Jean-Dominique Senard has confirmed he doesn’t wish to stand for re-election upon the expiry of his current term as Michelin’s chief executive officer. This means he will step down at the close of the tyre maker’s 2019 Annual Shareholders Meeting, and Michelin is implementing a succession plan that will see Florent Menegaux take his place.
Mitsuteru Tanigawa has become the new CEO of Falken Tyre Europe. Tanigawa (61), replaces Masatsugu Nishino, who has moved to Turkey to head up Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ manufacturing facility.
Yokohama will supply its global flagship Advan Sport V105 tyres to BMW’s new X3 model. The new BMW X3, which debuted in November 2017 in North America, will be released gradually in markets around the world, and will come equipped with tyres in one of two sizes —225/60R18 104W or 245/50R19 105W, the latter of which features Yokohama’s run-flat technology. This marks the first time that Yokohama has supplied tyres as original equipment for a BMW model.
On 1 February the European Commission began implementing regulation (EU) 2018/163, making imports of new and retreaded commercial vehicle tyres originating from China subject to registration. The news follows the initiation of anti-dumping proceedings on 11 August 2017 and anti-subsidy proceedings on 14 October 2017.
Online retailer Tyremarket.com is seeking to establish a market leading position in India through its latest investment drive. With India already the world’s second-largest internet user, and online transactions expected to rise rapidly in the next few years, the company is pursuing a strategy to reach the top spot in what is one of the largest developing tyre markets too. Lead by former Siemens executive Sanjeev Agrawal, and with UK online tyre retailer Blackcircles.com founder Michael Welch OBE on board as strategic adviser and shareholder, Tyremarket.com states that it is “on track for market leading position in the $5 billion plus domestic replacement market.”
The car tyre market is growing in size – at least in terms of rim diameter. According to the latest UK car tyre market sell-out data produced by market research specialists GfK, 39 per cent of market is now made up of 17-inch and larger rim diameter products. And what’s more the trend points to continued growth. The GfK Point of Sales Tracking data compares figures from January to December 2016 with those from January 2017 to December 2017 in order to produce the comparisons published here.
Leading UK tyre group, European Tyre Enterprise Ltd (ETEL), has announced a series of promotions within its senior management, including the appointment of a new CEO following Kenji Murai’s promotion to a global position with parent company, Itochu.
Linglong Tire has become a Juventus Football Club official partner, having signed an agreement in Zhaoyuan, where the tyre manufacturer is headquartered. The Torinese club is one of Italy’s most prominent, boasting a 120-year history of domestic and international success, demonstrating the increasing ambition of Linglong, now a global top 20 player in the tyre industry.
Two of Sailun Jinyu International Europe’s tyre brands will now be distributed by wholesalers Viking Wholesaler Tyres and Bond International following a major strategic review of its UK distribution operations. The manufacturer pronounced itself “delighted to announce a number of enhancements and improvements” for its portfolio, which includes the Sailun, Jinyu, Blacklion, and Rovelo brands. The new strategy has become effective immediately, SJI Europe added.
A year after we predicted that car tyre prices would rise during 2017 as part of last year’s car tyre feature, the latest data provided by tyre market research specialists Encircle Marketing shows that prices are indeed recovering. However, while tyre prices recovered to 2016 levels during 2017, there is still some way to go before average prices reach 2015 levels. Encircle’s latest figures examine the shape of the traditional tyre retail market and the online tyre market.
Changrin Suk has been named the new president of Kumho Tire Europe. The 59-year old succeeds Charles Kim, who served in this role since March 2015 and has now left the company.
With the exception of agricultural tyres, sales of tyres produced by European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) members were generally stable in 2017. The ETRMA reports that its members sold 204,838,000 replacement market consumer tyres (passenger car, SUV and light commercial vehicle tyres) in 2017, 0.9 per cent fewer than a year earlier. Sales of original equipment consumer tyres (including in the Turkish market) were up during the year, increasing 0.7 per cent to 86,779,000 units in 2017.
Universal Tyres recently bought three Tyrework tyre retail branches from Kings Road Tyre Group (KRT). The branches based in Heathrow, Gatwick and Aylesford, were officially acquired on 6 January 2018 and bring the total number of Universal retail centres to 18 points of sale.
The Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products (SLAMERP) celebrated its 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Cinnamon Grand Colombo on the 16 January 2018. The association was inaugurated in 1985 in order to offer “comprehensive representation, advocacy and to champion to all manufacturers and exporters of rubber products in Sri Lanka”.
A year after the UK government began a consultation period on the question of whether or not to extend the period of the first MOT for cars and motorcycles from three years to four years, Jesse Norman MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads, Local Transport and Devolution has announced that the government is keeping the three-year first MOT policy we currently have:
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