Watts Industrial Tyres Plc has signed an agreement with Continental AG to supply solid industrial tyres to its industrial tyres business unit. Continental is going to use the tyres to develop the US and Asian markets. The tyres will be manufactured to Continental’s specification at Eu-Retec (Pvt) Ltd in Sri Lanka.
Dr Ed Tweddell, director of Goodyear joint venture partner, Ansell, has stated that his company expects to continue to be involved in its South Pacific Tyres partnership with Goodyear.
“We have not made a decision yet.” That was the comment of a Continental spokesperson in Hanover, Germany, in response to rumours that the tyre manufacturer has already decided to end the joint venture with the Moscow Tyre Plant.
A cooperative financing venture has been created by Peugeot to partner Banque PSA Finance and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobiles (DPCA) with the Bank of China.
The Department of Trade and Industry’s autoindustry.co.uk website is reporting that Pirelli and Continental are to enter into a joint venture in Romania. The £27 million project will be split 80:20 between Pirelli and Continental, with Pirelli holding the majority share. The operation will be based in Slatina and will produce 30,000 tonnes of steel thread a year for tyres sold by both firms in Eastern Europe.
A year after returning to the Frankfurt’s DAX stock exchange, Continental’s management is saying that it “has profited noticeably from its return to the DAX.”
Continental chairman, Manfred Wennemer, has said that the company will announce that it has agreed to a joint venture in China, this week, according to German media sources.
At Automechanika, SKF will be presenting a so-called ‘air wheel bearing’ through which air-pressure can be filled into the tyre. The bearings are used within the Tire Intelligent Pressure Management (TIPM) system, which was developed under the leadership of Michelin. TRW Automotive and WABCO are involved in this tyre pressure control improvement project.
Cooper Tire & Rubber’s operating group, Cooper-Standard Automotive, has created a joint venture company with Chinese manufacturer Saiyang Sealing Products. Together the companies will sell automobile sealing systems under the name Cooper Saiyang Wuhu Automotive.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. are discussing the details of a possible joint venture.
German exhaust specialists, Eberspächer, and Japanese automotive component supplier, Calsonickansei, are to “intensify their collaboration” by setting up a marketing joint venture in Paris. The company will operate under the name of ACE Alliance CalsonicKansei Eberspächer S.A.S.
Since 1st of January 2004 the business field Deflation Warning System DWS (Warnair) belongs to Dunlop-Tech GmbH, a 100% daughter company from SRI. So DWS is not part of the joint venture Goodyear Dunlop.
Continental and JK Industries are in talks to explore how the two companies can strengthen their existing alliance. Among the options is that of Continental investing in a joint venture for the Indian market. Continental board member Hans-Joachim Nikolin is quoted in the Indian press as saying that the discussions are taking place “at levels up to the most senior in both companies.” He also adds that radialisation is increasing in the Indian tyre market and “the technological capabilities of Continental were now applicable to the Indian situation.”
Slovak tyre manufacturer Matador is set to sign a joint venture agreement with Ethiopian firm Addis Tyre. Details are sketchy, but it is believed that Matador will pay around US$ 10 million for a stake in Addis of between 60 to 76 per cent. The Addis factory was built in 1971 by a company from what was then Czechoslovakia and produces 100,000 tyres annually for the local market. Matador will upgrade technology and equipment with the aim of tripling output by 2006.
Michelin Apollo Tyres Pvt Ltd, the Indian joint venture between Michelin and Apollo Tyres, has introduced a new truck and bus radial tyre for the Indian market. The tyre, which features both Michelin and Apollo trademarks on the sidewall is currently imported, although it is anticipated that the tyre will be made in India by 2005. Mr. Herve Dub, who will become CEO of the jv company in May as part of a seven-member board (four members from Michelin, three from Apollo), described the two trademarks on the tyre as “a concrete demonstration of the partnership between Apollo Tyres and Michelin.”
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