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Germany Supports New Car Market With Car Scrappage Scheme

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday (13 January) announced a 50 billion euro package of measures designed to give the country’s economy a financial stimulus. One key measure sees the German government offer motorists 2500 euros to trade in over 9 year-old cars for new or 1 year-old vehicles. With 40 per cent of the German car parc (46 million vehicles) fitting into this category, Deutsche Bank analysts suggested that the measure could have a significant impact on automotive demand. This, in turn, is likely to impact replacement tyre sales.

“If 2 per cent (the estimated participation in the French scrappage scheme) were to take up these incentives, it implies a 12 per cent gross impact on demand (vis-à-vis 08 levels)…Given the substantially increased age of the parc, our current estimate of 2.8 million vehicle sales in 2009 (versus 3.1 million in 2008) might well prove too pessimistic,” the analysts commented. Deutsche Bank’s predictions are based on the assumption that the proposed measures get implemented quickly. This means a swift approval from Germany’s second house, the Bundesrat.

14th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Truckers Back on the Road as Tyre Tax Cut

The eight-day truck driver’s strike in India has come to an end following the announcement of major governmental concessions. Following successful negotiations between the Indian government and representatives of the All-India Motors Transport Congress (AIMTC), it was agreed that the tax on tyres would be lifted along with a reduction in the price of diesel and the removal of a service tax.

13th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Begin India Plant Construction in February

The government run business promotional organisation of India’s Tamil Nadu state is said to be in the final stages of granting Michelin in-principle clearance to establish a large project in the Chennai region. The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) has set aside 290 acres of land for Michelin’s use, and the company is likely to begin construction work in February.

9th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

6 Million Indian Truckers Down Tools

Indian news sources have reported that more than six million of the nation’s trucks are off the road at the beginning of 2009, as a strike has been called following deadlock in union negotiations over the price of tyres and fuel. Talks stalled late on Sunday evening when Road, Transport and Highways secretary Brahm Dutt failed to reach a satisfactory agreement with the All-Indian Motor Transport Congress. The AIMTC’s major targets were a 10 rupee deduction in diesel costs and a rationalisation of tyre prices.

6th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Vietnam’s Rubber Industry Suffers as Synthetic Rubber Use Increases

Vietnam, the world’s fourth largest rubber exporter, is faced with rapidly dropping natural rubber prices as a result of the global recession and the increasing use of synthetic rubber. According to the Vietnam Rubber Association, global tyre production, which accounts for more than half of the world’s rubber supply, is expected to grow more slowly in the years to 2010. Growth of between 2 and 3 per cent is anticipated compared with the 3.4 per cent growth enjoyed in 2007.

Tran Duc Vien, director of the Hanoi Agriculture University, said that current crude oil prices, which have dropped more than 70 per cent since July, are encouraging the use of synthetic rubber, which is in turn causing natural rubber costs to sink. This increased use of synthetic rubber has coincided with Vietnam’s peak latex production period (September to December), and a huge supply of rubber has arrived onto what has become a buyer’s market – in 2007 a ton of natural rubber could fetch US$2,700. In December 2008 this same quantity sold for only around $1,300. Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are forecasting further price drops in 2009.

5th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

US Battery Makers and Research Centre Form Alliance

Leading US battery companies have teamed up with one of the country’s largest national laboratories to form the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture. The object of the alliance is to manufacture advanced lithium ion battery cells for transportation applications in the United States.

The founding members of the Alliance include 3M, ActaCell, All Cell Technologies, Altair Nanotechnologies, Dontech Global, EaglePicher Corporation, EnerSys, Envia Systems, FMC, MicroSun Technologies, Mobius Power, SiLyte, Superior Graphite, and Townsend Advanced Energy. Additional battery developers and materials suppliers are anticipated to join the Alliance. The US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, a national research laboratory and leading developer of new battery technologies, has been active in encouraging the Alliance and will continue to serve in an advisory role as the Alliance begins operations.

19th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Troubled Chrysler in New GM Talks, Closing All Plants

Even as Chrysler announced that it was closing all of its plants at least through mid-January, word comes through that merger talks between the privately held automaker and troubled GM have resumed. Chrysler owner Cerberus Capital Management has signaled its willingness to give away part of its ownership in the automaker, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited parties close to the situation, and merger talks with GM have restarted.

According to the report, Cerberus took the initiative to restart negotiations, which broke down a few weeks ago amid hope of a massive bailout by the Federal government. Earlier yesterday, Chrysler officials said the company was closing down all of its 30 North American plants “until at least 19 January.” The closings will kick in at the end of the day tomorrow.

In a new report, Moody’s Investor Services Inc. said if the U.S. government failed to intervene and all three automakers were to collapse into bankruptcy, it would lead to an estimated 2.5 million job losses by 2010 in the United States, cost the government there up to $250 billion, and cost the car companies about 20 per cent of their combined marketshare. Even a small bailout plan, such as that rejected by Congress last week, said Moody’s, would not be enough to allow GM or Chrysler to recover long-term. (Tire Review/Akron)

18th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Announces Plant Closure Intention

Cooper announced today that it plans to close its manufacturing facility in Albany, Georgia. The company states that the announcement “follows a network capacity study analysing the company’s optimal manufacturing footprint in the United States.”

Tire Review, based in Akron, Ohio said that the move was announced during a conference call with employees at all four of Cooper’s U.S. plants. Cooper will retain its plants in Findlay, Ohio; Texarkana, Arkansas, and Tupelo, Mississippi. As reported on Tyrepress.com, Cooper announced in October that it would review the viability of its U.S. capacity, with an eye towards closing at least one plant. An announcement on the result was not expected until January, but the decisions may have been hastened by the new union contracts and incentives the state of Mississippi is expected to extend to the tyre maker.

17th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Motorcycle registrations decline 16% in November

A recurring theme towards the end of 2008 has been that of difficult times. Barely a day passes in the automotive industry where news of a factory pausing production or ceasing operations altogether is not reported, and sales of new cars in the UK took a hammering in November. For this month the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders recorded 100,333 sales, a staggering drop of 36.8 per cent compared with November 2007. And while comparing favourably to this sobering statistic, November registration figures for two wheeled vehicles show this sector of the market is also not immune to the economic downturn.

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

West Bengal Government Denies Dunlop India Loan

Dunlop India’s bid for a 1 billion rupee “soft loan” to aid with the reopening of its Sahagunj plant has been turned down by the West Bengal government. The plant has been closed since 30 November and looks set to see in the New Year before work restarts. Labour minister Mrinal Banerjee told Indian news sources, including The Hindu, that the company cannot be helped as it is not “sick”.

Company chairman Pawan Ruia had demanded a series of incentives that he believed were due from promised state aid. The minister voiced the concerns of the factory’s 1,171 workers that Ruia would sell off the factory’s site. He told newspapers, “If he now sells the land with the support of a political party, we don’t know what will happen.”

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Problems Becoming a Political Issue

Dunlop India is becoming something of a political hot potato in the run-up to the election in the Lok Sabha, the country’s house of representatives. With the support of West Bengal politician Mamata Banerjee, company chief managing director Pawan Ruia is reported by the Times of India to be perhaps placing political pressure on the West Bengal government to gain Dunlop India additional concessions of a nature normally reserved for ‘sick’ units; that is, companies that at the end of any financial year have accumulated losses equal to or exceeding their entire net worth. And the government, says the Times of India, is holding its tongue on political grounds.

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Commute by Car and Help the Environment

Could a tyre rolling over a stretch of road generate energy? According to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), Britain’s largest charity focused upon transport and the environment, a new tyre of road developed in Israel could become such a source of cheap power.

The engineers behind the project claim that a one-kilometre stretch of the power-generating asphalt will generate 400 kilowatts – enough power to run eight small cars. If the system was installed on every stretch of British motorway, adds the ETA it would generate enough energy to run 34,500 small cars.

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Former Bridgestone Executive Sentenced for Role in Price Fixing

A former Bridgestone Corporation executive has received a two-year prison sentence for his role in the marine hose bribery and price fixing affair uncovered in 2007. On December 9 the US Justice Department announced that Misao Hioki, who entered a guilty plea in a US district court in Houston, Texas, received the prison sentence plus a US$80,000 fine. Hioki is the ninth person to plead guilty during the Justice Department’s investigation.

11th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Chinese Government Regulates Retreading

In 2008 the Chinese government launched a series of new industrial tyre retreading standards in a bid ot improve the sector’s reputation. The government hopes that the new regulations will open the floodgates for enterprises to make the most of the retreading opportunities available to them. China introduced two national mandatory standards Truck Retread (GB9037 – 2007) and Passenger Car Retread (GB14646 – 2007) on 1 April 2008. Two more state standards of Reclaimed Rubber (GB/T13460 – 2008) and Sulfurated Rubber Powder (GB/T19208 – 2008) were implemented on 1 October 2008.

11th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Union Official, Politicians Lash Out at Dunlop India Chief

Dunlop India chief managing director Pawan Ruia has been reportedly accused of cheating the company’s workers. This accusation, printed in the Times of India, was made by Centre of Indian Trade Unions state secretary Kali Ghosh and members of parliament Rupchand Pal and Shantosree Chatterjee (both from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) party). The union official and two politicians, says the newspaper, are of the opinion that Dunlop’s Sahaganj facility should be handed over to India’s Ministry of Defence.

9th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors