A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on August 4 between JK Tyre and Industries and India’s Tamil Nadu Government for the establishment of a greenfield tyre factory within the state. The plant, to be established with an Rs 15 billion (£204.3 million) investment, will produce both passenger car truck and bus radials and have an annual capacity of 5.6 million tyres.
Kesoram Industries Ltd has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the lockout at its Balasore factory in India’s Orissa state has been lifted. As of 6am on August 3 operations recommenced at the facility. A company spokesperson reported that almost 90 per cent of workers returned to work for the first shift. Tyre production will restart on August 4.
The construction of Bridgestone Americas’ new $100 million Akron Technical Center is progressing as planned, with a targeted finish date of 1 January, 2012, reports Tire Review.
In April Aston Martin launched its first four-door production car, the Rapide. Bridgestone states that it proposed its latest generation Potenza S001 to Aston Martin on the grounds of its response and precision, combined with its high stability levels in the wet. The result of this offer has been the fitment of Bridgestone’s tyre as standard equipment since the Rapide’s debut.
Following prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive, Pirelli Tyres Ltd has been fined £9,000 for an incident in which an employee’s leg was broken when he was hit by a forklift vehicle in the tyre maker’s Carlisle plant. Allan Miller, a 62-year-old contractor, was walking through an area within the curing department at the Dalston Road site when he was struck from behind by a pallet being carried on a forklift truck. He has been unable to return to his normal duties, the HSE reports.
According to Nairobi based news portal The East African, the nation of Tanzania is “struggling” to end the multi-billion dollar General Tyres East Africa (GTEA) partnership brokered with Continental AG in the mid-1990s. The East African states that Continental, 38 per cent shareholder in the venture, has been “feuding with the state” since 2006. The GTEA facility in northern Tanzania has been closed since 2007, with 400 workers locked out.
India’s Kesoram Industries Ltd has notified the Bombay Stock Exchange of the declaration of a lockout at its Birla Tyres plant in Orissa as of July 16. This measure has been taken, the company says, in response to a strike that took place the previous day. In a corporate filing, Kesoram stated the workers “are forcibly squalling inside the factory premises of the said section in an illegal manner.”
Borovets in Bulgaria was home to the tough 220.03 mile course of Rally Bulgaria, round seven of the 2010 World Rally Championship, of which Pirelli is the exclusive tyre supplier under a three-year agreement with the FIA, motorsport's world governing body.
It was the threat of unpredictable weather that made the availability of the soft compound Pirelli P Zero tyre essential for the competing crews. On gravel events, WRC regulations restrict drivers to a pre-determined compound of Pirelli's Scorpion tyre. On asphalt events, they can choose between the hard (for dry conditions) or soft (for wet conditions) compound P Zero, albeit with a restriction of 40 covers in total. In Bulgaria, they had an allocation of 34 hard compound tyres and 24 soft compound tyres, eight more than usual, following reports of possible thunderstorms.
UK coalition government business secretary Vince Cable has ruled out further publically financed direct support for the UK car industry. Additionally he cast doubt on plans made by the previous Labour government that would have subsidised early purchases of low-emission vehicles in 2011. Cable told London’s Financial Times on 29 June, “We don’t want to go around the country waving a cheque book.”
Production capacity at Yokohama’s passenger car and light truck tyre factory in Thailand is to be increased by almost 54 per cent, with the additional production commencing next April. Through a 9.7 billion yen (£72 million) investment an additional 1.4 million units of annual capacity will be added to the Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) plant in Raying Province, pushing total annual capacity up to 4 million tyres.
The lockout at Apollo Tyres’ Perambra factory in India’s Kerala state is now in its second week, and the company’s chief of India Operations, Satish Sharma, has released an official statement broaching the issue:
Continental reports the exclusive fitment of tyres featuring its ContiSeal technology on the latest model Volkswagen Passat CC. ContiSportContact 3 tyres featuring the technology are now being factory-fitted on the luxury Passat model in size 235/40 R 18 95 W XL.
Ruia Group company Falcon Tyres is to establish a new factory in Uttaranchal state, in Northern India, a move accompanied by an increase in production in the company’s Mysore factory. Group chairman told reporters after the company’s 83rd Annual General Meeting on June 15 that “following the establishment of the new plant about 30 km from Haridwar in Uttaranchal, and upgrading the capacity of [the] Falcon Tyres Mysore plant, the total production for two-three wheeler tyres would go up from the present 150,000 units a month to over 230,000 pieces.”
In June 11 filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Apollo Tyres has reported the initiation of a lockout at its Perambra factory in Kerala. “With reference to the earlier announcement dated April 29, 2010, Apollo Tyres Ltd has now informed BSE that the management has declared Lock-out at company's manufacturing facility at Perambra,” stated the filing, quoting “labour unrest relating to long term settlement negotiations” as the reason for its action.
At an Exane BNP Paribas seminar on June 11, Michelin outlined its intention to double passenger car and light truck tyre capacity in growth regions by 2012 and to increased truck tyre capacity by 40 per cent within this timeframe. This growth will in part be facilitated by the construction of three greenfield plants – a new US$800 million truck tyre facility in India, an $800 million passenger car and truck tyre factory in China, and a passenger car tyre facility in Brazil. All three plants are anticipated to enter production in 2012.
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