Tyre industry pioneers, Michelin has a long history. Having begun in 1889, Michelin is now the second-largest tyre manufacturer in the world after Bridgestone and larger than both Goodyear and Contineantal.
Kumho Tire is to join the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) this year, as a race tyre supplier, according to American news source Tire Business.
The company will begin both tyre testing and the selection of a racing team this month. The tyre manufacturer is reportedly already in talks with GT and prototype teams.
Michelin has announced that it has consolidated its activities in Poland and will now conduct is business under the unified name of Michelin Polska. The newly created entity also took over the activities of Stomil Olsztyn manufacturing, and Michelin Polska trade Polish media sources are reporting.
According to Poland AM news digest, the aim of the move is to unify Michelin’s structure and strengthen its image on domestic market. Michelin Polska is also responsible for operations in other countries, including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The French manufacturer became Stomil’s majority shareholder in 1995 when it purchased 51.2 per cent of the tyre producer’s shares for $105 million. Last year, the firm posted a 153 million zloty (£26.53 million) net profit on revenues of 1.55 billion zloty (£268 million).
Michelin Americas Truck Tires (MATT) informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about voluntarily recalling of about 4,000 commercial truck tyres made in Ballymena (Northern Ireland). Size 10.0 R 22.5 of Michelin’s XDE manufactured between May 23 and October 24, 2004, can experience rapid air loss due to an irregularity of the inner liner. Michelin said until now the company has no reports of accidents involving the tyres, the company will replace the tyres free of charge.
Three more Dundee firms have been given a cash injection from the Michelin Development Fund, pushing the total loaned to local businesses beyond £100,000. IRT, MW Plastics and Team Play Learning Dynamics (TPLD) shared a total of £68,000, which will help company development, performance and enhance long-term profitability. Working in association with Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Business Gateway, Dundee City Council’s economic development unit and The Royal Bank of Scotland, Michelin Development aims to effectively contribute to the economic regeneration and long-term prosperity of the different regions where Michelin has sites within the UK. Michelin Development Dundee’s core aims are to encourage skills and entrepreneurship able to support the long term future of the city. There is also a drive to attract inward investment and contribute towards the creation of sustainable, quality employment growth.
Michelin North America is increasing U.S. replacement tyre prices on a variety of product lines.
• Passenger and light truck tyres will increase by up to 5 percent on Michelin brand and up to 6 percent on BFGoodrich, Uniroyal and private and associate brands effective March 1, 2005.
• Commercial truck tyres will increase by up to 6 percent on both Michelin and BFGoodrich brands effective March 1, 2005.
• Earthmover tyres will increase by 5 percent effective Jan. 1, 2005.
• Agricultural tyres will increase by up to 6 percent for radial tyres and up to 12 percent for bias tyres effective Jan. 1, 2005
• General aviation tyres will increase 5 percent worldwide effective April 1, 2005.
Today, every company that wants to be successful in fleet business needs a lot more than just good products, nowadays that is just a prerequisite. Those responsible at Bandag Inc in Muscatine, Iowa, are convinced that the right service and the right network is even more important than the products. Bandag claims that it has both, and is trying to further integrate all of its 220 European dealers into a single global retreading network. In order to promote this policy, the company invited 20 of its dealers from around the UK and Ireland to visit its American headquarters.
Michelin SCA in France admitted yesterday that it wants to make Europe-wide prices increases of five per cent. Michelin justified the repeated round of price increases by the rise of raw material prices, which have added up to 40 per cent in the last five years.
Following the news that Pierre Dupasquier will retire in 2006, Michelin has announced that Frédéric Henry-Biabaud, the current deputy director, will replace Mr Dupasquier at the end of the 2005 season. At the same time the tyre manufacturer gave further details of personnel changes within its motorsport group.
The motorsport group is made up of five departments. The leadership of the group’s rallying, motorcycling, endurance racing and rally raids divisions will remain the same. Michelin’s Formula 1 division, however, will have a new head. Following the departure of Pascal Vasselon, bound for a new position in America, Nick Shorrock will take over responsibility from January 2005. Patrick Cohen will assist him as a technical manager.
Commenting on the recent decisions, Motorsport Director Pierre Dupasquier said: “I am very happy to see that we are putting teams into place early enough to whom I can pass the torch, therefore guaranteeing the quality of service that we owe all our partners and the continuity of Michelin in racing.”
Robert Bernard TRM, the first Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT) franchise in Canada, has renewed its contract with MRT for another five years.
“We are pleased to renew our strong partnership with Robert Bernard TRM,” confirmed Guy Pekle, president of MRT Canada. “As the demand for MRT products strengthen and our growth continues, we remain committed to finding lower cost solutions for customers.” Jocelyn Bernard, vice-president of Robert Bernard TRM Ltée added “our existing structure allows for the sale of high-end MRT products on the road, via our retail distributors and Michelin partners. We are confident that market response will be as good as it has been for the last five years where we have seen consistent, annual growth.”
Michelin says it will continue to focus on the independent dealer and franchises, noting that there are now more than 230 points of sale in North America for Michelin retreads.
Michelin’s Formula 1 boss, Pascal Vasselon, has changed jobs into serial tyre production. The move is an apparent reaction to the fact that Michelin has failed to achieve a world championship in four years of commitment, online news portal F1total.com reports.
It has not yet been decided who will be the 41 year old’s successor. The exact reasons for Mr Vasselon’s displacement also remain unclear, as he was generally regarded as an integral and highly esteemed part of Michelin’s Formula 1 team.
The prices increases announced by a number of leading manufacturers are good news for their share prices, say market analysts Deutsche Bank. Bridgestone/ Firestone announced a 5 per cent across the board price increase for passenger car and light truck tyres in North America, effective 1 January 2005, with heavy truck tyre prices set to increase by 7 per cent. According to the analysts, this news is particularly significant because BFS was one of two companies (along with Michelin) that did not raise prices during the last round of price hikes that were rolled out by Goodyear, Cooper Tire, Continental and others in October. This means that “most tyre companies will elect to raise prices once again in early 2005, and that price increases will mitigate higher raw material costs,” says Deutsche Bank.
Five more companies, including Michelin Tyres Plc, have joined the Tyre Recovery (TRA) association. This raises membership to a total of 25 companies.
Commenting on the company’s association membership a Michelin spokesperson stated: “As members of the BRMA we are encouraged by the response of the Tyre Recovery Association and its members to the challenge of helping Government meet the EU Landfill Directive. Like a number of other BRMA companies we feel we must show more than just financial support and take an active role in the new body. Our own recycling volumes are considerable and will make a significant contribution to the overall audited figures of the group, as well as demonstrating our positive environmental credentials.”
In addition to Michelin, Cardiff Recycling, Creigiau Tyres, Re-Tyre and Western Tyres joined the TRA.
As supplier to both champion and more run-of-the-mill teams, Bridgestone is in an unusual position. The Bridgestone shod Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello may be perpetually on the podium, but Jordan and Minardi ‘s drivers are a long way off. Michelin, on the other hand, seems to supply everybody in between including race contenders.
Bridgestone’s, technical director, Hisao Suganuma, admitted to F1racing.net that only having Ferrari and Jordan and Minardi is disadvantage. “With the new regulations, we have to do a lot of testing. Next year we cannot change tyres in the race anymore, so we have to make a different type of tyre. We need to do a lot of long distance runs and that is difficult. Sauber went to our competitor Michelin, but we have to live with that.”
Meanwhile, Ferrari has a new test driver in Marc Gené who previously worked for Williams and therefore with Michelin tyres. Mr Suganuma is keen to hear about some of Michelin’s secrets. “We really are looking forward to our chat. I am not sure if [Marc Gené] will tell us everything he knows about Michelin, but of course I am hoping he will,” Mr Suganuma told the website.
Motorsport isn’t just about speedy overtaking manoeuvres and exciting finishes. Instead a major part of its attraction is owed to the people that live for motorsports and who – if missing – would make the event that bit less interesting. Without doubt one of these people is Pierre Dupasquier. For 30 years the Michelin motorsport director has been generally regarded as the driving force behind the French tyre manufacturer’s involvement. In addition, he is one of the few who, although not a driver himself, is allowed to comment on races on TV. Tyres & Accessories had the opportunity to meet the passionate 67 year old Frenchman and talk about the coming season.
To download this article as a PDF file, click here.
Yesterday the Swiss Sauber team tested tyres from its new supplier, Michelin. Driver, Felipe Massa used last season’s C23 and obviously succeeded in finding a good balance between the tyres and wheel suspension, at the first attempt. Bridgestone tyres had previously been fitted to the model.
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.
