North America
On 5 September Michelin updated its tyre market statistics, and reported a four per cent year-on-year upswing in Europe’s (including Russia and Turkey) original equipment passenger car tyre market for July 2012. Year-to-date, however, the segment market is still down three per cent. A six per cent decline was reported for Europe’s replacement market passenger car tyre business. Replacement sales are down ten per cent year-to-date.
The college football season is getting underway in the US and Cooper Tire & Rubber has announced a number of sponsorship agreements. The tyre maker will soon commence is sixth year as exclusive tyre sponsor of the ABC College Football Halftime Show and it has inked new agreements with select colleges in the Big Ten, SEC and ACC conferences; these deals are expected to connect the Cooper brand with fans on a local market basis.
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Firestone is a car company. This is the message at the heart of Bridgestone America’s new brand campaign. Titled “Drive a Firestone”, the campaign hinges on the notion that, while it doesn’t actually produce cars, Firestone is indeed a car company. The tyre maker’s message is that regardless what a motorist drives, Firestone tyres and the service its retailers provide can help make their car run stronger, longer.
Concirrus Ltd has announced that it will add PressurePro’s Tyre Pressure Monitoring System technology to its Mobile Devices Telematics Market Place. The company is the developer of the open telematics OS and telematics hardware, and under the agreement, facilitated by Concirrus, Mobile Devices will integrate PressurePro’s tyre pressure information into the Morpheus embedded framework, allowing users easy access to the pressure data through a new set of standard APIs. The company says the agreement was prompted by the increasing need for reducing costs and risks related to under-inflated tyres, and to respond to legislation in Europe and the US promoting pressure checks and penalising those running on under-inflated tyres.
Production at Michelin’s Ballymena plant has passed the 30 million mark; management and staff at the factory marked this milestone on 30 August. The milestone also coincided with the start of production of a new size in the X MultiWay 3D range.
Milltek has designed and manufactured a new exhaust system for all three variants of the anticipated ‘Toyobaru’ – a vehicle the company describes as “one of the most hotly-anticipated tuner cars of the last decade”. The Toyota GT86, Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S – the three versions of the tuning car – is to be offered gains in power “throughout the rev range”, according to Milltek. The exhaust manufacturer’s engineers worked alongside leading Subaru tuner Litchfield to create a design that enhanced the normally aspirated flat-four engine.
Apollo Vredestein, the company behind the Vredestein tyre brand, says recently announced major investments are in line with its focus on continuous sustainable growth, even in economically challenging times. The investments are to be made over the course of 2013 and the company anticipates production capacity for Vredestein agricultural tyres to be some 50 per cent greater when the project is fully implemented. The decision to invest an undisclosed sum in the agricultural sector was made in response to growing demand within the European agricultural market for Vredestein tyres.
Continental boasts that its latest North American replacement market tyre, the PureContact, brings together “best-in-class wet braking, fuel efficiency and ride comfort.” The all-season tyre is available to North American consumers in a number of 15 to 18-inch rim diameters, a UTQG rating of 700 AA, and H and V speed ratings.
Further outlets have been added to Michelin Americas Truck Tires’ fleet network following an agreement with TravelCenters of America (TA), operator of the TA and Petro Stopping Centers branded travel centres. The addition of these TA/Petro locations will expand the total number of Michelin X One servicing dealers to nearly 2,000 locations throughout the US.
Continental Tire the Americas announced a major expansion of its US headquarters in Ft. Mill, South Carolina. US industry publication Tire Review shares that the three year old headquarters building will be extended by 16,000 square feet, creating a total area of 91,000 square feet. Along with a larger floorspace, the expansion will bring 80 new jobs to the headquarters over the coming four years.
While work on Kumho Tire’s greenfield project in the US is still on hold, the long wait to restart may soon be over. Georgia-based television station 13WMAZ reports Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority chairman Clifford Whitby as saying “we are getting very close to be able an announce a date when Kumho will be able to start construction.”
Regional newspaper the Journal Standard reports that the union representing workers at Titan Tire Corporation’s Freeport factory in the US has held “solidarity rallies” with a view towards discussing a renegotiated contract with the tyre maker. In an article published 23 August, the paper quoted the United Steelworkers union local chapter president Dale Sandell as saying “we have been under an imposed contract for about two years now. We’re trying to get back to the table.”
Trelleborg is supporting its collaboration with Challenger Tractors with a new marketing campaign entitled “Trelleborg and Challenger: Power Needs Power”.
On 26 September, the US tariff on Chinese-manufactured consumer tyres is scheduled to end. On that day it’ll be exactly three years since a 35 per cent duty was slapped upon all such tyres imported from China; this was reduced to 30 per cent in 2010 and for the past 12 months US consumers have paid a 25 per cent duty on Chinese passenger car and light truck tyres. The tariff received a mixed welcome – the Tire Industry Association referred to it in 2009 as “a politically motivated decision that will end up costing more jobs than it saves” while the United Steelworkers union praised Barack Obama as being “a President with the guts to enforce trade laws.” Either way, in little over a month the tyre tariff will be history.
Xiaorong Wang, the man accused of stealing confidential information from Bridgestone, has been charged by a US District Court with eight counts of theft of trade secrets and seven counts of making false statements to federal agents. Cleveland-based WOIO-TV reports that the indictment returned by federal grand jury alleges that Wang stole information on projects, formulas and other confidential matters from Bridgestone's Akron, Ohio, technical centre in April 2010. The false statements Wang allegedly told FBI investigators focus on Wang's intention to accept employment at Suzhou University in China to establish a rheology polymer centre, WOIO-TV added.
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