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Michelin Contemplates MotoGP Withdrawal

Michelin may bow out of MotoGP racing at the end of the current season if the Honda and Yamaha factory teams switch to Bridgestone for 2008, reports Eurosport.

After ruling the roost for a number of years, the 2007 season has seen Michelin’s fortunes decline, with Bridgestone shod rider Casey Stoner securing eight victories in contrast to Michelin’s four. Both Yamaha and Repsol Honda’s tyre contracts are due for renewal at the end of this year, and to date neither party has offered any firm indication that they intend to re-sign with Michelin.

Should Michelin not retain its factory teams, it may choose to end its relationship with the championship. “If we don’t have any factory teams I don’t think we’ll stay. Or we won’t have a really good reason to continue the development,” Jean Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing, told Eurosport. “If our partners don’t trust in our potential then maybe we don’t have to stay.”

5th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Keep on Trucking Through Winter

This October will see Continental’s latest cold weather tyre for light commercial vehicles, the VancoWinter 2, arriving this side of the Channel and released onto a market that is increasingly becoming important to van drivers and fleets who realise the safety benefits of fitting cold weather tyres to work vehicles.

Already approved as OE for the popular Mercedes Sprinter van and the Iveco Daily, the VancoWinter 2 continues Continental’s success in the area of OE van tyre supply. According to Conti one in three vans leaves a European factory running on Continental tyres, confirming the German manufacturer’s strong OE position.

The VancoWinter 2 features sipes that spread when braking to create an ice scraper effect on the road surface, allowing shorter braking distances on winter roads. Open shoulders on the tyre with wide lateral grooves provide excellent water drainage, leading to a high level protection against aquaplaning on wet roads. Conti has striven to create an optimum tyre footprint for the VancoWinter 2, one that allows for even wear. This, coupled with the tyre’s cold weather compound, is reported to give the VancoWinter 2 in the vicinity of 30 per cent extra mileage potential in the winter months compared with a conventional van tyre.

4th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

39 per cent of Saudi Car Crashes Caused By Worn Tyres

The illegal Saudi Arabian worn tyre trade is reportedly thriving despite the implementation of deterrent fines. According to an Arab News report that quote official statistics, used tyres cause 39 per cent of car accidents in the country every year. The people involved in such accidents said to be generally families travelling at high speeds in their cars on tyres they believe are safe. The lack of awareness of the importance of tyre safety in the region is exemplified by the fact that several media reports have been needed to warn drivers of the risk of using second hand worn tyres, or factory-rejected new tyres.

“The summer is the most important season for us, since tyres get damaged as a result of high temperatures,” said Mohamed Thabet, a Yemeni worker at a local tyre shop. Stacked on the wall of his shop were used tyres for sale — some of them so worn that frayed strands of fibre can be seen in patches, Arab News reported.

4th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Regains Disputed Factory Land

Dunlop India has been granted a favourable ruling in the dispute over an eight acre section of land at its Chennai facility. The company has release a press statement outlining the recent decision made by the court of the sub-divisional magistrate.

“M/S VGN Enterprises, represented by V N Devadoss has forcibly and wrongfully dispossessed the position of Dunlop India Ltd on July 30, 2007. I therefore u/s 145 (4) CrPC order that the possession of the above lands shall be restored to M/S Dunlop India Ltd.”

Mr. Devadoss claims that his company, VGN Enterprises, legitimately purchased the land from Dunlop India’s former owners in 2004.

30th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Revised BFNAT Pay Plan Rejected

Workers at the Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire facility in La Vergne voted strongly against a revised contract with the tyremaker on August 23, placing a question mark over the future of the plant and its almost 1,200 non-salaried workers. Employees voted 488 to 225 against a proposal containing provision for an incentive-pay plan linking potential income with productivity.

“We are disappointed. We believe this vote was critical to the plant’s future,” Bridgestone spokesman Dan MacDonald said. “To be successful in a fiercely competitive global economy this plant needs to improve productivity. It is not at a level to make us globally competitive. We don’t set the rules, the marketplace does.” MacDonald added that decisions about the factory would need to be made “down the road.”

President of the local United Steelworkers branch, Gary Manning, said the vote against the contract was no surprise. “Workers didn’t have any real assurances that this would really protect the plant,” Manning said. “The biggest problem here was not knowing what the numbers (would) be, how much these workers would be expected to do and under what terms.”

29th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Several Companies Show Interest in Ailing ATS Plant

A number of companies have cast a hungry eye upon the factory owned by ATS Light Alloy Wheels South Africa a month after the company was placed in provisional liquidation. One of the joint liquidators, Alan Pellow, said that about six companies had already inspected the plant and “some people in the US want to have a look.”

The liquidators say they are striving to find a buyer who we take on the factory as a going concern, however this happy outcome is by no means certain. “We are waiting for the final valuations for the plant and will then probably send out an information pack worldwide and see what we can bring in,” Pellow added.

ATS Light Alloy Wheels South Africa is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tiger Wheels’ 74 per cent owned German unit ATS Beteiligungs. In addition to the South African facility, ATS also operates alloy wheel manufacturing plants in Germany, Poland and the US. Directors and senior management at the South African plant applied for liquidation of the company due to ongoing cash flow problems, and the decision as to if or when liquidation is finalised is dependent on a high court decision.

28th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Moscow Tyre Plant Produces Millionth Amtel tyre

Approximately a year after its acquisition by Russia’s leading passenger car tyre producer, Amtel-Vredestein’s Moscow Tyre Plant has manufactured its millionth Amtel brand tyre. Production of Amtel branded products began a month after the facility was acquired by Amtel-Vredestein in August 2006, and since that time both monthly output and product range have gradually increased. Amtel-Vredestein reports that 18 types of tyre are now produced in the factory, including four popular Amtel NordMaster2 models.

24th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

TVS Tyres Planning to Expand Capacity

Indian manufacturer of tyres for two and three wheeled vehicles as well as agricultural and industrial tyres, TVS Tyres, will soon begin a Rs 350,000,000 (£4.3 million) expansion of its factory in the southern city of Madurai. This investment will boost tyre and inner tube production capacity by approximately 12 per cent, giving the company a greater ability to extend its focus upon exports to South East Asia.

TVS presently has the capacity to produce 11 million tyres per annum and a similar quantity of tubes. During the 2007/08 fiscal year the company is placing an emphasis on exports, and expects to see the value of its exports increase from Rs 750,000,000 (£9.1 million) in the 2006/07 year to Rs 1,000,000,000 (£12.2 million) in 2007/08. Exports account for some 16 per cent of the company’s revenues, and TVS enjoys sales to more than 60 countries, including the UK.

24th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian Tyres Confirms Kazakhstan Negotiations

Company News, International News

Nokian Tyres has officially confirmed the rumours that it is negotiating a factory project in Kazakhstan. The company reports that negotiations are ongoing, and as of August 24 no agreements have been made. Nokian aims to finalise the negotiation project before the end of the year.

According to previous information supplied to Tyres & Accessories, Nokian tyres may be manufactured at the US$200 million factory being built in the national capital by Kazakhstan’s Ordabasy Corporation. This new plant will have an annual capacity of 4 million tyres when in full production.

24th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India to Retain Factory Land – For Now

Dunlop India’s battle to retain a legitimate claim to a piece of land at its factory in Ambattur, Chennai has been given a boost by a decision made by a district court in Chennai. The court has ordered that, for the time being, the land seized by real estate company VGN Enterprises should remain in the hands of the tyremaker.

The court official, Ponneri executive magistrate and revenue district officer, M.S. Sangeeta, said in an interim order that “the impugned land should be placed in as-is-where-is condition without any change, construction, removal of machinery or apparatus and [the] status quo should be maintained.”

This interim order lends weight to the Ruia group’s argument that the sale of 60.86 acres of factory land to VGN Enterprises in 2004, a transaction made by Dunlop India’s previous owners, was illegal.

15th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Ceat to Cut Costs Through Plant Relocation

Ceat Ltd. intends to move its factory located in the Mumbai suburb of Bhandup to Patalganga, near the city of Thane and around 30km northeast of Mumbai. According to a report published in India’s Economic Times on August 8, the main motivation behind the proposed shift is to reduce costs and bring down the amount spent on local ‘octroi’ taxes.

The almost half-century old factory will be dismantled and relocated in phases, and CEAT has already decided upon the sale of 6.5 acres of surplus land at the plant site. At current real estate prices the site’s entire 31 acres may well fetch up to Rs 5 billion (£61 million) when disposed of.

“It is the reality of life. The company has to shift out tomorrow if not today,” said Ceat managing director Paras Chowdhary. Ceat, a company achieving a net profit of Rs 390 million (£4.7 million) in the year to March 2007, reportedly hand over about Rs130 million (£1.6 million) in local taxes on materials entering Mumbai city limits for use, consumption or sale.

9th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Employees Bribed to Seize Factory Land

All operations at the Dunlop India facility in Ambattur, Chennai have been suspended after real estate company VGN Enterprises reportedly used force to take possession of a section of the factory land on July 30. The tyremaker notified the Bombay Stock Exchange on August 7 that it has taken this decision following the recent activities, and in a press release claimed VGN’s “illegal” act made it impossible to carry out normal manufacturing activities.

It appears that after VGN Enterprises demolished part of the factory compound wall it drew upon the assistance of some of the plant’s workforce and occupied an eight acre piece of ground, erecting its own boundary walls around this land. VGN Enterprises allegedly paid Dunlop India workers Rs 15,000 (£180) each for their complicity in the land grab.

8th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Embroiled in Factory Land Dispute

Dunlop India’s fortunes continue to slide to a new low as the company, on top of the recent cessation of production at its Sahagunj plant, becomes entangled in a land dispute. The quarrel with real estate company VGN Enterprises surrounds a small portion of the 60.86 acre Chennai plant plot auctioned off by Dunlop India in 2004 in compliance with a Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) rehabilitation scheme.

The tyremaker claims the land in question could not be sold under the BIFR scheme, however the buyer, VGB Enterprises managing director V N Devadoss, is adamant that any right Dunlop India may have once had to the land has been relinquished. VGB Enterprises paid Rs 234.4 million (£2.96 million) for the parcel of land, and plans to develop the land into an integrated township. Mr. Devadoss has supported his ownership claim with the land’s title deed, court cases settled in his favour and an affidavit filed by Dunlop India in support of the sale of the land to him.

3rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Striking South African Workers Vent Anger at Tyre Plant Bosses

Striking workers at Continental Tyre South Africa’s Port Elizabeth factory have expressed their feelings towards deadlocked wage negotiations with what one local media source has described as a “rampage.” The Port Elizabeth Herald described the July 31 events as nearly becoming “out of control,” with “verbal abuse exchanged between the group and police.” Part of the road outside the plant was reportedly barricaded with burning tyres and a number of motor vehicles belonging to employees not participating in the strike were damaged.

Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) were well represented amongst the demonstrative group outside the plant, and Continental is accusing them of not adhering to the accepted rules of picketing. “The company can‘t condone an act of this nature. Under the circumstances we will be forced to enforce the picketing order,” Continental Tyre spokesman Attie Higgs told media. In its defence Numsa said the display of anger was symbolic of the workers’ growing frustration and desperation, and the union accused the plant bosses of “not negotiating in good faith.”

1st August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Hankook Plant Under Fire from Unions, Locals

Within a month of opening the Hankook factory in the Hungarian town of Dunaújváros has become the subject of labour law breach allegations. These complaints from union representatives, including accusations that plant management has not adhered to conventions established by the International Labour Organisation and the EU, have resulted in employment inspectors visiting the facility.

Amongst the union’s list of grievances are accusations of illegal dismissal of workers, late payments, no extra pay for overtime, company discouragement of union activity and unsanitary working conditions. Following investigation by Hungary’s Employment and Work Safety Authority a report on the matter is due to be released and the end of July.

Hungarian government plans to provide Hankook with 92.6 million euros worth of subsidies in order to eventually increase the number of employees at Dunaújváros to 1,500 have been approved by the European Commission. However, senior union representative Tamás Székely has said he intends to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and insist the government withhold these subsidies until the union is satisfied all labour issues have been resolved.

24th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors