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IBDA Forecasts Battery Price Increases

The Independent Battery Distributors Association is warning members to expect further increases in battery prices due to significant rises in material costs. Battery manufacturers have been adversely affected over the last few years by dramatic increases in the price of lead due to growing worldwide demand, particularly in Eastern Europe, China and India.

Warning of inevitable increases Godfrey Ferris, IBDA Secretary, explains: “Lead prices did fall earlier this year but are again on the rise and it is expected that this trend will persist. Whilst the current cost of $2,000per ton is still short of the $3,000 reached earlier this year, other factors have arisen that far outweigh this temporary respite.

8th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hayes Lemmerz Increases Adjusted EBITDA Guidance for 2008

On September 4 Hayes Lemmerz International announced it is increasing its fiscal 2008 Adjusted EBITDA guidance as it reported substantially improved Adjusted EBITDA, core operating earnings and liquidity for the second fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2008.

“We are increasing the Company’s Adjusted EBITDA guidance for fiscal 2008 to $225 million to $240 million, up $20 million from prior guidance of $205 million to $220 million,” said Curtis J. Clawson, president, CEO and chairman of the Board. “Capital expenditures have been reduced for the year and are now expected to be between $90 million to $100 million, down $5 million from prior guidance of $95 million to $105 million. We are also affirming the Company’s sales guidance of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion for fiscal 2008.”

5th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo to Open Signature Stores

Apollo is to follow car manufacturers BMW and Fiat by opening its own signature stores to display and sell its products within India. The decision can be seen equally as a commercial and a prestige move. While the stores – which will be split between Apollo Radial World (ARW) stores for passenger cars and Apollo Trust (AT) for commercial customers – will open across the country, the ability to promote solely Apollo products through eleven flagship ARWs – the first of which has opened in Patiala – is undoubtedly appealing. This fiscal year will see also see 100 AT stores open nationwide, should the company’s plans be fulfilled.

4th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Launches ‘Technology Benchmark’ Cross-Ply Tyre

More than 65 per cent of the revenue generated by India’s tyre industry is derived from commercial vehicle tyres, and in this segment Apollo Tyres holds claim to being the clear market leader. The subcontinent is witnessing a gradual shift in usage trends, and while radialisation is beginning to make its presence felt, customers still reliant upon cross-ply technology also seek to benefit from improvements that deliver a better cost-per-kilometre ratio.

2nd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Construction of Apollo Chennai Factory to Start by Late October

A company source indicates the new Apollo Tyres greenfield radial facility in preparation on the outskirts of Chennai, India, will enter operation late next year. The Hindu Business Line newspaper was informed that the plant’s first construction phase will commence by the end of October at a cost of 10 billion rupees (£125.7 million). Overall, development of the 135 acre site, which will deliver a daily capacity of 200 tonnes, will cost 22 billion rupees (£276.5 million).

The source further commented that Apollo has become a “high-performance company” and the leading Indian tyre manufacturer with revenues of over US$1.2 billion. “It is built around the core principles of creating stakeholder value through reliability in its products and dependability in its relationships,” he said. The company has a network of over 4,000 dealerships in India, of which over 2,500 are exclusive outlets. In South Africa, it has over 900 dealerships, of which 190 are Dunlop Zones, the source added.

2nd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Rösler Group to be a “Total EM Tyre Management System Provider”

The path of development follows a natural course and is absolutely logical: First the Rösler group covered all facets of earthmover tyre retreading, then entered the original equipment market with the “Winstone” brand of new tyres – and now the company has taken the final step in regard to its range of products and services for mine and opencast pit end users. The company is already on target on its “way to being a Total EM Tyre Management System Provider,” says Klaus Mühlbäck, international business Vice President for ‘Rösler Tyre Innovators’; a company title that made its debut several months ago at the Essen tyre show.

28th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Industry Set to Take Larger Slice of India’s NR Cake

The share of natural rubber consumed by the tyre industry in India is likely to increase in the years to come, says the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA). At a presentation in the city of Kochi, ATMA director general Rajiv Budhraja commented that the consumption of natural rubber by the tyre sector has been consistently increasing, and at present the sector consumes 57 per cent of all natural rubber produced in India. However he added that demand-supply imbalanced and volatile prices in the domestic natural rubber market might cause the tyre sector to become more dependent upon imported rubber in the future.

22nd August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Test Marketing Sumitomo PCR Tyres

Dunlop India has reportedly begun the test marketing of passenger car radials produced by Sumitomo. These tyres will be sold in India under the Dunlop brand name.

The company’s plans to import passenger car radials is in addition to its TBR and OTR tyre imports, a current necessity for Dunlop. “We are facing technical problems in stabilising the production at Sahagunj beyond 50 tonnes a day,” commented Ruia Group chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia. “Until the problem is over, we cannot go for the slated capacity expansion.

21st August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India to Import Radial, OTR Tyres

Further to the Ruia Group’s plans for Dunlop India outlined on August 19, the company is reportedly looking to source radial and larger size OTR tyres from overseas to fill gaps in its own domestic production programme. Some 10 to 15 containers of tyres will initially be imported from East Asia and sold in the Indian market under the Dunlop brand name.

20th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Falcon Tyres Plans Another Price Increase

Despite having already implemented OE and aftermarket price increases in the vicinity of 15 per cent during early August, India’s Falcon Tyres is planning another price increase for September. This next round of price ‘enhancements’ will see prices go up by as much as a quarter.

“We have to increase prices in next couple of weeks to maintain profitability,” stated parent company Ruia Group chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia. “Phenomenal increase in cost of production – especially that of natural rubber and rubber chemicals – had eroded our margins to the extent that we were selling a number of products below the cost prices. While we have increased the prices once this month, another price increase up to 20-25 per cent is imminent to maintain positive margin on the entire product range.”

20th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Mahindra & Mahindra forms JV with Chinese Tractor Maker

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, one of India’s largest vehicle manufacturers, has bought a 51 per cent stake in the third largest Chinese tractor company (in terms of volume) Jiangsu Yueda Yangcheng Tractor Company. The value of the net assets transferred to the joint venture is said to be around US$50 million and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd’s investment is expected to be around US$26 million.

19th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Seeks Government Help Over Lockout

Management at Apollo Tyres, who instigated a lockout at the company’s factory in Kerala, India, are now seeking local government intervention. According to local media sources, the lockout was declared at 1am on August 16 in response to a strike by workers that began two days earlier.

“We feel it is only the labour ministry in the state that can intervene and settle the issue, because even after making an additional capital investment of Rs 150 million (£1.86 million) three months ago, production has not gone up,” an Apollo Tyres official told the Indo-Asian News Service, requesting anonymity.

19th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Ruia Outlines Dunlop India Plans at AGM

Dunlop India is planning to build a ten megawatt captive power plant at its manufacturing unit at Shahgunj in West Bengal. Pawan Kumar Ruia, chairman of Dunlop parent company the Ruia Group, Pawan Kumar Ruia, announced during the company’s annual general meeting that this Rs 500 million (£6.2 million) facility would be built during the next one to one and a half years.

The group has just begun work on a six megawatt captive power plant at a manufacturing site belonging to Falcon Tyres, a company acquired at the same time as Dunlop India in 2005, and as the company’s own requirements here are only 3.5 megawatts, it will sell the surplus electricity. The Shahgunj unit’s captive need is five megawatts.

19th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Redevelopment for Apollo Factory Site

The 30-acre site of Apollo Tyres’ PTL Enterprise tyre manufacturing facility in Kalassery will reportedly be used for residential and commercial development following the factory’s relocation to Irapuram in the southwest India state of Kerala. The company intends to invest around Rs 400 million (£4.97 million) in the first phase of the relocation project, and in the second phase it will begin the production of cross-ply tyres at the new site. Previous reports indicate the factory will focus upon the production of specialty tyres.

13th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Organisers Expecting More Visitors for CITExpo 2008

Show organisers are expecting more visitors than ever when nearly 300 exhibitors present their tyre products at the 6th CITExpo, held at the Shanghai Everbright Convention and Exhibition Center on 17, 18 and 19 September 2008. Technology on show will include radial tyres, bias tyres, wheels/rims, tyre maintenance equipments, retread materials and equipments, tyre production material and equipment and other related products. According to CITExpo organisers, Reliable International Exhibition Services Co., Ltd., the two original exhibition halls have already been fully occupied by new and rebooking exhibitors, causing them to add Hall 1A to exhibition space.

Looking ahead, Reliable announced that the 7th CITExpo will be held in the same venue on 9, 10 and 11 September 2009. According to the organizer, they have already received more than 15 exhibitors’ bookings for the 2009 show. Those early bookings have committed a year in advance in order secure the best booth location for the future CITExpo show, the organisers explained.

13th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors