The turnover of car manufacturer Audi increased last year to 39 billion DM (1999: 29.6 bn DM). The Italian importer Autogerma S.p.A., which distributes Volkswagen cars in Italy, is included in this figure for the first time. Worldwide, Audi sold 653,404 cars in 2000; a 2.9 per cent increase over 1999.
Automotive supplier TRW has received orders worth 900 million US-Dollars from Renault (for the Megane) and Fiat (for the Stilo), concerning the production of Electrically Assisted Steering systems (EAS) for this year and beyond. These new contracts bring TRW’s volume for EAS-systems in 2001 up to 500 million US-Dollars. The steering-systems for Fiat will be developed in Birmingham and produced in Livorno (Italy). The steering system for Renault will be developed and manufactured in Pamplona (Spain).
Pirelli is to expand its property activities by setting up a new property company in London. The company manages a current property portfolio worth 8 bn Euros and Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera has said that the new company will be used to expand the company’s property activities outside Italy. Recently, Pirelli moved its treasury and investor relations to London.
There are a lot of patents, some first registered in the 60s, concerning retreading using a ring system. Most of the patents belong to Marangoni, the majority shareholder of Ellerbrock. But the new tyre manufacturers were also thinking about the idea of a ring. There were also developments by Goodyear very similar to the Marangoni system, so that it came to a legal settlement. But this was long ago and ancient history – now Goodyear offers its own ring called “Uni-Circle”. Until now only one plant has existed in Europe where these rings are produced: in the Marangoni factory in Frosinone (Italy) so you don’t need to be a detective to understand that the Goodyear source of Uni-Circle is the Marangoni plant. Now Ellerbrock has also begun production of the tread in form of a ring, also called Ringtread system. Ellerbrock will be responsible for the markets of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. Other countries may be added later, because Ellerbrock will produce the modern tread patterns popular in central Europe. Capacity of the new facility will be 300 rings per day. One benefit of the rings in comparison with traditional flat tread patterns for retreading is the higher flexibility in production: charges of twenty rings are no problems in the new plant. But there are also benefits for the retreaders: they can save material, time, and because the process is totally automated, mistakes in production caused by human error – which might lead to splice separations – are nearly impossible. And the ring looks exactly like a new tyre. The target of Ellerbrock with the Ringtread system is not to change from traditional truck tyre retreading but to find new customers.
Pirelli launches with the P6 and P7 world wide two new tyres in the high performance segment, utilising the most advanced materials and technology. Designed to equip a wide range of cars, from high class saloons to the latest generation sports cars as well as MPVs, Pirelli P6 and P7 are available in a total of 40 sizes from 185/65 R 14 to 225/45 R 17 covering 70 percent of the European car market. Produced in Pirelli’s factories in Italy, Spain, UK and Germany, using the most sophisticated process and control technology currently available to the tyre industry, P6 and P7 are to be widely distributed an will go on sale immediately in southern European markets. They will be sold throughout Europe and in Japan by the end of may. Sales are expected to reach 1.5 million units by the end of 2001 and stabilise at a regular of 10 million tyres a year. P6 and P7 will be sold five percents more expensive than their predecessor, the P6000 family. A large proportion of P6/P7 will be assigned to Original Equipment sales, underlining how closely the tyres’ development has been integrated with that of the car manufacturers. The new products have already been approved or are in the process of approval for key models of Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Fiat, Jaguar, Peugeot and Ford. The internet addresses, www.pirellip6.com and www.pirellip7.com, are for the first time part of the respective sidewall inscriptions. The web sites provide on-line information about the new tyres as well as a dealer locator.
In a precautionary move, Michelin is recalling 55,000 truck tyres manufactured in Italy and sold in Japan between October 1999 and March this year. There have been no accidents but a change in design to the steel cord used in the sidewall has reduced the tyres’ resistance to over-inflation that could lead to rupturing of the sidewall.
Maurizio Vischi (45) will become President of agricultural tyre manufacturer Trelleborg Wheel Systems on June 1st. Mr. Vischi is currently head of the TWS Agricultural Radial Tyres business unit, located at Tivoli in Italy, where he will continue to be based. The current President, Anders Pettersson, is leaving to take up a new position as a divisional president for the security group Gunnebo AB. TWS was formed at the end of 1998 as a joint venture between Trelleborg (which owns 60% of the jv) and Pirelli, as a specialist manufacturer of agricultural and forest tyres.
The May issue of TYRES & ACCESSORIES contains an interview with Andrea Vassura, managing director of Marangoni Tyre. Speaking at the launch of Marangoni’s extended range of high performance tyres, Mr. Vassura revealed that the company was planning to build a new factory with an annual capacity of 4.5 million tyres. The existing plant at Anagni, which can produce three million tyres a year, is currently running at 90% capacity. The site of the plant has yet to be decided but the choice seems to be between Southern Italy or somewhere in Eastern Europe. There are substantial grants on offer from the Italian government for those who invest in the area, but Mr. Vassura says that no decision will be made until later on in the Summer. Marangoni Tyre had been offered the Cisterna di Latina factory, recently shut down by Goodyear, but it did not meet the company’s requirements. As a profitable tyre manufacturer, would Marangoni Tyres make a tempting takeover target in these days of consolidation? Mr. Vassura has no fears about this, as the sheer size and diversity of the parent group offers sufficient protection, he believes. On the other hand, Marangoni Tyre is small enough to be flexible and allow Mr. Vassura to make decisions quickly.
After having acquired Monarch (USA), Bergougnan (Belgium) and Vorwerk (Germany, now Rotatec) the new parent company Trelleborg Wheel Systems has re-arranged the distribution in several countries. After changes in France and Italy now the German partner Wenzel-Industrie has exclusive distribution rights for the Bergougnan brand, which, up to May, it shared with Industriereifenkontor Lüdtke.
Automechanika – the International Trade Fair for Car Workshop and Service Station Equipment, Automobile Spare Parts Accessories – has set a new exhibitor record: 3,909 exhibitors occupied all of the approx. 300,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor exhibition space to present their latest products and technical innovations. The almost three percent increase in exhibitor numbers was the result of growth in the number of German exhibitors. 67 percent of all exhibitors came from outside Germany. The top five exhibitor nations were Germany and Italy, followed by Taiwan, the USA and Great Britain. The exhibition ran from 6 to 10 September 2000 and Messe Frankfurt welcomed around 150,000 trade visitors from all over the world during the five days of the fair, where exhibitors took many orders and transacted a lot of business. In contrast to this positive attitude at the trade fair, the background situation of the market does not look that good: The car boom of previous years came to a sudden end this year. The EU-Commission in Brussels is thinking about ending the exclusive distributor networks of car retailers. Parallel to this the car manufacturers – especially Ford and Mercedes-Benz – are restructuring their distributor networks, which means that they are reducing the number of their retailers. The pressure on the suppliers exerted by the car producers continues to increase and as a result they are showing a stronger interest in the aftermarket business. Furthermore Goodyear/Dunlop’s daughter company Pneumant was the fist tyre producer for several years to have a booth at the Automechanika. However, it is doubtful that this is the first example of a growing trend, as the “Reifen” exhibition, central event of the European tyre world, was held just a few months ago and it is to be considered that – in contrast to the alloy wheel business – the target audience of the tyre manufacturers is most probably not those who attend the Automechanika. In NEUE REIFENZEITUNG 10/2000 we review the show.
This year alloy wheel producer BBS celebrates its 30th birthday. BBS is not one of the biggest producers of aluminium wheels but intends to grow significantly: from 2003 BBS plans to build up capacities of more than 4 million pieces a year at its headquarters in Germany’s Black Forest town Schiltach, at Italy’s Ruina factory near Ferrara and at a new plant in Herbolzheim near Freiburg. BBS is an oe supplier for car brands like BMW, Mercedes (AMG), Porsche, Ferrari, Jaguar, Saab, Volvo, Peugeot and Volkswagen and specialises in highly sophisticated wheels which means that the wheels are in extreme sizes or modular or have additional other special features. The history of BBS includes a lot of success in motorsport. BBS has been producing wheels for motorsport since 1974, and in 1991 the cooperation with Ferrari began. High-end products are the forged magnesium wheels for Formula 1 which are also flow-formed. Not only Ferrari with top driver Michael Schumacher, but also Benetton, Jaguar, Arrows, Prost, and hundreds of racing teams in other series all over the world trust in racing wheels by BBS – one of the main reasons that BBS is also the image leader in the alloy wheel aftermarkets of the world. Learn more about BBS in NEUE REIFENZEITUNG’s October issue.
Pirelli Germany’s year end figures show an increase of 33 p.c. compared to the previous year. The consolidated turnover was 626.3 million Euro; slightly higher level than last year. The earnings of the ordinary company activities amount to 21.7 million Euro. The strongest subsidiary, “Pirelli Reifenwerke”, grew five p.c. to 442.2 million Euro. The deliveries in the original equipment market increased 34 p.c and sales of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres increased 4.8 p.c. to 9.1 million tyres.
The turnover of the motorcycle tyre division of Pirelli Germany (brands: Metzeler & Pirelli) in 1999 amounted to 94.9 million Euro; 1.4 p.c. more than the previous year. In motorcycle tyre terms, Pirelli is the market leader in Germany, Italy and Europe as a whole.
Goodyear has told bank analysts that it will close a large factory in Italy that produces six million tyres a year. Goodyear produced about 55 million tyres in Europe this year and intends to reduce the production capacity from 72 million tyres (after the Dunlop take-over) to about 62 million by 2002. After Goodyear’s shares lost more than 40 per cent of their value, they announced plans to close more than one factory and increase production in the remaining European plants by introducing a seven day operation.
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.
