LEGISLATION
Toyo Tire USA has announced the hiring of Anne Holland as the company’s sales operations manager. Holland will report to John Hagan, senior director of sales operations. “We would like to welcome Ms Holland to the Toyo Tires team,” said Yasushi Takagi, president & CEO, Toyo Tire USA. “She brings valuable experience to her department and will be a great asset to the company.”
2009 was a difficult year for the whole tyre business, but those selling commercial vehicle tyres had a particularly rough ride. With operators running fewer vehicles less often, and with the credit crunch biting at the heels of haulage companies already under pressure from sky-high fuel prices, there was considerable price pressure on premium tyre companies. As a result, last year saw the total UK truck tyre market shrink and some key changes take place in terms of market share. One key decline in unit share saw Goodyear Dunlop slip from 20 per cent in 2007 (third place) to estimated 9 per cent in 2009 (fifth place). With this in mind and in the context of the appointment of a new managing director at Tyre Fort, Tyres & Accessories visited Goodyear Dunlop’s UK headquarters for an exclusive interview with Nigel Sowerby, director commercial vehicle and off-the-road tyres.
Alistair Darling’s last pre-election Budget has delivered a duty on fuel to be phased in between April and January 2011. The road network – the subject of much criticism following the appearance of more potholes than usual after the harsh winter season – will be subject of a £385 million investment.
While everyone has been focusing on the US-initiated anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese-made passenger car tyres, another anti-dumping investigation has escaped widespread coverage. On 13 August 2009 the European commission began an investigation into dumping allegations made against Chinese wheelmakers who allegedly sold products into the European markets beneath cost price. At the time 60 Chinese wheelmakers received notification of the impending investigation and most reportedly began cooperating straight away. Nevertheless, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce, the investigation is likely to cost Chinese wheel exporters an estimated US$390 million. There is still a chance that no tariffs will be implemented, but if they are they will apply across both the OE and replacement sectors and are predicted to be lie somewhere around the 30 per cent mark.
The European Commission’s investigation, which began just a day after the Chinese companies involved were informed of the allegations, followed a complaint made by the Association of European Wheel Manufacturers’ (EUWA) in June 2009. At the time the journal of the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union said the investigation was initiated “having determined that there is sufficient evidence to justify the…proceeding.” However, China's Ministry of Commerce denied the charges saying: “It raises the cost of repairs for customers, affects the recovery of the European auto sector from the global financial crisis, and hurts the interests of both China and Europe.” Either way, with Chinese produced wheels representing a significant proportion of replacement market products on offer, any kind of trade barriers that are implemented are likely to have a similarly significant effect on the shape of the market.
At Silverstone for the season launch for both series, Cooper Tires’ UK representative Sarah McRoberts stated that the company—sponsored Formula Three and the Avon Tyres British GT championships represent a “great opportunity” for both brands’ extension in the UK. While Cooper was praised for providing great consistency – each brand was involved in their respective championships last year – McRoberts also noted the changes required to the compounds “across all our tyres” following EU legislation requiring clean oils in all road and track products. She said the company would be “aiming again for consistency of performance”.
The Environment Agency (EA), Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) have chosen October’s Brityrex exhibition as the platform for a new campaign to raise awareness of legislation covering the chemical make-up of tyres and retread rubber. The campaign follows the introduction of European REACH legislation which states that extender oils shall not be placed on the market, or used for the production of tyres or parts of tyres if they contain more than the threshold limits of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon). The restrictions also apply to the marketing of tyres and treads for retreading.
Both European manufacturers and importers need to comply with the new ruling; distributors found to be selling tyres containing excessive levels of PAH could be faced with enforcement proceedings. One of the problems for retailers and wholesalers will be that there is no visual test to determine the presence of PAH, which means they will need to be absolutely confident that their tyre suppliers are aware of and meeting the tighter standard.
During the company’s 2009 full financial year conference call on March 10, Pirelli Tyre CEO Dr. Francesco Gori discussed a number of plans for this and the coming year. “Our strategic guidelines for 2010 confirm our strategic positioning in line with our business plan,” he stated. “And the distinctive strategic features are focused on the strong and truly global brand that made us improve once more our position in the top consumer segments. It selected exposure in emerging markets with a focus on Latin America, where we are clearly number one, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Our expectation for 2010 is to further improve our revenues in the industrial business by fully exploiting the potentials in those geographies.”
Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., Ltd., the third largest tyre manufacturer in China and approximately number 16 in the world, has announced plans to invest $200 million in the construction of a “world class” proving ground in China. Company president Mr Wang Feng told Tyres & Accessories the investment will be spread over four years and will take the form of a three phase plan, beginning with passenger car tyre testing facilities when the proposed proving ground opens in 2012, and expanding to include truck and OTR testing facilities by the time it is completed in 2016. Currently the company is in the process of getting the necessary government approvals for its proposed plot of land, but Mr Wang said the company plans to be in a position to announce the further details at the end of the first half of this year. And the new facility will be a “First class proving ground in terms of size and quality,”he explained. Considering the relatively low cost of land in China, company representatives highlighted the fact that money it plans to invest in the new site will go a long way. Linglong's proposed investment equates to roughly 10 per cent of a year's turnover ($1.79 billion in 2009; over $2 billion expected in 2010) spread over four years.
Avon Tyres’ latest high-performance tyre, the ZT5 has been designed with what the company calls “the latest ‘pitch technology’ to reduce road noise for a quieter ride and to ensure that the new tyre conforms with EU noise legislation.” The ZT5 also possesses what Avon calls an “innovative tread design, which offers optimum road grip when wet”. The tyre caters for a wide range of popular small, medium-sized vehicles, such as the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Vauxhall Corsa, Citroen C3 and Peugeot 207.
What will the tyre retail business look like in five years time? Who knows. As I have learnt to my peril in this column, prognostication is a dangerous business. Let’s not recall how last year I wrote “unless there is an unlikely stay of execution” regarding the implementation of s-marking regulations (see T&A’s August 2009 issue for more on this). But I digress.
The news at the end of February that Halfords bought Nationwide Autocentres for £73.2 million (see page 14 for complete coverage) says something about how tyre retail is evolving. Along with the purchase announcement came plans to rebrand the chain and the affirmation of existing plans to double the number of branches to 424. When you consider that the second largest tyre retail chain in the country, ATS Euromaster, reported that it was “reviewing” up to 80 of its 456 branches last September, it is clear that size gap between chains at the top of the two sectors is narrowing. True, Autocentres don’t focus on tyre sales like the traditional outlets do, but there are signs they are considering how to increase their focus in this area.
2009 may have been a difficult year for the tyre business in general, but the new truck tyre sector faired particularly badly. And as a knock-on effect of the reduced number of miles driven by fleets in the slowing economy, retread product was also hit (for example some figures suggest UK retread output was down 20 per cent this time last year). However, this improved during the course of the year and with retreading companies securing an increasing share of fleet business, Devon-based Bandvulc tyres is looking forward to a bright future in the international logistics business.
In a period of expansion that has impressed even the truck and bus market’s leading new tyre manufacturers, in recent years Bandvulc has grown to an influential position in certain segments, particularly to supermarket fleet tyre supply. Along the way the company has developed a reputation for environmental consciousness and recently took on an expanded new tyre distribution role in order to extend the service it can offer its growing fleet customer base. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories, company director and co-founder Richard O’Connell defines three important dimensions for those in the retreading business to consider: environmental, technical and political.
Enforcement of the European s-mark legislation that took effect in October 2009 is set to begin in the UK on 23 March. From this date onwards anyone selling tyres not in compliance with Directive 2001/43 (in other words non s-marked tyres) will be subject to the consequences of a statutory instrument signed off by Department for Transport minister Sadiq Khan on 10 February. BTMA chief executive, Graham Willson, told Tyres & Accessories that this approved text will now be laid before parliament and, unless there is an adverse reaction from parliament – something that is considered unlikely, the statutory instrument completing the implementation of directive 2001/43 will become effective on 23 March 2010.
Some industry observers see the time before this as the last chance saloon for anyone who has been clearing stocks of non-compliant tyres, with the Vehicle Certification Agency and Trading Standards are expected to be vigorously enforcing the new law, with penalty fines of up to £5,000 a tyre for those caught selling non-compliant products after 23 March.
In the USA, the Tire Industry Association recently stepped forward when an attempt was made to mandate retread safety standards equivalent to the new tyre standards in a motorcoach safety bill, reports Tire Review. Senate bill S. 554, introduced by senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), contained the following paragraph:
The European Union has legislated that, as of January 1, 2010, highly aromatic oils with a high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content may no longer be utilised in tyres. In a note from its vice president of sales & marketing, H.S. Ahn, Hankook Tire Europe declares “all E-marked tyres sold by Hankook Tire Europe and its EU-based affiliates designated to be used on the territory of the European Union fully comply to this new EU-legislation.
Neeraj Kanwar, managing director of Apollo Tyres Ltd, has been elected chairman of the Indian the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA). Kanwar was unanimously elected as the next chairman at the association’s Annual General Meeting yesterday (14 January 2010) and is by far the youngest ATMA Chairperson so far since its inception in 1975.
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.
