India
Left-handed opening batsman, Gautam Gambhir has become the new face of MRF Tyres in India joining the deep pool of cricketing talent previously associated with the brand, which includes Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar. Gambhir – or “Gauti” to his friends and mildly sycophantic media commentators – was introduced as MRF’s ambassador at a glitzy Chennai ceremony on Friday, 4 September.
Bridgestone has announced the inauguration of its largest showroom in India, the Haryana Care Center in Faridabad, making the site a ‘Super Select’ showroom.
Retread manufacturing equipment and garage supply specialist Italmatic Srl may be based in Italy, but the company has long established global intentions. In addition to the Italian headquarters, a far eastern wing (50:50 joint venture, Italmatic Asia) was founded in Singapore in 1984 and the company also has a network of offices in the USA and the UK. Now, 40 years since the company produced its first buffing machines, the goal is to serve customers throughout Europe, Asia and North America with „full technological, training and marketing support.”
India’s RPG Enterprises is considering generating power from waste rubber at its Ceat Tyres factory. According to the company’s vice president of corporate finance, BL Chandak, electricity so generated at the Ceat plant would be solely used for the facility’s own consumption.
India is set to have its own dedicated tyre and equipment exhibition following confirmation of plans to stage Tyrexpo India in Chennai in July 2011. The exhibition, based in the region that is home to many country’s leading automotive industry players, including Apollo Tyres, Michelin, Dunlop India and MRF, will be based on the successful model already applied by organiser ECI International at its established Tyrexpo Asia, Tyrexpo Africa and Brityrex events.
The factory Apollo Tyres is building in India’s Chennai state will most likely produce Vredestein branded passenger car tyres. According to the Hindu Business Line, production of premium Vredestein tyres at the soon to be completed Oragadam plant will be supplemented by Apollo branded UHP tyres. These will be marketed in Europe from next January onwards.
India’s Tyresoles Pvt Ltd has become the latest international retreader to join the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), bringing TRIB’s membership to nearly 500 members in 50 countries. The company states it is India’s largest retreading company and has maintained a presence in India since 1947. Tyresoles used both the mould cure and precure processes to retread more than 120,000 tyres per annum. The retreader operates a network incorporating more than 150 dealers in several regions of India.
Apollo Tyres has apparently decided to up its 2009 capital expenditure from Rs 7 billion to 9 billion (£113.0 million). Rs 7 billion (£87.9 million) of these funds will go towards more than doubling capacity at its new Chennai facility, which is anticipated to come on-stream later this year. The remaining Rs 2 billion will be used for expanding production at the company’s Baroda plant in India’s Gujarat state.
Tire Group International (TGI) has released a statement outlining a USA based exporter’s point of view” towards the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling on imported Chinese passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres. In this statement, TGI indicates it will continue to fight the ITC ruling and says that, after meeting with several state representatives, senators, and following phone conversations with the assistant secretary of Import Administration, the company is able to “shed light on the effect this ruling will have on re-exporters” such as itself.
India’s Economic Times reports that New Delhi-based JK Tyre could be on the verge of making a deal to install a radial car tyre plant in Tamil Nadu, having met with regional government representatives.
Despite recovering domestic market sales, export markets gave India’s tyre manufacturers little cause for joy in the first two months of the country’s current financial year. During April and May sales in this higher margin market segment were down a whole 25.3 per cent.
The lights may still be out and the machinery standing idle at Dunlop India’s Sahaganj factory, but this isn’t stopping parent company the Ruia Group from eyeing up new acquisitions further afield. The Indian conglomerate is reportedly in “an advanced stage of talks” regarding the purchase of a European sealing systems company.
Fancy a promising career in the tyre world without the hassle of buckling down at your studies? Don’t fret, where there’s a will, there’s a way. But before you decide to embark on a “fake it till you make it” approach to your newly chosen profession, consider the tale of two hopeful tyre industry specialists in India.
The supply of electricity to Dunlop India’s factory in Sahaganj is still disconnected, and company chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia has threatened to close the plant if the power is not restored during the first half of August. The chairman indicates that Dunlop India is ready to resolve the matter with the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company out of court.
The factory’s electricity supply was severed earlier in the year due to the non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 130 million (£1.66 million), and the company claims responsibility for this lies with the previous owner. “The electricity dues got accumulated much before we took over the company. We do not know why the electricity connection was not disconnected when the dues remained unpaid for five years before we took-over. We heard lot of people ran business taking illegal connection from Sahaganj unit,” Ruia stated.
The New Indian Express newspaper has reported a “severe crisis” looming over India’s tyre and tread rubber manufacturers. According to the newspaper, carbon black supplies are critically low and the four major Indian manufacturers of the substance lack the capacity to meet domestic market demand. This problem is compounded by allegations that India’s Ministry of Commerce is preventing the importation of carbon black to compensate for this shortfall.
A number of factories are said to have been idled as a result of this shortage, which The New Indian Express attributes to a Ministry of Commerce decision to restrict carbon black imports if the landed cost is less than RS 80 (£1.00) per kilogram, markedly more than the current Indian price.
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