The terms of the license agreement signed when the Nokian Tyres operation in Russia changed hands compel the new owner to cease using all trademarks and names belonging to the Finnish tyre maker, except Nordman. The Tatneft-owned business has thus rebranded from Nokian to Ikon Tyres.
For years the rise in prominence and market share of high-value and high-margin SUV and 4×4 tyres has continued unabated. During that time the boundaries between cross-over vehicles (CUV), sports utility vehicles (SUV) and 4x4s have been well and truly blurred. Now, with electric drivetrain technology coming to the fore as well, and with some tyre manufacturers making the case for specific electric vehicle-orientated tyres, is a new ultra-high value combined niche emerging? And if so, what does such intersectionality, or perhaps more appropriately since we are talking about tyres cross-sectionality, mean for the wider tyres business?
Nokian Tyres’s well-publicised exit from Russia has left it with a similarly well-reported production gap that continues to impact the company’s ongoing business. Speaking as part of the company’s first quarter 2023 results presentation, Nokian Tyres executives emphasised that “new capacity is our #1 priority” and shared further details of how they are planning to fill the firm’s production gap. We already knew that Nokian plans to expand its existing factories in Nokia, Finland and Dayton, USA as well as build a new factory in Romania and make off-take contracts with third-party manufacturers, what’s new is the detail and time frames associated with “building the new Nokian Tyres”.
Manufacturer association ETRMA reports that its members experienced a “significant drop” in replacement market sales demand during Q1 2023. Compared to Q1 2022, sales within the replacement consumer tyre segment declined 12% and replacement truck and bus tyre market sales demand shrank by 18%. While sales of moto tyres were just 3% below the prior year figure, agricultural tyre sales were 39% lower.
To support the digitalisation of tyre solutions, production processes and business workflows at Continental Tires around the world, the company has assembled a team of IT and related specialists at a new facility in Portugal. This Solution Center is located near the Continental tyre plant in Lousado and employs around 80 people, with plans already in place to double the workforce by 2026.
When Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced at the end of January that 500 jobs are being cut worldwide and linked this to business performance in the EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) region (see “Goodyear reports losses of $104 million in Q4 2022, points the finger at Europe”, T&A 3/2022, page 18), executives were effectively acknowledging the significant pressures facing the business. When Goodyear published its full-year 2022 and fourth quarter 2022 figures a few days later, the red numbers highlighted the pressing reality of those problems. Within that broad picture, it now seems clear that the US$2.8 billion Cooper takeover initiated two years ago has not yet brought the promised return, something Goodyear’s market capitalisation and the relative profitability of its competitors neatly illustrate. Meanwhile, some within Goodyer refer to the integration as “successfully completed”, but without offering details. In other words, the supposed success of the Goodyear-Cooper integration doesn’t match the company’s sub-par financial performance. With that in mind, here we take a pan-European look at those particularly contradictory perspectives.
At the start of April, Richard Lyons became executive managing director of Kumho Tyre UK. Lyons joins the company after roughly seven years with Trelleborg Wheel Systems in a variety of roles, latterly as managing director UK and Ireland. Before that, Lyons spent around 11 years with Giti where he oversaw significant growth at the company and rose to the role of managing director Europe and director – International sales and marketing, passenger car.
Anyone who abhors saving money or road safety should read no further, for Bridgestone is certain that “thousands of costly punctures on motorways across England can be prevented in a matter of minutes.” The key to achieving this speedy, safety-related saving is, according to a Bridgestone study, regularly inspecting commercial fleet yards for bolts, nails and screws.
In May 2022, European Union anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs were annulled. Then a new investigation began. Now new final determinations have been made, but what does this mean in the UK?
On 22 March, Shen Jinrong, chairman of ZC Rubber, summarised the Chinese tyre industry after the epidemic at the China Rubber Conference 2023. He said that during the three years of the epidemic (2020-2022), China’s tyre industry’s business environment and ecological chain had undergone significant changes.
The ‘magic triangle’ of tyre development depicts the conflict between efficiency and safety, but must we really sacrifice one quality when optimising the other? Auto Bild looks at a trio of tyres in an attempt to answer this question.
According to people familiar with the matter, Italian officials are attempting to limit the influence Sinochem has on Pirelli. Reporting this development, Bloomberg shares that officials are speaking with Pirelli investors about a range of options related to corporate structure.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put limiting road casualties, emissions and particulate matter within its Strategic Plan to 2025 and Vision to 2030, which were published 4 April 2023. DVSA’s Strategic Plan and Vision also seek to demonstrate how the agency will harness data in order to improve MOT quality control. Both are likely to impact the way garages and fast-fits that offer MOT testing operation in future.
Visit NokianTyres.ru today and you will be greeted with the following message: “All Nokian Tyres operations in Russia have ended. For guarantee services and other product information please visit www.vsevtyres.ru.” Browse over to vsevtyres.ru and you will find a page that looks identical to the former Nokian Tyres site. This development follows the sale of Nokian Tyres’s Russian operations to Tatneft and the rebranding of Nokian Tyres’s Vianor tyre retail business as Ivanor in Russia. So who is selling Nokian brand tyres in Russia and Russia-speaking markets? Is it Nokian Tyres or Tatneft?
Arrested on 6 March 2023, Hankook Tire & Technology chairman Cho Hyun-bum has now been indicted on charges of illicit inter-affiliate trading, embezzlement and breach of trust.
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Photo: Volvo
Scott Parker-Copestick/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
China Rubber Conference 2023
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