger car, SUV and light truck tyre tyre factory, creating about 1,700 new jobs in Chester County, South Carolina during the next decade.
Nexen Tire has appointed Seung-Do Jin, a former Hankook Europe head, as president Nexen Tire Europe. Jin has years of professional experience and, according to the company, his team will be able to align the company in order to “meet all future challenges successfully”.
Apollo Tyres’ board has approved plans to build a new tyre factory in “Eastern Europe”, with 500 million euros earmarked for the project. According to the company, the greenfield project will see the tyre manufacturer invest half a billion euros over the next years, funded by “accruals and debt at the company’s European subsidiary”. The capacity is expected to be 16,000 passenger car radial (PCR) tyres a day and 3000 truck and bus radials a day.
Vietnamese tyre maker Casumina reports the official inauguration of its new all-steel truck radial plant on 19 April. The 70,000 square metre factory, located in Tân Uyên (Binh Duong Province), northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, will hold a 350,000 tyre per annum capacity in its initial project phase, with capacity rising to 600,000 units a year by the end of 2015 with phase two. The final project phase, which will take place from late 2015 through to 2017, will lift annual capacity to one million tyres. A total of 1,200 new jobs will be created through the factory project.
Production resumed, albeit at a reduced level, at Continental’s Port Elizabeth factory in South Africa last Friday, ten days after strike action halted all production there. Workers belonging to NUMSA, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, went on strike on 15 April over a pay dispute, and the limited production now taking place in Port Elizabeth is being performed by non-union members. In a statement, plant spokeswoman Nomfundo Hlela said the factory was not operating at full capacity.
Last November, Germany’s main political parties agreed in principle to the idea of requiring companies based in the country to allocate 30 per cent of their non-executive board seats to women as of 2016. The concept is yet to become law, however many German firms are implementing their own gender initiatives ahead of the possible introduction of such legislation. Continental AG is one such company, and when its new Supervisory Board met for the first time on 25 April, its numbers included three freshly-elected women. The presence of four female members on the 20-strong board means Continental has exceeded its target of having a Supervisory Board with 15 per cent women following the 2014 elections.
Milltek has launched a new Ford Focus ST250 exhaust system, which according to the company, is fruit of the exhaust maker’s motorsport relationship with BTCC. As a supplier to the Motorbase BTCC team, and the Airwaves Racing and Crabbies Ford Focus racecars, it’s fair to say that Milltek Sport has experience in getting the best out of Ford’s capable hot-hatch. Indeed Milltek was one of the first tuners in the UK to gain access to the Focus upon its launch, adding one to its development fleet.
MRF Tyres has launched a new aircraft tyre, the MRF Aeromuscle, and will supply this as the main wheel fitment for the Indian Air Force’s more than 200-strong fleet of Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter planes. The tyres are produced at the company’s Hyderabad factory and are said to be 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than their imported equivalent. The Indian Air Force sought out a local tyre supplier for the Su-30 due to difficulties sourcing the tyres overseas. MRF has now also been given a mandate to design nose wheel tyres for the aircraft.
Dunlop motorsport representatives have sought to clarify that the Dubai 24h, which Hankook recently took over as tyre supplier, has been affected by the decision to closure the company’ Birmingham motorsport tyre factory.
Last week, five members of the CGT union, employed at Goodyear’s Amiens Nord factory in France, were briefly taken into custody for incidents dating as far back as 2008. Head of CGT representation at the plant, Mickael Wamen, plus Sébastien Lupo, Christian Hareux, Reynald Jurek and Franck Jurek were imprisoned on 26 March and released 38 hours later. Their time in custody was linked to a complaint filed by one of France’s trade union confederations, the CFE-CGC, six years ago. The complaint was dismissed at the time but later reopened. The five men are accused of acts of violence, vandalism and making death threats.
Leading tyre building machinery maker VMI Group is planning to “significantly expand” its operations. This means a new factory building will be constructed in Epe, The Netherlands and current buildings will be restructured to enhance lean production. A new R&D and engineering office will also be built. In China, VMI reports that it is working with authorities to expand its facilities there. According to the company, the expansions follow “strongly increased turnover” at VMI.
Hyundai Motor has sold six million cars to European customers since the company began sales in the region in 1977. It took the company 19 years to sell its first million cars in the region. Since then it has taken less time to reach each subsequent milestone, with the latest one million cars sold in just over two years.
After weeks of speculation South Korean tyre manufacturer Nexen Tire has confirmed that it is investing US$800 million in the construction of a new tyre factory in the city of Nošovice, in the east of the Czech Republic.
On Sunday the first race of the 2014 MotoGP gets underway at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit, and Bridgestone says it “has not forgotten the growing army of fans attracted to MotoGP” in its sixth year as official series tyre supplier. To aid spectator involvement, the tyre maker has introduced a new sidewall colour marking system into the series and will debut this in Qatar.
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