Middle East
On March 30, the role of CEO and president of Bridgestone Europe will be handed over to Makio Ohashi. The 30-year Bridgestone veteran succeeds Toro Tsuda, who currently holds the position of chairman, CEO and President of Bridgestone Europe. Upon his return to Japan, Tsuda will take on the position of vice president and senior officer of Bridgestone Corporation.
Apollo Tyres launched its Safe Drive campaign in the capital city of Tehran recently. The initiative seeks to improve safety by educating drivers and owners on various aspects of tyre care and maintenance – including inflation pressure and tread-wear checks. Members of Apollo’s International Sales team, along with Apollo’s business partners conducted tyre checks at petrol pumps on major highways for two days. The company hopes that this contact with ordinary customers will ensure safer driving on the highways, during the Iranian New Year celebrations, when families enjoy undertaking road trips.
Apollo Tyres’ products have been available in Iran for the last few years. To fulfill growing customer requirements, Apollo is planning to introduce its truck-bus radial range in Iran later this year. However, the company exports primarily truck and bus cross ply tyres and passenger car radial tyres to Iran from India. The acceptance of Apollo products is clear in the "manifold growth" the company has witnessed in its sales of both passenger and truck-bus tyres in the last three years.
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.”
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s chairman and outgoing chief executive of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. received a pay package worth as much as US$17.196 million in 2009. While Keegan’s “non-equity incentive plan compensation” virtually doubled from $4.6 million to $9.514 million during the period, total pay was only 5.39 per cent up on the $16.317 million he received last year. In 2008 Keegan’s package was worth $23.6 million, according to company’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
Some 18 million truck and bus tyres are said to be retreaded in North America each year and a further nine million in South America, and to meet growing demand for the raw materials used in retreading both within the region and worldwide, Lanxess’s Performance Butadiene Rubbers (PBR) business unit is “considering the possibility” of manufacturing ESBR-BMB (emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber black masterbatch) in Brazil in the future. Options for doing so at its Triunfo or Caxias production sites are currently being examined.
Continental Reifen Deutschland GmbH has awarded the account for its tyre advertising in Europe, Africa and the Middle East to a new agency, Serviceplan. The Hamburg, Germany based agency beat three competitors to secure the account on the merits of what Conti calls its “highly emotive” campaign concept, which focused on the safety aspects of Continental passenger car tyres.
During a presentation at the Geneva Motor Show, Goodyear Dunlop’s Michel Rzonzef referred to recent societal changes and evolving consumer needs as an “opportunity for companies like Goodyear Dunlop to do what we have been doing over the last one hundred years, to be at the forefront of the industry, to drive innovation and drive change.” This innovation and change, the EMEA business unit’s president for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa said, will come through the development and introduction of new products that focus on two key areas.
During the previous three years Alliance Tire has invested US$300 million in the company’s further development. This sizeable sum has been directed into several key projects. The highest profile of these, of course, has been last December’s acquisition of certain GPX assets, including the Galaxy and Primex OTR tyre brands. A specific focus has also been placed upon Alliance’s principal market of Europe: In December Alliance Tire Europe BV’s new headquarters was opened, and several weeks later Alliance Tire announced the appointment of a new president for the operation, former head of Goodyear industrial, farm and OTR tyre initiatives for the Middle East and Africa region, Manuel Pintado. Recently Tyres & Accessories paid Alliance Tire’s new European headquarters in Halsteren, the Netherlands a visit to hear Mr. Pintado’s views on Alliance’s recent activities and where the company plans to go from here.
Israel based supplier of pre-owned tyre and rubber industry machinery Pelmar Engineering Ltd. recently announced its Group Board has nominated Hagai Peled to take over the role of managing director, a position he commences following “five years of successful management positions in various departments.” In February the son of company founder Jacob Peled visited Germany to attend both the Tire Technology Expo and a meeting of Pelmar Engineering managers from around the world. During the exhibition he gave an overview of Pelmar’s global business and the options it provides for tyre businesses wishing to set up or expand.
Yesterday Michelin launched the latest generation of its Pilot Sport family of high performance tyres. According to the company, the new tyre maintains all the the dry handling and high speed performance benefits of its predecessor with marked improvements in wear life (10 per cent longer); rolling resistance (10 per cent less) and wet stopping distances. In fact, the French tyre manufacturer claims to have improved the latter so much that it now stops three metres shorter than its closest competitor in the wet.
Shandong Province based Qingdao Odyking Tyre Co. Ltd. produces and markets a full range of radial and bias tyres, including passenger car, light commercial vehicle, truck, OTR, industrial, agricultural and lawn tyres. The company reports on its website that it produces six million tyres per annum and offers quality assurances in the form of ISO9001, DOT, ECE, GCC, CCC and other certifications.
Al Saeedi Automotive TRD Co (LLC), the exclusive distributor of Gallant brand truck tyres in the Middle East and Africa, has added 1200R24 20PR GL 885 to the range of sizes it offers. The new tyre is described as an all-position radial optimised for highway and on/off road applications. According to the distributor, the special features of this tyre include ultra-high tyre bead structure and a lateral block shoulder. “These features help enable lower heating, wear resistance, extended mileage and high speed durability,” company representatives explained. Further new sizes are expected to be added to the range with Al Saeedi reporting that Gallant is “currently in the process of manufacturing a complete range of truck and bus radials.”
Hankook Tire has reported record global sales and operating profits of 4.8 trillion (£2.604 billion; 2.985 billion euros) and 549.3 billion won respctively. In the period global sales grew 18 per cent year-on-year, while operating profits shot up nearly five-fold (2008: 114.2 billion won), despite the global recession. 2009 also saw the company’s European production centre in Racalmas, Hungary turn a profit after sales shot up 55 per cent year-on-year (see table). Now the company’s management has raised the bar for 2010 with a global sales target to exceed 5 trillion won (£2.717 billion; 3.109 billion euros) for the first time in its history.
The organiser of Automechanika Middle East, Epoc Messe Frankfurt GmbH, has announced two new appointments. The long-term manager for Automechanika Middle East, Mr Michael Dehn, is taking on the position of group exhibitions director at Epoc Messe Frankfurt. Dehn has been running Automechanika Middle East from its inception in 2003. He has overseen the growth of the exhibition from one Hall and 119 exhibitors in 2003 to its current position with eight halls and 958 exhibitors. In his new position, Dehn will oversee the operational success and strategic planning for Automechanika Middle East, Beautyworld Middle East and Materials Handling Middle East. He will also oversee the launch of the three recently announced shows for Epoc Messe, Frankfurt, namely Paperworld Middle East, Playworld Middle East and Festivalworld Middle East.
Indonesian tyre exports hold a market share of around 30 per cent in Egypt, and according to the Jakarta Post, tyre makers have retained their confidence about this market despite the announcement of plans late last year to refurbish an idle plant their and turn it into the Middle East’s largest tyre manufacturer.
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