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Bridgestone Acquires Asian Retail Outlets

Bridgestone’s retail network in Asia has been boosted through the acquisition of operations in Thailand and Malaysia. Bridgestone Holdings (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (BSHT), a joint capital investment between Thai Bridgestone and a local partner, acquired Shell Autoserv (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (SAT) from the Shell Group on February 4. SAT owns 64 “Shell Autoserv” stores in the capital city Bangkok and in other locations throughout the country, an independent network providing car maintenance service including tyre and lubricant sales. In addition to the Thai transaction, Bridgestone also announced an agreement between Bridgestone Tyre Sales (Malaysia) SDN.BHD. (BSTM) and Shell Group for the BTSM acquisition of eight “Shell Autoserv” car maintenance stores in Malaysia.

4th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

The Tyre Company with a Difference

Formed in the early 1970’s, Compass Group Ltd has been involved in the UK and international tyre industry for more than three decades. And yet the significant role the Group’s tyres play in the market is perhaps underestimated. With passenger car sales of 2 million units and being a leader in the non-premium truck-tyre segment, Compass Group plays a significant role in the UK market. However, in addition to tyres, the Compass Group has a number of other strings to its bow which makes it a rather unusual player in the mainstream tyre markets. Tim Chesney, managing director of the Compass Group Ltd, told Tyres & Accessories about the breadth of the company’s operations and exciting plans to develop its tyre businesses over the next few years with GT Radial being the focus of this expansion.

30th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Geert Roelens Named Bekaert Group Executive VP

Bekaert’s board of directors have appointed Geert Roelens as Group Executive Vice President and member of the Bekaert Group Executive Committee, effective 1 March 2008. He will succeed Marc Vandecasteele, Group Executive Vice President AWP Steelcord, who will retire after more than 36 years of service. In his new position, Geert Roelens will be responsible for managing and developing Bekaert’s steel cord activities on a global level. Geert Roelens is currently General Manager steel cord products Asia, based in Shanghai (China). He joined Bekaert in 1988 and gained extensive international business experience in various management assignments in Belgium, the United States, Indonesia and China.

17th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Automechanika Returning to Shanghai in December

Automechanika Shanghai – one of China’s leading professional forums for the automotive parts, components and aftermarket industry – will take place from December 5 to 7 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. With over 1,000 exhibitors in six exhibition halls, the 2007 event will be without question the largest Automechanika show ever held in China.

Exhibitors from 24 countries & regions will be in attendance, including those from Belgium, Brazil, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and the USA. The fair will also feature the Automechanika Academy and the Match-Making Forum, as in previous years.

20th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

UK Car Market Still Buoyant, Says Report

The much publicised “credit crunch” which has seen interest rates rise sharply this year has not scared off UK car buyers, says ACF Car Finance. The UK market came in at 419,000 units (+1.3 per cent) in September, which is thought to have been spurred on by the new registration plate which pushed private retail sales up by 1.5 per cent. The UK market performed better than was expected, despite fears of a slowing economy and the increased cost of borrowing money.

6th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Prices Set To Rise Sharply

A statement from Jom Jacob, senior economist of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, warns that increased demand for natural rubber – demand which producers are struggling to fulfill, will inevitably lead to spiralling rubber prices. Factors such as erratic weather, lack of cultivatable land and labour supply constraints could all adversely affect output in the main producing countries of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

International prices have risen four-fold since 2001, when there was over-supply and the price was at a 30-year low. Some analysts say they expect rubber to rise around 18 per cent to $3 a kg next year. Thai RSS3 grade, often used as the benchmark for physical prices, stood at USD2.55 a kg on Friday.

5th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

YHI Focusing on Advanti Racing and Neuton Private Brands

A company that is becoming one of the largest alloy wheel manufacturers amongst the countries lining the Pacific Rim is YHI International, headquartered in Singapore. Currently the company operates production capacities of 2.4 million wheels annually (in 2006 this figure was just 1.2 million) and has generated an annual turnover of more than 180 million euros through its wheel business. And if the company’s mid-term development plan becomes reality, by 2010 YHI will operate up to 24 production lines in its four alloy wheel factories in China, Taiwan and Malaysia. These lines will be able to produce about 4.3 million alloy wheels per year. “We will continue to develop YHI into a global brand”, said managing director Richard Tay in a recent company publication.

30th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Outlines Mid-Term Goals

Bridgestone has declared its intention to “establish the status of being the undisputed world number one tyre and rubber company both in name and reality” by means of a new five-year plan unveiled on October 22. This mid-term management plan has been formulated through planning on the part of each of Bridgestone’s strategic business units to maximise use of all global business resources available to them, with these efforts supported by the company’s global management platform.

The intended result of this mid-term plan is an increase in net sales of almost 20 per cent (over its 2007 sales forecast) to 4 trillion yen (£17 billion) by 2012. These funds will be channelled into a number of areas, and to facilitate this Bridgestone will implement a number of key strategies based upon what it calls its “four fundamental management policies.” These strategies include reinforcing and adding value to product areas in which the company has “preceded its competitors”, including run-flat tyres, PCR UHP and winter tyres, as well as Greatec and low profile tyres for trucks and buses. The company also intends to “secure overwhelming competency to ensure long-term superiority” in the area of large OTR radial plus aircraft and motorcycle tyres. Furthermore, Bridgestone reports that “full use” will be made of Bridgestone Bandag, with package solutions being made available to customers in the truck and bus tyre business. This move will potentially see Bridgestone competing on a level in the retreading business previously solely enjoyed by arch rival Michelin, who to date has been the only new tyre manufacturer to market its retreaded products as a tyre option on par with its new tyre range.

22nd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo in OE Talks with Skoda & Hyundai

Apollo Tyres, whose chairman Onkar S Kanwar recently voiced the company’s ambition of doubling turnover to US$2 billion within the next three years, is reportedly in OE supply talks with both Skoda and Hyundai. Specific details of these negotiations have not as yet been made public. And while the Indian tyre major has not at this stage been selected as an OE supplier for the Tata 1 lakh (£1,250) car – JK Tyre and MRF Tyres will initially fulfill this role – it is not ruling out the possibility of coming on board at a later date.

“When Tata Motors was initially finalising the vendor base, we did speak with them,” Apollo Tyres’ chief, India Operations Satish Sharma commented to India’s Economic Times newspaper. “However we plan to follow a different model. We would initially supply tyres in the after-sales market for the Tata Rs 1 lakh car and once the volumes pick up, we might become their OE partners.”

17th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Compass Expands Warehouse 35%

Compass HD Tyres Ltd, part of the Compass Group Ltd, UK and Ireland distributor of GTRadial and Runway-brand tyres, is expanding its warehousing facilities still further. According to company officials a new 35,000 square foot facility will come on stream to add to the current 100,000 square foot of space at the Compass’ Huddersfield base. In addition, a number of extra sales and logistics staff are due to be recruited.

Tim Chesney, managing director of the Compass Group told Tyres & Accessories that the expansion of storage space is directly attributable to the ongoing success story of Giti produced tyres in the UK. The Company launched GT into Europe almost 20 years ago when it imported the first ever containers of the then fledgling car tyre brand with just seven sizes in the radial range. Today the GT Radial car tyre brand has many hundreds of sizes in its range, covering almost every popular size in car, van and 4X4 and it is a market leader in the mid range sector of the market with its development of UHP and other cutting edge tyre designs. Sales into the new car tyre replacement market have increased year-on-year and today, through Compass Group, GT produced tyre brands boast a market share in the UK that leads the market outside the premium sector.

2nd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Gajah Tunggal Considering Share Issue

PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk is considering raising some funds through a rights issue next year. According to a senior executive said, quoted by the Reuters news agency, Indonesia’s Gajah Tunggal wants to reduce its debt-to-equity ratio to 1.0, from 1.6. According to director Catharina Widjaja the rights issue is not expected to be too large. “We are reviewing an option for a rights issue, possibly next year. The funds would be used to lower our debt ratio. For any corporate actions and capital expenditure, we still have the money from our latest bond issue,” Widjaja told reporters.

27th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Advanced ID Signs $1.8 Million Contract With Kit Loong

Advanced ID Corporation has signed an exclusive, three year commitment contract with Malaysia’s Kit Loong Tyre Management for Advanced ID’s RFID and Pneu-Logic’s Tire Inspection products.

Kit Loong Holdings, one of Southeast Asia’s largest retreaders and tyre distributors works with Goodyear, Dunlop, Michelin, Bridgestone, BF Goodrich, Pirelli, Continental Sime and Cooper. With over 500 employees and revenues exceeding US $40 million, Kit Loong has retreading facilities in Malaysia and China and will install Advanced ID’s RFID tyre tags in their retread operation in Malaysia, with other countries to follow. Kit Loong will purchase Advanced ID RFID readers and Pneu-Logic kits as part of this agreement.

Kit Loong’s territory, covered by this agreement, includes Greater China, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myammar.

19th 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

Gajah Tunggal Sales Up on Back of Increased Michelin Orders

Indonesia’s Gajah Tunggal is expected to achieve sales of IDR6.3 trillion (£337 million) in 2007, rising by approximately 17 per cent over the IDR5.4 trillion (£289 million) recorded in 2006. The anticipation of higher sales is based upon the increased level of orders from Michelin this year, 2.3 million units compared with 1.3 million in 2006.

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