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Pirelli to Invest in Tyre Unit After Olimpia Sale

Pirelli & C SpA chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera is planning to pay of the company’s debt and invest in its tyre unit with cash from the planned sale of its Olimpia unit. According to the AFX news agency, the board “has not taken any decision on any extraordinary dividend or share buy-backs.” Pirelli is expected to receive 3.3 billion euros of cash when its sell Olimpia, which owns an 18 per cent share of Telecom Italia SpA. In the meantime the company is waiting Brazilian regulatory clearance to sell Olimpia.

13th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti: Siemens VDO Consolidation “Ensures Top Position”

By purchasing Siemens VDO, Continental AG, Hanover, will profit from key automotive industry trends to a greater degree in the future, the company said in a recent statement. “The perspectives for the industry as shown at the IAA 2007 clearly confirm our view that the prevailing topics in the years to come will be safety, climate protection, and infotainment. With the consolidated innovative prowess and the extensive product portfolio of Continental and Siemens VDO, we feel we are excellently positioned as a systems specialist,” said Manfred Wennemer, chairman of the Continental Executive Board, at the International Motor Show on Wednesday in Frankfurt/Main.

12th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Mad Max to Support Malaysian Tyre Recycling IPO

He starred in the blockbuster Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series, went on to produce epics such Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ, but now Mel Gibson is putting his name to a Malaysian tyre recycling companies listing on the London stock exchange. News reports emanating from Singapore explain that Gibson has a minority shareholding in Green Rubber Global, a company that focuses in devulcanisation technology.

Bankers are valuing the company at between £150 million and £170 million, according to sources. Petra Group is owned by Vinod, who also owns 84 per cent of Green Rubber via Petra Trust. The remaining 16 per cent is held by the various celebrities named above. Part of the listing exercise is expected to include a share sale of up to 20 per cent.

11th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Lines of Distinction?

(Akron/Tire Review) Our industry – at home and abroad – has been building tires for more than a century. Along the way, we allowed ourselves to be fooled every once in a while by ‘technology’ that really didn’t live up to its billing. One example is the single-ply tire promoted as being as strong as a two-ply tire.

Great progress has been made, both in technology and in marketing. Let there be no doubt about the safety advances built into today’s tyres compared to those built in 1908. And, yes, there have been some stinkers along the way, but by and large, this industry has led the world in packing more performance and safety into one single product than any other.

If anything remains unchanged, it continues to be our penchant for putting an acronym or label on everything, the latest being the so-called “global tyre,” which doesn’t sound half as meaningful as the phrase it replaced – “world-class tyre.”

10th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Exports from India Growing Steadily

The value of tyre exports from India has grown at an average of 11 per cent per annum during the last decade, according to India’s Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association. The current value of exports of all category of tyre is Rs 26 billion (£315.5 million). During the 1996/97 financial year total exports only amounted to Rs 8.32 billion (£101 million).

Since the start of this current decade the strongest export growth has been in the passenger car sector, with exports increasing more than tenfold to 966,046 units in 2006/07. While this amount is still dwarfed by exports of truck tyres (2,276,049 units) and tyres for light commercial vehicles (1,599,230), the high level of passenger car tyre radialisation achieved by tyremakers has provided them with a product that can potentially gain acceptance in many more overseas markets.

6th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Burst Tyre Sparks Gun Battle

A burst tyre is an inconvenience no matter where it occurs, but at least motorists in the UK don’t have to worry about this…..

The education minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, narrowly escaped with his life after army troops mistook the sound of a tyre rapidly deflating to be a militant attack and began indiscriminately firing their weapons throughout the convoy of vehicles in which he was travelling.

Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed was en route to the wedding of a colleague’s son when the heavily worn tyre fitted to a military vehicle escorting the entourage burst. Soldiers in the vicinity, accustomed to the regional tensions with neighbouring Pakistan and the odd tussle with Islamic separatists, wasted no time in responding to the tyre’s loud, gunshot-like report.

3rd September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tyremakers at Odds with Rubber Board

Tensions between India’s tyre industry and the government run Rubber Board have recently been under strain and appear to be getting worse. Representatives from the tyre industry claim that a drop in natural rubber production of close to 50,000 tonnes since May stands to cost the industry Rs 20 billion (£242.6 million) annually, yet these concerns have been dismissed by the Rubber Board, who argue such dire predictions are no more than a ploy by the tyre companies in order to secure a reduction of import duties on rubber.

Chairman of the Rubber Board, Sajen Peter, states there are no grounds for the tyre manufacturers’ claims. “This year we had projected production to be 8.74 lakh (874,000) tonnes (and domestic consumption to be 8.53 lakh (853,000) tonnes,” he told India’s The Economic Times. “Availability is not a problem at all, even though the chickengunia disease has affected our tappers. Tyre companies have been pushing to reduce the import duty on rubber for a long time now and we are going to fight them till the very end.”

3rd September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Asia Pacific Marketing Director for Goodyear

Goodyear Tire & Rubber has announced the appointment of Dipinder “DP” Singh to the position of marketing director for the company’s Asia Pacific region Consumer PBU division. The position will be based at Goodyear’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Shanghai.

The native of Mumbai, India joined Goodyear at the beginning of 2002 as director of Global Marketing Intelligence & Strategy, and has held several management positions since that time. Prior to this Singh co-founded the firm adAlive, a developer of Internet access systems for personal digital assistant devices, and served as the company’s executive vice-president, marketing and business development. In total Singh boasts more than 20 years experience in marketing strategy, brand management, advertising, market research and international marketing.

31st August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Regains Disputed Factory Land

Dunlop India has been granted a favourable ruling in the dispute over an eight acre section of land at its Chennai facility. The company has release a press statement outlining the recent decision made by the court of the sub-divisional magistrate.

“M/S VGN Enterprises, represented by V N Devadoss has forcibly and wrongfully dispossessed the position of Dunlop India Ltd on July 30, 2007. I therefore u/s 145 (4) CrPC order that the possession of the above lands shall be restored to M/S Dunlop India Ltd.”

Mr. Devadoss claims that his company, VGN Enterprises, legitimately purchased the land from Dunlop India’s former owners in 2004.

30th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Modi Rubber Clawing its Way Back After Long Hiatus

After six idle years the Modi Rubber tyre factory in Modipuram, near the northern Indian city of Meerut, may soon again be a hive of tyre making activity. On August 20 local officials handed over the factory’s keys to the Modi Rubber managing director, Vinay Kumar Modi, and following this transaction Mr. Modi gave instructions for the plant and equipment to be made ready for use.

The managing director has high hopes that the Modi Rubber factory will soon be producing Modi Continental truck tyres. “It will happen in the next four to six months,” he told India’s Business Standard newspaper. In the near future Mr. Modi will commence negotiations with the German tyre major in the hope of re-establishing technical collaboration. Modi first produced Continental branded tyres in 1974.

24th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tyremakers Lobby Govt to Certify Tyre Imports

In a move that echoes events taking place in the US, India’s government has listened to demands from local tyremakers to only permit ‘certified’ tyres to be imported into the country, and is now considering what measures it will introduce. Calls for legislation banning the importation of tyres not meeting this criterion have ostensibly been made in response to a number of vehicle accidents involving reportedly sub-standard Chinese made tyres, however it is also no secret that Chinese tyre imports are hurting the bottom line of Indian tyre manufacturers.

In June representatives of India’s Industrial Policy and Promotion department, Consumer Affairs department and Bureau of India Standards met with those from vehicle and tyre producers to discuss this issue and prepare a case to present to the government. A proposal to introduce a US$135 anti-dumping duty on imported tyres has also been submitted to the government.

23rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone to Expand Capacity at Two Asian Facilities

According to a statement released by Bridgestone on August 22, the company’s subsidiary Bridgestone India Private Limited (BSID) has taken the decision to expand production capacity at its passenger car and light truck radial plant in the city of Indore. This expansion is deemed necessary to meet burgeoning demand fuelled by a booming domestic market. The Japanese tyre major also stated that its Indonesian subsidiary, P.T. Bridgestone Tire Indonesia (BSIN), will increase production capacity at its passenger car and light truck radial facility in Karawang, east of Jakarta. This planned expansion comes in response to growing demand, primarily from export markets.

The Indore plant began volume production in 1998, manufacturing passenger car and light truck radials for the domestic market, and with vehicle ownership in India skyrocketing during the subsequent nine years BSID forecasts a continued strong demand for its tyres, particularly in larger diameter rim sizes. To accommodate this domestic market appetite for Bridgestone tyres BSID has opted to invest 6 billion yen (£26.4 million) expanding production capacity at its Indore plant from its current 4,500 tyres per day up to 15,000 daily by 2010.

22nd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin India Introduces Regrooving Service

Michelin India has announced it will begin offering a truck tyre regrooving service which it claims will add about 20 per cent to a tyre’s total lifetime mileage. The regrooving will be performed through Michelin’s dealer network, and technicians will be given training in operating the handheld regrooving guns used in the process.

The regrooving process can potentially add up to 4mm of fresh grooves on a tyre and decrease fuel costs by as much as 10 per cent. “The company’s aim is to make our customers happy by helping them get maximum mileage from the tyres, more so because our products are at [the] high end in terms of price,” said Jason Cooper, Michelin India road staff manager.

21st August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Further Expansion Slated for Chinese Goodyear Plant

Further expansion is already planned for Goodyear’s tyre facility in Dalian, China. This news comes at a time when the plant’s previous 1.06 billion yuan (£70 million) expansion project is nearing completion. This new project will be the third expansion at the plant since it was established in 1995.

“By the end of this year, the daily output of the plant will be 17,000 units,” said John Gonsalves, quality and technology manager of Goodyear Dalian Tyre Co. “We plan to increase the output next year,” he added.

“About 30 per cent of the products will be exported to Asia-Pacific region, Germany, India, Egypt, Israel and North America. However, the total exports are expected to decrease later,” Gonsalves said. “China will be our main market rather than export markets.”

Goodyear’s OE customers in China include Chery Automobile, Shanghai VW, FAW-VW, Great Wall Automobile and Brilliance Automobile.

16th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India to Retain Factory Land – For Now

Dunlop India’s battle to retain a legitimate claim to a piece of land at its factory in Ambattur, Chennai has been given a boost by a decision made by a district court in Chennai. The court has ordered that, for the time being, the land seized by real estate company VGN Enterprises should remain in the hands of the tyremaker.

The court official, Ponneri executive magistrate and revenue district officer, M.S. Sangeeta, said in an interim order that “the impugned land should be placed in as-is-where-is condition without any change, construction, removal of machinery or apparatus and [the] status quo should be maintained.”

This interim order lends weight to the Ruia group’s argument that the sale of 60.86 acres of factory land to VGN Enterprises in 2004, a transaction made by Dunlop India’s previous owners, was illegal.

15th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors