Following the San Marino Grand Prix last weeked, Bridgestone has announced thenames of the seven finalists of its e-reporter competition. The pan-European contest for aspiring young journalists has received an “overwhelming” response from students across Europe, according to Bridgestone.
(Akron/Tire Review) The Royal Dutch/Shell Group said it has teamed up with Shanghai Automotive Group Co to launch a car maintenance service for motorists in China. The 50-50 joint venture, called Anji Jiffy Lube Automotive Services Co Ltd, will build a network of fast lube service outlets modeled on the Jiffy Lube chain in the US.
It will invest around $23 million for the project, which will initially involve 10 pilot outlets in Shanghai within the first year of operation. Anji Jiffy is targeting to open more than 600 branches by 2015 in China, which currently has around 23 million vehicles on the road. In terms of new car sales each year, China is now the third largest in the world, after the US and Japan.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone executives along with members of the Mexican government gathered in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to celebrate breaking ground for the company’s new BIRD based tyre plant. Representatives from Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. (BAH), Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) and Bridgestone/Firestone Mexico, SA. de CV (BFMX) were all present.
The Toyo Environmental Protection Fund has decided to expand its giving to not-for-profit orgnisations beyond Japan. Coinciding with the 60th anniversary year of Toyo Tire & Rubber’s foundation, this move demonstrates the collective commitment of the Toyo Group to playing a public service role commensurate with its growing presence in the world.
Bridgestone recently took over as the sole tyre supplier of the GP2 motorsport series. Already a supplier to Formula 1, the Japanese company has decided to become the sole supplier of GP2 which has replace F3000 as the primary support series for F1. Previously Cooper’s Avon brand was the GP2 series supplier.
Lanxess, the Japanese subsidiary of the Leverkusen-based chemicals group, has inaugurated its new headquarters in Tokyo.
Referring to the ceremony, Dr Martin Wienkenhöver, Lanxess board member, who is in charge of Asian business, said that Japan is “the most important market in Asia.” The company manufacturers solid rubber for automotive tyres in Japan and other countries.
Bridgestone UK has appointed Junichi Kumano as marketing director at Bridgestone UK. Mr Kumano has worked for Bridgestone since 1988 in countries including Singapore, India, Vietnam, and his home nation of Japan in various sales and marketing roles. His most recent position was manager of export sales at Bridgestone Japan. His new post is his first outside of Asia.
“I am honoured to have joined Bridgestone UK as it has always been an ambition of mine to work in Europe,” said Mr Kumano. “I am looking forward to working with each member of the marketing department to ensure we achieve the company’s objective of ‘steady, profitable growth’ while continuing to meet our customers’ needs.” Mr Kumano replaces Chikuma Otsuki, who is now director of sales and marketing for commercial products at Bridgestone Europe.
In the first three months of the 2005 financial year Yokohama reported 305.9 billion yen (£1.54 billion) of net sales, a three per cent increase on the previous year. The company explains that strong overseas sales offset the negative impact of the high yen. Results for the period ended 31 December 2004, also showed that operating income dropped to 17.5 billion yen (£88 million). At the same time net income decreased 6.9 per cent to (roughly £41.23 million)
Yokohama reports that tyre sales were “solid” overseas, especially in North America, Asia and Europe, while replacement sales in Japan grew. Sales of the Tire Group therefore increased 4.3 per cent to 226 billion yen (£1.14 billion). The management maintains its full year projections, saying that Yokohama will record a 4.6 per cent gain in net sales, a 9.1 per cent increase in operating income, a 4.3 per cent rise in ordinary income and a 3.2 per cent drop in net income.
RubberNetwork LLC, a tyre and rubber industry consortium owned by nine of the largest global tyre and rubber industry companies, has announced its year-end results.
The company reported cumulative savings of over $230 million (£121 million) since its inception. The company also noted that during 2004 it connected over 140 direct material suppliers to RubberNetwork members through RubberNetwork’s supply chain supplier network in Japan, Europe, and North America.
The US’s total trade deficit reached a record $617.7 billion, Tire Review reports, citing the Commerce Department. In 2004 the gap widened by 24.4 per cent compare with the previous year, thanks to increased costs of crude oil and more purchases of finished goods. According to the report, purchases of cars and tyres reached all-time highs. The trade deficit even reached as far as farm products, with Americans buying more cheese, wine and food products that the US exported.
Team d’Antin MotoGP has announced that it will use Dunlop tyres in 2005. The team will enter Roby Rolfo on a Ducati Desmosedici GP04. The 2005 MotoGP World Championship starts in Jerez on 10 April.
Team owner Luis d’Antin and Roby Rolfo recently visited Dunlop Motorsport’s European R&D headquarters in Birmingham. “We are delighted that Dunlop has decided to support our programme,” confirmed Luis d’Antin “it will be a very interesting challenge for our team to help Dunlop move forward with their MotoGP tyre development.”
Pirelli’s Brazilian subsidiary of its Telecom systems business has signed a joint venture agreement with Japan’s Furukawa Industrial, to produce fibre optic cables in Brazil. The new company, to be called SPF (Sociedade Produtora de Fibras Ópticas S.A) is split 51:49 with Pirelli responsible for the majority. The decision to merge was taken in order to “catch all the opportunities that could derive from the recovery of the Brazilian telecommunications market after last year’s slowdown,” a company statement explained.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries has said it will build a radial tyre plant in Thailand, Japan Today has reported. The new factory will be built in an industrial complex 100 kilometres south of Bangkok and will aim to produce 12,000 tyres per day two years after it begins operating in 2006, the report says. The facility will be the company’s third plant in Asia as Sumitomo Rubber already operates factories in Indonesia and China. The company reportedly made the decision to build the new plant in Thailand in response to growing global demand.
Bridgestone has announced that it build its third factory in Mexico at a cost of $220 million (£117 million). According to Bridgestone, the factory will be the company’s first automated plant overseas from “initial processing of materials to final inspection of the finished tyres.” The plant will feature Bridgestone’s first installation of its BIRD (Bridgestone Innovative and Rational Development) system.
As the UK tyre business was observing events at the Autosport/Aftermarket show, on the other side of the globe, the Tokyo Auto Salon was attracting some 300,000 spectators. Approximately 30,000 of these passed by the Hankook stand each day. According to Hankook, every Japanese car, wheel and tyre manufacturer was present.
Demonstrating its new corporate identity, the Korean company adopted the Hankook Emotion theme for its stand. The exhibition displayed 20 items including its range of Formula 3 racing tyres, Ventus UHP tyres, the low-noise XQ-Optimo and a number of concept products. The company also tried to charm its visitors with a racing Porsche on the company stand, with a magician providing further entertainment.
“The Hankook Tire booth was a fine chance to promote our new corporate identity program in Japan, one of the world’s most important markets for modified automobiles. We worked hard to make a venue that would give auto buffs from around the world a look at our world-class technology and tyres of the future,” commented a Hankook representative.
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