The German Agricultural Society ‘Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft’ (DLG) has road tested two Goodyear farm tyres, the super wide Optitrac DT818 and the super volume Optitrac DT830 concluding that at speeds of up to 50 km/h, both tyres were “as comfortable as driving a passenger car.”
(Akron/Tire Review) A Toyo Proxes S/T equipped Sportec Cayenne Turbo SP600M broke the Fastest SUV in the World title by lapping the Automotive Testing Papenburg oval test track in Germany at a top speed of 191.65 mph. The test was held 10 March, according to Toyo officials. Driven by Sportec’s Andreas Hodel, the new mark shattered the previous record of 175 mph set in 2003 by a Kleenman ML55K also running on Toyo’s Proxes S/T tyres.
”We are very proud of this record set through a collaborative effort between Toyo and Sportec, said Travis Roffler, Toyo Tire (USA) Corp.’s senior director of marketing. “The fact that another world class tuner selected the Proxes S/T to break such a prestigious record demonstrates their continued confidence in the engineering excellence and overall quality of Toyo products.”
Despite tough conditions overall, in 2004 BBS Kraftfahrzeugtechnik AG increased consolidated sales by 1.2 per cent to 190.4 million euros. This rise was exclusively driven by business outside Germany, which expanded 4.3 per cent from 94.6 million euros to 98.6 million euros. Consolidated EBIT fell from 10.5 million euros to 7.2 million, while consolidated net income for the year decreased from 4.4 million to 1.0 million euros.
A proposed Chinese joint venture between Qingdao Doublestar and Continental AG fell apart because of a dispute over who would take the majority stake in the partnership, according to a Bloomberg report. The Chinese company has since said it is in talks with other overseas companies for a venture in which it wants a majority stake, the Chinese company said in a Shenzhen exchange statement today. The statement did not name the prospective partners.
New research from independent market analysts Datamonitor suggests that Europe’s 146 billion euro light vehicle aftermarket is in decline. The analysts say that revenues could drop by one per cent compared with those of today – a 1.2 billion euro shrinkage.
In the past the European alloy wheel market was heavily influenced by the decisions of large local producers. However these companies successfully chose to focus more and more on the original equipment business. As a consequence they had to neglect the aftermarket. This created a vacuum, which newcomers from Europe and the Far East have tried to fill. One such company is BSA from Malaysia. In Malayasia, these three letters represent a premium brand, although this is not the case in Europe – and this is something that is unlikely to change overnight. However when the Rudersdorf, Germany based wheel manufacturer, SMC, manufactured with BSA, the company found that it had gained rapid entry into the catalogues of important European wholesalers.
BSA’s slogan is “The Sign of Quality.” These words represent the company’s intention to bring quality into the aftermarket. Rolf Bene, managing director and owner of SMC GmbH is particularly interested in developing good customer relations, exclusively in the aftermarket business. BSA chairman, Dato’ Cam Soh Thiam Hong, summed this up when he said that it was all about: “You and ME!”
Preliminary reports show that Germany chemical company Lanxess AG increased its sales and earnings in 2004, benefiting from a general upturn in the industry. The company significantly improved on its operating results achieving 59 million euros EBIT, recovering from a 1.3 billion euro loss in 2004. According to the un-audited figures, sales rose more than 7 per cent to 6.773 billion euros in 2004. Earnings (EBITDA) for the reporting period increased by 44 per cent to 447 million euros. At the same time the company reduced net debt to around 1.1 billion euros. In the final quarter of 2004, the company posted a fourth-quarter operating loss (EBIT) of 17 million euros, following a loss of 1.2 billion euros in the same period of 2003.
ThyssenKrupp subsidiary, ThyssenKrupp Technologies has sold its Elastomertechnik business. ThyssenKrupp Technologies sold the tyre production machinery firm to the Lubeck based Possehl Group. The new owners have applied for the purchase to be registered retrospectively from the 1 October 2004. Elastomertechnik owns facilities in Hamburg and Freudenberg (Germany) plus Topeka/USA and Belisce/Kroatia. The company made a turnover of 145 million euros in the 2003/2004 financial year.
The European Union Commission has said it is probing four car makers on suspicion that they restricted access to technical information required for vehicle maintenance in a way that may contravene EU competition law, Tire Review reports.
“The atrocious road conditions of recent weeks has spawned some debate on the safety benefits of certain vehicles, centring on ultra strong safety shells, anti lock brakes and safety bags protecting every part of the drivers anatomy! However there does not seem to be any reference to the one component which largely dictates exactly where the vehicle is going – the tyres.” This was the recent comment of NTDA director, Richard Edy, in a statement concerning the UK’s current campaign for the introduction of ‘cold’ weather tyres.
Private equity group CVC Capital Partners, the owner of Kwik Fit, has appointed Deutsche Bank to advise on a possible sale or floatation of the retail business. CVC said it and the German bank would work together on determining the best course for Kwik-Fit, according to a BBC report. Kwik-Fit is expected to be valued at more than £700 million with some estimates reaching £1 billion. Analysts report the company has strong cash flows and would make an attractive takeover target.
“Deutsche and CVC are going to evaluate the strategic options for Kwik-Fit, but no decision has been taken yet in terms of whether it will be a trade sale or an IPO (initial public offering) or in terms of timing,” said a spokesman for CVC. Famous in the UK for its “You can’t get better than a Kwik-Fit fitter” advertising slogan, Kwik-Fit is Europe’s largest independent auto parts, repair and replacement specialist. It has some 2,300 outlets including its mainland Europe subsidiaries – Speedy in France and Pit Stop in Germany.
The UK’s Fulda Challenge team is back on home soil after competing in the annual arctic adventure; unfortunately the outcome was not one they had predicted.
German police investigating a fatal coach crash have criticised the “irresponsible” decision to send the British coach to Germany without winter tyres, according to British media reports. The accident resulted in the death of coach hostess Rosie Nolan, who died when she was hurled from the vehicle as it overturned in snowy conditions. The coach was en route to Austria for a ski trip when the accident occurred.
Watford-based Cantabrica Coaches said it was “flabbergasted” at police claims that the coach had the wrong tyres. The Highway Police in Wattenheim had said the coach was only equipped with balding summer tyres. “In the opinion of the police, it is irresponsible to send a bus with such tyres on a trip in the winter,” they said in a statement.
“We are flabbergasted that the police would say such a thing. The company has been operating for 26 years without a serious accident,” company spokesman Simon Posner said, defending his company’s safety record. “It is a modern coach, it has all the safety fittings and it was fully checked before it went,” he said. Another seven Britons were seriously injured in the crash near Grunstadt on the Mannheim-bound stretch of motorway.
Media Multiplex presented its vehicle parc management software TireCon, at Reifen 2002 for the first time. Three years later its goal is to establish the software as a standard European solution for haulage contractors, passenger car, truck, bus and other vehicle fleets for tyre dealers, service chains and leasing companies.
The German retreading industry has, for some time now, been concerned about when and how the ECE regulations 108 (passenger tyres) and 109 (truck tyres) would eventually be transferred into mandatory national law. In fact concerns over how the regulations will affect the German retreading market have been lingering since they were put into place in Geneva in June 1998.
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