Following the lead of the New York State Assembly, the state senate last week voted 35-26 to ban the use of lead wheel weights in the Empire State, reports Tire Review. The bill was sent to governer David Patterson for signature just before the holiday weekend.
Scottish Coal has specified Bridgestone tyres for its 10 new Caterpillar 785D trucks as a part of its fleet modernisation programme. The trucks cost in excess of £1.25 million each and will operate at the company’s Broken Cross open cast coal mine in Ayrshire. No details of how much Scottish Coal are paying for the latest tyre supply deal have been release, but when Scottish Coal last extended its contract with Bridgestone, the firm told Tyres & Accessories that it had was seeking get every penny of value of the tyres that cost around £7000 each. Scottish Coal’s annual tyre bill is estimated to be total around £3 million.
Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. has announced the death of its chairman, Carlos (Shozo) Kibata on June 26, 2010, following a brief illness. Kibata, aged 64, had been with the Toyo Tires organisation for more than 41 years and in addition to being chairman was until recently an executive corporate officer of Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., LTD. in Japan.
When the European Commission published the preliminary results of its anti-dumping investigation of Chinese aluminium wheel producers, it also released a wealth of market information to anyone willing to trawl through numerous pages of legal jargon. The good news is that Tyres & Accessories has done this, so you don’t have to. And the results reveal the sheer scale of the case.
Audi has selected Bridgestone to supply tyres for the 20-inch option on its new Audi RS 5 Coupé. As a result Bridgestone will supply its newly-developed flagship UHP tyre, the Potenza S001 in time for the car’s European launch in April 2010. Designed exclusively for the world’s most powerful sports cars, the Potenza S001 meets the performance targets set by German manufacturer Quattro GmbH for this new 450 hp Audi coupé.
“Bridgestone is proud that Audi has chosen the new Potenza S001 for such a dynamic performer as the Audi RS 5,” Didier Schneider, vice president original equipment, Bridgestone Europe said: “Bridgestone worked hard to meet the extremely demanding requirements in all areas of tyre performance.”
Nexen Tire Corp.’s first quarter earnings jumped 43 per cent from a year earlier on the back of increased prices, reports Tire Review. Net profit reached 25 billion won (US$22.4 million) in the January-March period, compared with a profit of 17 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales increased 8.6 per cent to 249 billion won over the cited period, while operating income fell 5.1 per cent to 32.4 billion won, it said.
Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper reports Kingsway Tyres intends to open its own retreading factory by May 2010. The facility is anticipated to produce 1,000 truck and bus retreads per month, giving it’s the largest capacity of any retreading plant in the country. The tyre importer currently controls 25 per cent of the local market, the Business Daily comments. “With the new retread factory, we are planning to increase the market share to 35 per cent in the next five years,” stated Kingsway managing director Manoj Shah. The company has invested Sh50 million (£404,000) in the new factory.” Shah added that in the new plant Kinsgway is “introducing a new technology that could prolong the mileage span of a retread to almost 90 per cent."
Volvo Group Europe has extended its established tyre supply agreement with Continental Truck Tires for a further three years. Continental will remain original equipment supplier for commercial vehicles from all Volvo Group Europe brands until at least 2012. Following the signing of this latest agreement, the German tyre manufacturer mentions that in future, customers will still not have to pay extra to have their vehicles equipped with Continental tyres.
Statistics released by Germany’s Federal Tyre Trade and the Vulcanisers' Skilled Trade Association (BRV) show that while year-on-year fewer retreaded truck tyres were sold in this market during 2009, they gained market share at the expense of new tyres.
The share of electrified powertrains is expected to increase significantly in all major automotive markets as a result of marked decreases in the cost of batteries over the next decade. Yet the desire to capitalise on this growing market may lead to problems in the years ahead: According to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, planned investments in battery production will result in significant overcapacity occurring between 2014 and 2017, especially in the US and in Japan. As a consequence, experts at the strategy consultancy believe only six to eight global battery manufacturers will survive the next five to seven years. This is the conclusion the company drew from its “Powertrain 2020 – Li-ion batteries – The next bubble ahead?" market survey.
Pirelli & C SpA is scheduled to reports its fourth quarter results and 2010-11 guidance on March 10. Deutsche Bank Equity Research anticipates that in the fourth quarter Pirelli Tyre revenues should benefit from a volume increase (Deutsche Bank estimates a 15% increase) compared with decreases in the previous nine months, a negative price mix (a price mix of -2% versus +6.9% in Q1, +5.6% in Q2 and +4.7% in Q3) which Deutsche Bank believes has allowed Pirelli to gain market share on the continued discipline of manufacturers, and a 2 per cent positive foreign exchange impact. Furthermore, says Deutsche Bank, margins should benefit form low raw material prices, as the large price increases for these commodities took place in 2010.
Blackcircles.com’s newly updated site recently received a Hitwise award for being in the top 10 in the United Kingdom 'Shopping and Classifieds – Automotive' category. Mike Welch, Blackcircles.com's managing director and founder said:"I'm delighted with what the guys have developed. The site is looking great and is a lot easier to get to grips with. This is an important step for us and shows our ongoing commitment to improve our customer's online experience. I'm confident that everyone will find our new website a lot easier to use and that their experience with Blackcircles.com will now be better than ever".
Continental Tire the Americas (CTA) has commented on the global recognition it gained during the recent ContiTire Awards ceremony in Hannover, Germany. At the awards CTA project teams walked away with three of the five awards, an occurrence the American operation comments is “indicative of the organisation’s dedication and commitment to excellence, and its key role in Continental Tire’s success in the global marketplace.”
Describing the company’s fourth quarter 2009 results as “solid”, Goodyear Tire & Rubber chairman and CEO Robert J. Keegan described the improved gross margins, segment operating income and net income achieved as a “reflection of the success we had in strengthening our business despite a challenging economy and operating environment.” However this chirpy final quarter was not enough to deliver sales above those achieved in 2008, and an annual net loss of $375 million was recorded, as opposed to a loss of $75 million a year earlier.
Netherlands based manufacturer Interstate Tire & Rubber has announced its participation in Brazil’s Recaufair tyre show between April 13 and 16, 2010. The company plans to launch its brand new Interstate Eco Tour Plus tyre into the South American market during the Sao Paulo show. Interstate reports that its market share in South America is “growing rapidly”, and according to company vice-president Theo de Vries, the region represents a “fast growing market with excellent opportunities for Interstate.”
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