Starting 1 January 2014, Thorsten A. Bublitz is supervising the international expansion of all agricultural activities within Continental’s Commercial Specialty Tires business unit in his new role as business line manager agro. In this position he reports to business unit managing director Dr. Michael Maertens.
Figures released by the ACEA show that, with a 13.3 per cent increase in new car registrations in December 2013, the EU recorded the largest monthly year-on-year growth since December 2009 (+16.6 per cent). However, in absolute figures, the results were the third lowest to date for a month of December with a total of 906,294 units.
Continental’s newly-published provisional key figures for the 2013 fiscal year show the tyre and automotive component maker achieved an adjusted EBIT margin of 11.2 per cent, comfortably beating the target of at least 10.5 per cent set last November. Year-on-year sales increased slightly, rising from €32.7 billion to €33.3 billion.
Ho-Youl Pae has been announced as the new Hankook chief operating officer in Europe, following former COO, Jin-Wook Choi’s move to a consultancy role within the manufacturer’s global headquarters. Pae has been promoted from his previous role in the company as marketing & sales executive. Pae will also take on the position of senior vice president and member of the board of Hankook Tire.
While Britain has been batter by storms this winter, and while the environment minister announced today (6 January) that some 1700 homes have been flooded this season, it has been relatively warm with much of Britain being buffeted by storms and at the same time experiencing high single-digit temperatures. Tragic for some. Inclement for most. But not the kind of weather that traditionally leads to increased winter tyre sales. Nevertheless, the latest data from market analysts GfK suggests that November sales are significantly up on both the previous month and when compared with the same time last year.
Rainer Binder, one of the two founders of online tyre dealer Delticom AG, was appointed to the company’s Supervisory Board, effective 1 January 2014, by the district court (Amtsgericht) in Hanover, Germany. At its meeting on the following day, the Delticom Supervisory Board elected Binder its chairman. He has swapped roles with Andreas Prüfer, who on 1 January 2014 rejoined the company’s Management Board and was appointed co-CEO.
Nexen Tire has taken on a new European sporting commitment with the signing of a sponsorship contract with German football club VFL Wolfsburg. The contract gives Nexen exposure through the 240 metre-long LED advertisement board and other advertising positions at the team’s home stadium, Volkswagen Arena, and on the VFL Wolfsburg homepage for the 2013-14 half season. Nexen also gains the right to use photos of the team’s players in its advertising and promotional activities.
Hankook Tire chief operating officer Europe and member of the board of directors, Jin-Wook Choi will leave his current position following 38 years with the company. Choi will take on a new consultancy role in the manufacturer’s global headquarters, having served more than thirteen years at top management positions around the world.
The 1 April didn’t fall this week, so survey results shared by Halfords Autocentres – which include the gem that 32 per cent of all people believe kicking a tyre is an adequate means of gauging inflation levels – must be the awful truth. The survey of 1,000 motorists, conducted by Atomic Research on behalf of Halfords Autocentres in September, also revealed that 24 per cent of motorists don’t know how to check if tyre tread depth is above or below the legal limit.
Tyre comparison site Rezulteo.com is claiming record traffic in 2013, with 1 million visits and 875,000 unique users in November – up 68 per cent. This means the firm has attracted a total of 6.4 million unique visitors in 2013 across the 20 countries it operates in – up 56 per cent. According to the company, this equates to 10 per cent of Internet searches performed by tyre buyers in Europe. In addition the website has also announced that it is partnering “Corriere dello Sport” in Italy.
Several months ago a new rail freight service commenced between China and the German port city of Hamburg, and Heuver Tyrewholesale reports it intends to use this service as an additional channel for its tyre transport from China.
The MAXX, first introduced in 2008, is VMI’s top of the range tyre building machine. Designed for hands-off and eyes-off production and equipped for robotised bead loading and green tyre removal, the MAXX is capable of producing an average of 2,000 tyres a day. VMI claims that code and size changes can be performed quickly when using the MAXX, and the fully automatic unit is set up for easy manual intervention should the need arise.
It is now two years since Starco’s solid tyre factory in Sri Lanka entered operation. The first product line manufactured there was the premium Tusker range, and this was joined by the Unicorn standard line-up this year. Starco reports that the complete Unicorn range is now in stock within its Central Warehouse in Germany and available for next-day delivery to many locations.
The Contidrom test facility operated by Continental near its Hannover headquarters in Germany has been named ‘Proving Ground of the Year 2013’ by Automotive Testing Technology International magazine. The 12-person judging panel presiding over the 2013 awards are said to have been particularly impressed by the Automated Indoor Braking Analyzer (AIBA) facility, which opened at the Contidrom site in autumn 2012.
German-owned fast-fit network A.T.U. reports reaching a “decisive milestone in its financial repositioning.” The loss-making company’s management and majority shareholder (private equity group KKR) have reached a lock-up agreement with more than 80 per cent of its key bond creditors to reduce A.T.U.’s debt by more than €600 million and inject some €100 million of fresh equity into the firm. In addition, A.T.U. has received a senior secured, 2018-due credit line of more than €75 million from HayFin Capital Management.
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