Point S Appoint Olivier Steier as New President
The general assembly of Point S in France has announced the appointment of Olivier Steier as its new president. Mr Steier succeeds Jean-Piere Legros who decided not to stand for re-election.
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Michelin Plant to Open
Product NewsMichelin & Cie., one of Europe’s largest tyre makers, is set to open a tyre plant in Russia on 7 July. Both Interfax and The Moscow Times reported the information, citing an official at the company’s press service in Paris, who stated that the plant, based in the Moscow region, will produce 2 million car tyres a year. The company intends to expand this capacity to 6.5 million next year. The press service source said Michelin is investing $160 million in the plant.
Michelin, based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, planned to borrow $20 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the Russian factory two years ago, on the understanding that the EBRD had would have a 49 per cent stake in the plant.
New Passenger Car Registration Statistics
Product NewsNew passenger car registration in Europe reached 1,240,539 units in May this year according to statistics published by the ACEA today. These figures represent a rise of 1.2% in comparison with 1,226,000 units produced in May 2003. This marginal increase has been put down to fewer working days in most EU countries but also to declining consumer confidence in some countries. Cumulative figures for the first five months of this year show an increase of 2.8% in line with most predictions.
National figures for the month of May show increases in a majority of countries. Among the five main markets Italy (+12%) was the best performer, ahead of Spain (+8.9%) and France (+4.8%), while Germany (-7.3%) and the U.K. (-2.8%) posted decreases. Cumulative figures show increases in 11 countries with +2.7% in the U.K.
Registrations in the new EU Member States were down 5.6% with the Czech republic and Poland posting significant decreases, while Lithuania was the best performer.
Worker’s Strike at French Ronal Plant
Product NewsWorkers at Ronal’s plant in St. Avold, France, have gone on strike in a protest against restructuring plans. The aluminium cast wheel manufacturers angered employees after using redundancies as a way of cutting costs. Part of the restructuring programme would have meant producing wheels for the high-quality aftermarket segment, but would have led to decreases in annual output.
New Director at Cooper
Product NewsCooper Tire and Rubber Company has announced that Michael Cati will be the company’s new director of sales and marketing for Asian operations. This means that Mr Cati, who was European marketing manager until recently, will now be responsible for sales and marketing in China.
Mr Cati originally joined Avon Tyres shortly before Cooper Tire and Rubber Company acquired it in 1997 after graduating from the school of European Business studies at Swansea University. During this time he was a territory sales manager in Europe and was responsible for achieving operational improvements at Cooper-Avon, France.
Chinese Leader Visits Hankook Tire Plant
Product NewsChinese President & Party General Secretary Hu Jin Tao visited the Hankook Tire plant in Huai-an, Jiangsu Province and talked to the workers. More than 40 other senior provincial officials were also on hand.
Britain Outperformed European Markets
Product NewsThe UK continues to lead the way in car sales as dealers throughout Western Europe enjoyed a mild recovery in March. Early sales trends show Britain outperformed other European markets with new registrations for the UK up by 11 % this year. A total of 466, 955 cars were sold in Britain during March. The German car market enjoyed a recovery with sales figures up 8 % to 345,000 units sold while France also saw an improvement of 5.6 % on the previous twelve months. Renault and Ford made the most significant gains within the UK market during March while Volkswagen topped the European market with an increase of 13 % as predicted by market watchers following discounts offered on the new Golf.
Titan Europe admitted to trading on London’s AIM Exchange
Product NewsTitan Europe Plc, previously a wholly-owned subsidiary of Titan International, has been admitted to trading on the AIM market in London. The placing shares have been priced at 125 pence, with 26,775,000 shares offered.
The 4×4 tyre market: still growing
NewsBack in 1990 or thereabouts Pirelli had just bought Armstrong and were busy launching their own 4×4 range and relaunching the Armstrong Tredloc Kevlar belted tyre for the 4×4 market.
The motoring press was busy telling the world that the 4×4 sector had peaked and would be on the decline by the following year. So much for the crystal ball gazing of the motoring press.
Today the 4×4 sector holds some 5 per cent of the UK market share – it may seem more as most 4×4 vehicles have a longer shelf life that their conventional counterparts, so probably hold a slightly larger share of the overall car parc. It would be interesting to know what the DVLA figures would be on that enquiry.
Throughout Europe there is no let up in the demand for 4×4 vehicles – even in markets where an off-road excursion could find the driver in serious trouble with the law. The 4×4 has developed from a serious tool for the military and agricultural sectors to a plaything and fashion symbol for the wealthy and the aspirational. Figures from Goodyear show that the utility sector of the market, the pick up and hard core 4×4 enthusiast has hardly shown any movement over the past four years, nor is it expected to in the coming years. The value market has dropped to a steady level at 90,000 units per year across Europe, the middle market too is stable. However, the luxury and crossover sectors of the SUV market are starting to show tremendous growth with the luxury sector doubling its volume from the 2000 figure of 101,000 units by 2007 whilst crossover vehicles will quadruple their volume in the same period it is these two sectors almost alone that will take the 4×4/SUV market from its current 706,000 units per annum to 840,000 units per annum by 2007.
In tyre terms this reads as growth in every sector – winter, S and T, and H and V rated, the market volume jumping from a total of 2,089,000 units in 1997 to 7,885,000 in 2007.
The two largest markets in Europe for 4×4 tyres are the UK and Germany, followed by Spain, Italy and France each having in excess of 10 per cent of the market. Scandinavia, Benelux, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal and Austria each have shares between 2 and 7 per cent of the market. With the whole of Eastern Europe taking only 4 per cent of the sector.
That 4 per cent for Eastern Europe suggests that, as with other sectors of the tyre market, the developing markets in Eastern Europe offer a phenomenal capacity for growth in this sector. In fact, if the move to car ownership in the East matches that ion the west, then the ultimate volume of the market could make Goodyear’s figures appear conservative.
EU car registrations down 1.6 per cent
Product NewsNew passenger car registrations in Europe (EU-15 + EFTA) for January 2004 amounted to 1,173,273 units, representing a decrease of 1.6 per cent (-1.6 per cent in the EU-15) with respect to January 2003. The figures for the first month of the year show a contrasting picture from country to country: in some of them, there are clear signs of recovery, while in others uncertain economic conditions continue to prevail. This is well illustrated by the figures in the five main markets. While Germany (-12.4 per cent) and France (-11.9 per cent) posted decreases, Spain (+9.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (+5.8 per cent) and Italy (+5.6 per cent) showed a positive start of the year. Overall passenger car registrations in the eight main markets among future EU Member States grew 3.5 per cent. The two main markets, Poland and Hungary, both posted an increase of 5 per cent, while the Czech Republic saw a decrease of 9.8 per cent.
Goodyear: Net loss grows to 332.4 million $ for the first 9 months
Product NewsTyre manufacturer Goodyear announced a net loss of 332.4 million US Dollars for the first nine months of this year. The net loss for the 3rd Quarter totalled $105.9 million. Sales in the last quarter rose around eleven per cent from 3.5 to 3.9 billion Dollars. However, volumes increased only by approximately two per cent from $54.4 (3Q 2002) to $55.3 million (3Q 2003). According to Goodyear, the turnover increased partly due to currency-exchanges and partly due to an improved product-mix. CEO Keegan is of the opinion that the efforts of the last months are bearing fruit. Nevertheless the fact is that the company disappointed again on the full line.
Goodyear: Net loss grows to 332,4 Million $ (Update)
Product NewsGoodyear’s 3rd Quarter 2003 results were taken up by the financial world with a deal of restraint and also with some disappointment. The Analyst at UBS Investment Research fears that because of the continuing loss situation in North America Goodyear shows signs of a possible breach of a covenant, while an analyst at Fitch Ratings asks impatiently, how long one has to wait for signs of the promised turnaround in North America? There was particular criticism that Goodyear was able to increase sales volumes only by approximately four per cent, in a market which grew by 6 per cent, while competitor Cooper added around nine per cent. Doubts were voiced that Goodyear can increase prices to the full extent needed, because of raw material price increases. While Goodyear mentioned positive trends, these were not apparent to observers.
Bridgestone Disappointed With Union Stance
Product NewsBridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, a division of Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp., is ready to return to the negotiating table with the United Steelworkers of America, a spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires on Monday. The company is waiting to hear from the union, which broke off contract talks last week, said spokesman Dan MacDonald. The union represents 6,000 workers at six U.S. tire manufacturing sites in Tennessee, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas and Indiana. Bridgestone/Firestone operates two non-union factories, and a chain of Firestone retail stores.
Michelin in JV with Apollo
Product NewsApollo Tyres has joined with Michelin in a joint venture company called Michelin Apollo Tyre to manufacture, market and sell truck and bus radial tyres. “We are scouting for an appropriate location in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The commercial operations will begin by September 2005,” said Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres Ltd. Michelin will have 51 per cent shareholding and Apollo 49 per cent in the new Michelin Apollo Tyre Ltd. The Apollo board of Directors has also approved Michelin’s purchase of 14.9 per cent of equity share capital by means of a preferential allotment from Apollo Tyre Ltd for about 28 million US dollars. The joint venture comes in the wake of ongoing road improvements and highway building projects being currently undertaken in India. While the Radialisation level in the passenger car segment is around 75 per cent, in bus and truck, it’s less than 2 per cent. “We plan to increase this to 5 per cent in next three years,” added Kanwar. Edouard Michelin, President Michelin said, ” We want to become Indian in India, French in France and Chinese in China and we believe that we have just the right tyres to match the Indian conditions.”
September car sales rise for Western Europe
Product NewsSeptember new car registrations for Western Europe rose by 4.4 per cent over last year across the main five markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), which was better than many industry analysts had forecast. Over the 15 EU members, figures were broadly similar (+4.5 per cent). In unit terms, registrations totalled 1,363,206 units.
