North America
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Cooper Tire & Rubber Company have made “a definitive transaction agreement” that will see Goodyear buy Cooper for roughly $2.5 billion. The combined company will have approximately $17.5 billion in pro forma 2019 sales. Upon closing of the transaction, Goodyear shareholders will own approximately 84 per cent of the combined company, and Cooper shareholders will own approximately 16 per cent.
Hankook Tire’s US subsidiary is working with advanced smart tyre technology and predictive data analytics company Revvo Technologies on a pilot programme that will integrate Hankook SmartFlex tyres with Revvo’s product suite to provide critical tyre-specific data. Data generated, such as real-time alerts, will benefit Junk King, North America’s top-rated eco-friendly junk removal and hauling company.
The dream of securing natural rubber supplies in the vicinity of production facilities and reducing dependency upon hevea rubber plantations has preoccupied Bridgestone Corporation for the past decade. Early in 2018 it announced a collaboration with genomic big data company NRGene to advance the commercialisation of guayule, and today Bridgestone shared the results of this four-year project. The combined effort has resulted in the partners successfully assembling a specific guayule genome.
Marko Ibrahim is the new president of Bridgestone Retail Operations (BSRO), the Bridgestone Americas subsidiary responsible for operating a network of more than 2,200 tyre and vehicle service centres across the United States of America. He succeeds Joe Venezia, who led the organisation since 2017 and has stepped down to pursue a leadership role outside of Bridgestone.
Michelin North America recently announced price increases on selected Michelin and BFGoodrich passenger and light truck tyres.
With a new warehouse in Ancaster, Ontario, Bridgestone anticipates serving tyre dealers and customers in Canada with greater agility. The CA$65 million (£37.7 million) facility can hold up to 570,000 tyres and enables Bridgestone Canada to reduce transportation costs and shorten time-to-market for products in the country’s eastern region.
Pre-Q Galgo Corporation has hired Ron Elliott to be its marketing manager in North America. In his role, Elliot will be responsible for leading the marketing direction of the long-term growth strategy for the Pre-Q Galgo brand throughout the United States and Canada.
A new all-Porsche racing series commences in the USA and Canada next year, and Yokohama will serve as control tyre. The Porsche Sprint Challenge North America is a three-class series contested by the current and previous generations of Porsche 991 GT3 as well as the 718 Cayman Clubsport. All cars will race on Yokohama Advan racing tyres, with the Advan A005 slick the rubber of choice on dry tracks and the Advan A006 serving as wet weather tyre.
Bridgestone Americas and Bridgestone Canada are recalling 1,923 Firestone Destination LE3 and Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus replacement passenger and light truck tyres.
Sumitomo Rubber North America is set to increase prices the price of Falken and Ohtsu branded passenger, light truck and medium truck tyres in the US and Canada on as well as implementing inline adjustments on a per size basis.
Camso, the off-road tyre specialist acquired by Michelin in 2018, has grown its off-highway transportation tyre service and distribution presence in North America with the acquisition of two material-handling solutions businesses from Metro Industrial Tires. These businesses are based in Chicago and provide service to the market via their own press truck fleets.
Accuride Corporation reported this week that three of its facilities, including two of its wheel plants, have received 2019 Masters of Quality awards from Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA). The awarded plants are the Accuride de México facility in Monterrey, which supplies DTNA with aluminium and steel wheels and is a seven-time awardee; the Henderson plants in Kentucky, USA, which supplies DTNA with steel wheels and is a three-time award recipient; the Rockford factory in Illinois, USA, which supplies Gunite wheel hub, drums, and brake rotors and is a fifth-time awardee.
Nokian Tyres has shifted away from its Vianor retail franchise concept in Germany. The Finnish tyre manufacturer said that it is “continuing the close cooperation with our former Vianor dealers in a new, but similarly intensive way under our Nokian Authorised Dealers (NAD) marketing concept.” The move comes shortly after Nokian sold its US Vianor Tire Centers business to Point S, and signifies a move away from the Vianor branding outside the brand’s domestic-plus Nordic region, where Vianor is established with 186 Vianor Equity locations. Anna Hyvönen, SVP, Nordics & Vianor, told Tyres & Accessories that the company is enacting its plans to “optimise” its Central European and North American distribution network via NAD, “focusing on the quality of the partners and providing excellent support and benefits.”
Dutch tyre brand Vredestein, part of the Apollo Tyres family since 2009, is a name well-known amongst European motorists. This isn’t the case in the USA and Canada, where Vredestein’s only enjoyed a niche following in past years. Apollo Tyres now intends to change this – in September it launched a “comprehensive brand offensive” there backed by a full range of new tyre lines explicitly designed for and developed in North America.
Nokian Tyres has sold its Vianor US business to Oregon-based Point S member Gills Point S Tire. The transaction covers ten Vianor service centres, with all current Vianor US service centre employees will be taken on by Gills Point S Tire & Auto Service.
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Bridgestone Corporation
Bridgestone Americas
Pre-Q Galgo
Bridgestone Americas
Nokian Tyres; Dr. Falk Köhler PR