India
India’s PRS Tyres is launching new additions to its industrial and agricultural ranges with two sizes for Bobcat equipment in the 12-16.5 Skid Force and 10.0/75-15.3 Loadstar products. A new 12.5/80-18 bias ply tyre for backhoe loader applications is also being marketed to show visitors.
Leading Indian retreading equipment supplier Elgi is targeting new tyre manufacturers with the launch of a monorail tyre handling system, developed by its Brazilian subsidiary Armonas. India is home to 39 tyre manufacturers and 60 individual production plants and Elgi hopes to take advantage of producers moving into, or developing their retreading capacity.
Hangzhou Zhongce is one of a number of major Chinese brands making a first appearance at Tyrexpo India this week, a development that organisers ECI International says is indicative of the increasing interest Chinese tyre manufacturers are taking in the Indian market following several years of trade restrictions.
A number of tyre manufacturers have launched new products at Tyrexpo India 2013 in Chennai this week. Aeolus, BKT, Emrald and TVS Tyres have all introduced commercial tyres for applications from truck to OTR. Amongst these, Aeolus is notable for being one of a number of Chinese manufacturers making their debut in India. It is joined by its compatriots Hangzhou Zhonce, Linglong and Wanda Boto.
Rajiv Poddar, executive director of BKT (Balkrishna Tyres), says India’s huge natural mineral deposits will provide future opportunities for the tyre industry in his guest of honour address at Tyrexpo India 2013. The show runs at the Chennai Trade Centre from 9-11 July, and joining Poddar at the opening of its second staging were the chairman of the Chemical and Allied Export Promotion Council of India’s tyre panel, P Prasanth; P.Vijayaraghavan of exhibitor TVS Tyres; and Nirmal Singhvi of the Tamil Nadu Tyre Dealers Association.
For the first time in 20 years the UK hosted the International Rubber Research and Development Board’s International Rubber Conference in 2013. The return to the country is well-timed; the Malaysian Rubber Board’s Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2013, effectively elongating the IRC into a week-long event culminating in a well-attended visit to the picturesque Brickendonbury Estate near Hertford, where TARRC is now based, and which for 20 years was the home of the IRRDB. On Monday 24 June the event, jointly organised by the IRRDB, the MRB and TARRC, opened in Mayfair’s Millennium hotel, with the morning sessions in particular providing topics of interest to tyre manufacturers.
The theme of globalisation loomed large over Chinese tyre manufacturer Triangle’s latest Global Business Summit, held in the China Hall of the older Grand Tower of Pudong, Shanghai’s Shangri-La Hotel. While the chairman of the board Ding Yuhua’s conference starting theme speech riffed on the theme with regard to manufacturing processes, employee base and international trends, the presence of delegates from around the world reinforced the message the world’s 16th largest tyre manufacturer’s message – Triangle suppliers from three continents travelled with Tyres & Accessories to the Shangri-La from Pudong International, to underline a point. In the coming year, Ding Yuhua said that Triangle is seeking to “speed up the transformation and upgrade [its] manufacturing to synchronise with the global economy,” while focusing on the environmental standards Triangle now characterises as part of the “mainstream” in the post-REACH, post-labelling landscape – in China as well as the rest of the world. This involves greater investment in green production technology that he says is yielding a “four per cent increase in energy efficiency yearly”.
Is this the opening shot in the anticipated round of consolidation within the tyre industry? Or is it merely an expression of courage, or cockiness, with Indian tyre manufacturer Apollo in the role of a predator, seeking to grasp the much-larger rival Cooper as prey and in doing so exposing itself to the risk that the US$2.5 billion price will land it in debt above its head? Is attack the best form of defence or has the Indian company overreached with this ambitious and financially-edgy expansion plan?
Anyone predicting that Formula One’s tyre supplier Pirelli could settle in for a quieter end to the 2013 season had a rude awakening at the British grand prix. Three rear left tyre deflations in the first 15 laps decidedly different in character from the delaminations seen earlier in the season led to a lengthy safety car period. During these laps race marshals rushed to clear debris from all around the track, while FIA race director Charlie Whiting was reportedly on the verge of red-flagging the race on safety grounds. But the race continued to a highly compelling conclusion for a passionate crowd of over 110,000 after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel rolled to a standstill on the home straight, an event that lifted the spirits of a partisan home crowd. They were denied a British victory, though home favourite Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton produced a season’s-best drive to claim fourth following his early tyre failure from first. Mark Webber also pushed the victorious Nico Rosberg close in the final stages, marking an apt last British grand prix for the popular, perennial nearly-man. The fans surrounding Tyres & Accessories near the home straight, who had been more than murmuring their discontent at Pirelli following the early tyre deflations, raised their voices to a crescendo as Hamilton and Webber improvised a tyre strategy to allow them to work their way through the grid.
With the ink still drying on Apollo Tyre’s agreement to purchase Cooper Tire and Rubber, on 27 June Tyres & Accessories met with Apollo vice chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar at the company's new global marketing office in central London in order to get the inside line on the deal, the impending integration and the strategy behind the purchase.
In 2010, Apollo's owners, chairman Onkar Kanwar and vice-chairman and managing director Neeraj Kanwar, told the world that the company was aiming to break into the global top 10…at least. At the time this announcement was made you could be forgiven for thinking such a proclamation was either an exercise in hyperbole or in corporate goal setting. And why not? There's nothing wrong with aiming high, as many of the world's fastest growing tyre companies are clearly doing. After all, as the saying goes, “he who aims at nothing hits it”.
But with all the speculation that surrounded the company's decision to engage in takeover talks with Cooper at the end of 2012, the fact that the deal has now been agreed arguably isn't as much of a surprise as the speed with which the top 10 goal has been attained. Early indications suggest that the amalgamated Apollo/Cooper will be the seventh largest tyre company on earth. So what’s next? The exclusive club that is dominated and fiercely defended by the big five? Or, as is more likely, a period of integration and consolidation while the dust settles?
Worldwide-Marketing has launched a new brand and website to expand its international tyre bladders and related products sales programme. The products are manufactured by Polymer Industrial Products, also known as PIPCO. The new PIPCOWorldwide.com site is designed to support the expansion of the company’s global reach with offices in Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and India. The increase in staff that comes with the move is expected to allow expansion of their turn-up bladder trial program, which has reportedly helped dozens of tyre plants increase their cure rates already.
Apollo Tyres joint chairman Neeraj Kanwar has spoken out in support of keeping and even expanding Apollo and Cooper’s existing manufacturing sites. With the dust still settling following the news of the acquisition of Cooper by Apollo, Kanwar’s comments, which came as part of an interview with Tyres & Accessories, appear to act as a further assurance that the company has no plans to close its manufacturing locations.
It appears Apollo Tyres is not planning to shift any Cooper Tire production to its factories in India. The Times of India reported on 22 June that the existence of Cooper production sites in low production cost countries makes such a move unnecessary. On the other hand, the Indian tyre maker makes no secret that it will use the acquisition deal to bring its Apollo brand into new markets. And the possibility of Apollo production in Cooper factories also remains.
Melksham Town Council has welcomed Apollo Tyres’ acquisition of Cooper Tire & Rubber. Melksham north ward councillor Pam Wiltshire told local newspaper the Wiltshire Times that “obviously it’s a really good thing for the town, because there have been concerns in the past with what might happen.”
One result of Apollo Tyres’ acquisition of Cooper Tire & Rubber is that the US brand will be distributed in India, to both original equipment market customers and the replacement market. News regarding this was initially published by The Hindu Business Line on 19 June; the Indian financial daily wrote that the first Cooper products to arrive in Apollo’s home market would be SUV tyres, which will be supplied to “various OEMs”.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
