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HiperImperio: Portugal’s Rising Star

The Imperpar Group has been founded on the tyre business and tyres accounted for around 70 per cent of the Group’s gross revenue in 2001. Consequently, HiperImperio is the core element of the group though Managing Director António Barros dos Santos expects to see the emphasis gradually change by 2004. Tyres will remain the core business at 60 per cent of revenue, but other sectors of the business are expected to grow at a greater rate.The key targets for the tyre business will be to develop market share in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in Spain. He sees no immediate overseas investment. Development will be undertaken by acquiring existing independent businesses. Dos Santos: “We also have a franchise operation. These Club Auto Box outlets are not owned by us but are effectively controlled by us. There are currently about 20 Club Auto Box franchises and this is another sector through which we can expand. We also have 12 new shops opening in the New Year throughout Portugal. Our retail presence in Spain is spread with three outlets in Galicia, one in Valladolid, three in Madrid, 5 in the Balearics and 12 in the Canarians Islands. But there is still room for a great deal of development in the Spanish market. We sell to over 300 dealers throughout Portugal and 100 in Spain.HiperImperio has also introduced its own brand passenger car tyre under the Rolltec name, produced by a global tyre manufacturer to international standards. Currently, there is a restricted range of fast moving sizes but the range is expected to expand in the coming year. HiperImperio uses this brand as its own in Portugal and sells it exclusively through its own outlets. However, its own distribution companies sell the brand on a global scale and it is available to other distributors in European markets for national distribution through Europe as a private brand.The business was built around the retread industry and astute business development has taken the Imperpar Group from carcasses and retreading to a multi-discipline business playing on a global market. However, retreads still play an important part in the Group’s development and although there is currently less emphasis on retreads in the tyre division than there has been in the past, retreads still account for some 15 per cent of revenue.

9th January 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

VW Aims To Recapture Market Share In China

VW is to launch two new models in China, the Golf and the Polo, aimed at the fast-growing low-price vehicle segment. VW holds a 40 per cent share of the Chinese market, down from over 54 per cent two years ago. The company expects to sell 500,000 vehicles this year and hopes to double this figure by 2007 as the market continues to expand. This year China overtook the USA to become VW’s second largest market after Germany.

6th December 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Analysts Cautious Over US Car Sales

Car industry analysts have reacted cautiously to news that November sales in the USA were ahead of predictions. Continuing high incentives to buy is helping sales volumes, but keeping profits down, leading to a situation dubbed “profitless prosperity” by one analyst. Even more ironic is the fact that it is the Big 3 of Ford, GM and Chrysler that are offering the greatest incentives, yet all three experienced double-digit sales falls last month and their market share is down 3 per cent to 61 per cent, with shares of imported vehicles rising. Analysts predict more of the same for early 2003, with prices falling because of over-supply of vehicles and the main question being “how much longer can the situation continue?”

3rd December 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Retread Market: The Current State Of Play

T&A looks at the recent history of retreading, the threats and the opportunities. According to RAPRA, the number of tyres generated in the UK that would be suitable for retreading is around 15 per cent of car tyres and 50-70 per cent of truck tyres. However, it is reported that only nine per cent of car tyres are retreaded and as few as 24 per cent of truck tyres. It should be noted that many customer own tyre contracts include retreaded tyres which do not get included in this figure and these may amount to as many as 35% of the total retread truck tyre volume in the UK.In 1994 an estimated 14 per cent of the UK car tyre replacement market was taken by the retread sector. This dropped to 12 per cent by 1998 (something around 16 million tyres) and collapsed to eight per cent in 1999 and is continuing to fall. This is a far cry from the 20 per cent market share held in the 1970s and 1980s (when, ironically, the quality was perhaps not quite so good as it is today). Figures for the tonnage retreaded show an increase between 1999 and 2000 from 76,000 tonnes to 77,000 tonnes.Truck retreading is not a particular problem, though there are shortages of casings in some sizes, particularly older more popular retread sizes. The truck tyre market is looking at the cost per kilometre, and retreading lowers the cost per kilometre and makes tyre use much more cost effective. The truck operator sees retreads as a tool to lower running costs.

28th November 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Cord Deal At Michelin

The Hyosung Corp. has announced that it has won a $350 million order from Michelin to supply tyre cords and has also agreed to acquire a U.S. cord plant from Michelin for an unspecified amount. Hyosung, which is the world’s largest polyester tyre cord maker, said its U.S. unit, Hyosung America Inc, would acquire Michelin’s tyre cord plant in Virginia. The acquisition would enable Hyosung to “secure a production point to enter the North American market”.The South Korean company said in the statement it expected to increase its North American market share of tyre cords to 20 percent from the current 13 percent, while global market share would rise to 24 percent from 20 percent.

26th November 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Is Gaining Market Share And Improving Results

Related news: First Quarter Results Of Michelin Better Than Expected Shift of Michelin Production Towards Romania Continental Market Leader in Bulgaria Michelin India Launches Primacy LC

5th November 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Superior Industries See Expansion in OE – End of Aftermarket

At Superior Industries 3rd quarter conference call the company announced expected growth of 15 per cent every year for the next three years. This was based on the expected demand from the OE market where the company was seeing growth in supplying the key manufacturers. Shipments to DaimlerChrysler were up to 6 per cent, whilst there was a 15 per cent growth in supplies to non-Ford/GM companies. Market share at Ford/GM continued to increase. However, the aftermarket revenue for the third quarter stood at 903,000 Dollars. Superior accepted that this was an indication that this sector of the market was nearing an end for the company.Current US capacity is around 14.5 million units, plus potentially 2 million from Hungary. In order to meet new demand the company was expanding production capacity at Rogers, Arkansas and at two other plants. Plus there was the possibility of another new plant being developed in the next two years, possibly in China producing wheels exclusively for the export market.

18th October 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Is Running Ahead Of Competition In The USA

The year 2000 tyre recall, with all its consequences and financial difficulties, is more or less over. Sales in North America are strong, plus the performance of the Firestone brand has been stabilised, while the Bridgestone brand managed a growth of 30%, said John Lampe, CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding Inc. yesterday on TV. The fact that Lampe (who has turned out to be a charismatic leader by virtue of his tough battle with his biggest customer Ford, admired by all Bridgestone/Firestone employees in America) appeared on TV this week is another blow for the morale of Goodyear people. Last week they were told by CEO Gibara and his successor from the 1st of January next year, Keegan, that the Corporation has lost market share and has been unable to produce good results on its home market so far. This is forcing the company into the next round of restructuring and cost saving measures. According to Gibara the company is no longer able to pay the health costs at the same high rates as in the past, but has to reduce these costs immediately. This is a consequence, said Gibara, of fierce competition. Employees also fear that the company might lay off thousands more associates in order to reduce costs.

11th October 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

DaimlerChrysler AG: Buy

Last month the American vehicle market recorded good sales figures, still influenced largely by the offer of zero per cent financing. However, it is better to offer zero per cent deals and keep manufacturing capacity high rather than risk losing market share, say the analysts at M. M. Warburg, who have set a target figure for DaimlerChrysler shares of 62 Euros.

10th September 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Tripling Investment In South Africa

Bridgestone/Firestone is to triple its investment in South Africa to around 15 million US dollars. Chairman Takashi Wada states that this is part of a drive to build market share and improve exports. There are expectations of increased OE business with Ford, GM, Toyota and BMW. The aim is to make the South African operation the third largest in the Bridgestone portfolio.

13th June 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Aims At Improving Market Share

Michelin recently held an analyst conference to discuss its commercial vehicle tyre performance and strategy. This sector is worth 3.9 billion Euro a year in sales to Michelin, with an operating margin of almost 9 per cent, despite the dramatic downturn in the US and European markets. Looking ahead, the company’s strategy lies in the provision of total tyre management and problem solutions for fleets, with Michelin often taking over a customer’s total tyre requirements, from new tyres to scrap disposal. Typically, Michelin tyres command a price premium (of up to 20 per cent in Europe) over competitors’ tyres and the company intends to maintain this pricing level. Despite the higher prices, Michelin has an estimated OE market share of 70 per cent, and a replacement market share of over 30 per cent, and the company is aiming to improve on these figures. There has been a boost in the first four months of this year, with raw material prices lower than expected and sales volumes of tyres greater than anticipated.

10th June 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Move Into Mammoth Market

Pirelli have selected Mammoth Tyres to handle their earthmover tyre business throughout England and Wales. This key dealership appointment brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on which Pirelli intend to significantly increase their market share. The Founders of Mammoth Tyres, Joe Freese and Ivor Knights have been involved with earthmover tyres for over 35 years and can provide the very best in EM supply and service. In 1988 Mammoth joined forces with the County Tyre Group who themselves have a wealth of expertise in this specialist sector of the tyre industry.

7th June 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

High And Ultra High Performance Tyres

Since 1999 the trend in car sales in Europe is downwards. If one million cars are sold a year, that is five million tyres which will not supplied as original equipment. But luxury and premium class cars, sporty cars and luxury SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) were not included in the negative trend and in some niches sales even rose. High performance vehicles need high performance tyres. Whereas standard tyres with a T speed rating have lost market share over recent years, tyres with speed ratings H and higher have increased market share. The average horse power of the car parc in Europe is rising year by year. People talk about fuel saving cars, but buy more and more vehicles with more powerful engines.Within the car tyre segment, the sub segment of high performance (hp) and even ultra high performance (uhp) tyres is growing; this part of the market is very dynamic. But changes are on the horizon: until now the flood of newly introduced upper class cars made it necessary to fit hp or uhp tyres, but now this market seems to be saturated. On the other hand more and more middle class and even compact cars have engines allowing top speeds of more than 200 km/h – and also need this type of tyres.And the higher the car segment, the longer the cars “live”. Now all these cars introduced in the 90s need replacement tyres. In the year 2000 in Europe 19 percent of all replacement tyres had the speed ratings V/W/Y/Z, in 2005 it will be 33 percent. These cars need high value tyres a second and a third time and this means an optimistic outlook for tyre dealers. Especially if we consider that the ties between drivers and the car dealers will become weaker and weaker year by year. The drivers will no longer buy the tyres from the BMW or Jaguar dealer but from a tyre dealer.In original equipment the demand in hp and uhp tyres will also improve but not as dramatically as in the aftermarket. But there is a new trend which is also positive: more and more cars will be fitted with runflats. And because these tyres are more expensive than “normal” tyres the first introductions happen on upper class vehicles. Most runflats are also hp and uhp tyres because every new invention in car production is offered first in this segment. Remember ABS, ESP or airbags. If a car does not need a fifth tyre because of being fitted with runflats that will be compensated for by a much better-performing (and also more expensive) tyre.

24th May 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Car Industry Between Hope And Worry

The car makers usually use the Geneve Car Salon not only for the presentation of their newest models and show cars but also for a position-fixing. Because they are in all the world’s single markets present and – especially the volume car manufacturers – in most of the market segments, the differences mostly are only in nuances. Not often before the views were so far away than this year: optimists versus pessimists; pragmatism here, utopism there; the picture of the global car market is rather distinguished.Scientists in the automotive area see the luxury segment on the limit. They believe that the progress in sales some car makers believe in will not happen. Unbroken seems the trend to sport utility vehicles (SUV) and especially to those with a very exclusive appointment. If you see such a car you might think of the roots of offroad vehicles, but the car makers made them to onroad cars. Whereas “normal” cars in the US again lost 10.9 percent market share at the beginning of this year, more light trucks were sold than ever and with a plus of 4.4% made the distance to passenger cars wider. Also in Europe more SUVs were sold, but it is common that the market for this segment will stay under the state of North America. But two other new trends enter the focus: On the one hand so called cross-over models mixing two traditional car segments into one – for example cabrio and offroad. The second trend has the market of small cars in focus: the cars might be small but not cheap as a car like the Mini shows.In Geneve the managers and journalists discussed about company state of business, markets with a sales plus were welcomed, markets with a minus were grieved over: Usually it was the wrong policy, but definitely the bad economy guilty. And the suppliers are always in the shipping lane of the car makers.

17th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Earnings Exceed Expectations

The Cooper Tire & Rubber company’s earnings per share for the first quarter of 2002 will be around 35 to 37 cents; significantly more than the previous estimate of 30 cents. This is due to an increase in market share and increased light vehicle production in North America. Full results will be published on April 18.

11th April 2002/by Tyrepress Editors