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Continental Tire the Americas announced a major expansion of its US headquarters in Ft. Mill, South Carolina. US industry publication Tire Review shares that the three year old headquarters building will be extended by 16,000 square feet, creating a total area of 91,000 square feet. Along with a larger floorspace, the expansion will bring 80 new jobs to the headquarters over the coming four years.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Europe Ltd says “difficult market conditions in Europe” are behind the recently-announced redundancies at its Melksham site. The tyre maker has confirmed some 50 redundancies in the plant’s manufacturing operations area.
On 26 September, the US tariff on Chinese-manufactured consumer tyres is scheduled to end. On that day it’ll be exactly three years since a 35 per cent duty was slapped upon all such tyres imported from China; this was reduced to 30 per cent in 2010 and for the past 12 months US consumers have paid a 25 per cent duty on Chinese passenger car and light truck tyres. The tariff received a mixed welcome – the Tire Industry Association referred to it in 2009 as “a politically motivated decision that will end up costing more jobs than it saves” while the United Steelworkers union praised Barack Obama as being “a President with the guts to enforce trade laws.” Either way, in little over a month the tyre tariff will be history.
Pirelli has confirmed that it is investing a total of £20 million in its Carlisle tyre production factory. As Tyres & Accessories reported following a visit last month, the money is being invested in research and development as well as factory upgrades. According to company representatives, of the £20 million total, £11.4 million is being spent on research and development and £9 million on machinery upgrades.
The popularity of cars such as the Range Rover Evoque has led Jaguar Land Rover to introduce 24-hour working at its Halewood production plant. 1000 new jobs were created to support the new third shift at the plant, which has trebled its workforce in the past three years and staff from the first night shift clocked off on the morning of Tuesday 14 August 2012.
Russian tyre maker Cordiant, formerly Sibur-Russian Tyres, confirmed in late July plans to invest US$400 million in its Western Siberia tyre plants. This announcement was made following a plant visit undertaken by Omsk region governor Viktor Nazarov on 27 July.
Goodyear intends to hire 1,000 ex-US military personnel over the coming three years, a measure that will contribute towards the US Chamber of Commerce’s “Hiring 500,000 Heroes” programme, a government-led incentive scheme aimed at finding jobs for half a million military veterans and their spouses by the end of 2014. Steve McClellan, president of Goodyear’s North American tyre unit, announced the company’s commitment to this employment goal at a 27 July function supporting Veteran and Reservist employment at Goodyear. McClellan also signed a statement of support for the US National Guard and Reserve on behalf of Goodyear.
The Maxxis Bighorn MT762 radial tyre is designed to delivers a smooth ride on the road alongside superior off-road grip, especially in muddy conditions. One characteristic you don’t necessarily expect from mud tyres is longevity, but a driver in Australia predicts he has recorded a total 100,000km out of a set of Bighorn tyres. The feat isn’t “half bad”, according to electrician and refrigeration mechanic Bob Stokes, whose modifications to a 76 Series Toyota Landcruiser have been chronicled by Australian motoring magazine 4WD Action.
Amongst a raft of personnel changes announced by Bridgestone on 20 July is one affecting former Bridgestone Europe CEO and president Makio Ohasi. The ex-Bridgestone Europe boss has held the post of vice-president and officer of the company’s Asia Pacific, China, Middle East, Africa and Russia Tire Business Operations division since the start of the year, and concurrently served as a director within the division. Effective 1 September, Ohasi will relinquish these roles and take on the position of vice-president, officer and chief quality officer Specialty Tire Business.
Lanxess has announced that it is partnering with the National Tyre Distributor’s Association (NTDA) to ensure tyre dealers and wholesalers across the UK have everything they need to prepare for mandatory tyre labelling when it is introduced on 1 November.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded Cooper Tire & Rubber and its consortium partners a US$6.9 million grant for research into the guayule plant. The grant covers a four year period and Cooper says research its research focus is on developing enhanced manufacturing processes, testing and utilising guayule natural rubber for use in tyres, and evaluating the remaining guayule plant biomass as a source of bio-fuel for the transportation industry.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has expressed its approval of the legislation approved by the United States Congress and signed by Barack Obama on 6 July, not least because it should save the company some US$375 million over the next five years. The savings are related to pensions – a sensitive topic for many Goodyear employees following the significant changes made to the tyre maker’s pension plan in recent years, yet the company states the legislation will offset historically low interest rates and enable companies to invest in business growth and creating jobs.
Euro Car Parts opened 11 new branches, in the second quarter of 2012, continue on its rapid growth trajectory. Delivering on its promise to make Euro Car Parts (ECP) the biggest aftermarket supplier in Scotland, ECP opened two new branches in June alone – Edinburgh East and Perth. The doors also opened at new stores in Borehamwood and Telford during June, with these four branches combined, creating over 200 new jobs. The company opened 17 new branches between Jan – June 2012.
Two years ago, at Reifen 2010, Starco marketing manager Brian Lorentzen told Tyres & Accessories off the record that the company was in the process of developing plans involving the agricultural sector. At this year’s show the news was finally made public as Starco announced its entry into the tractor radial tyre market. The Danish company describes this agricultural debut, which centres on a new distribution agreement with the tyre manufacturer ATG (Alliance Tire Group), as “a move that breaks with the past and indicates the shape of things to come.” Under the agreement, Starco will now distribute ATG’s Galaxy tractor tyre range in Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany and the Benelux countries.
Aldermore, the new British challenger bank, says UK haulage firms still need fuel price parity with other European countries if they are to successfully fight-off foreign competition.
Responding to the announcement that the government is to postpone its proposed 3p price increase in fuel duty until January 2013, Damon Walford, Managing Director of Aldermore Invoice Finance, said: "The UK haulage industry remains at a significant disadvantage against European competitors, who pay as little as 106p per litre for diesel in Spain, 111p in Austria and just 96p in Luxemburg (even in Germany and France, diesel prices are significantly lower at 115p and 118p respectively).
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