North America
ViaMichelin has announced the release of a new application that enables iPhone users to check real-time room availability and make hotel reservations directly from their handsets. The application was developed in conjunction with HRS (Hotel Reservation Service), a European leader in online hotel booking.
Toyo has held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Chinese passenger car tyre manufacturing facility in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province. The subsidiary – Toyo Tires Zhangjiagang Co, Ltd will be chaired by Toyo senior corporate officer Mitsuru Hitotsuyanagi. Production is scheduled to begin in December 2011 with an annual capacity of 2 million units and a workforce approximately 500 in number.
Continuing the association of tyre manufacturers and half-time entertainment in American Football games (henceforth “football”), Cooper Tires has taken up an exclusive sponsorship with the ABC College Football Halftime Show for this season, which began over the weekend. The Cooper Tire Halftime Show will win coverage for the company where college football is broadcast, namely on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and on-line at ESPN.com. The sponsorship, which will feature the Cooper logo in a number of prominent locations, runs until mid-October. The Halftime Show brings viewers all the latest scores, game previews and expert analysis that college football fans have come to expect.
Goodyear has revealed that it will raise its US consumer tyre prices by up to 6 per cent on 1 October due to the persistent rise in raw materials costs. The increase will, according to US sources, affect all of the company’s brands, including Goodyear, Dunlop and Kelly.
Pirelli Tire North America has expanded its OE business with Ford with the new fitment on the upcoming 2012 Mustang Boss 302 and Boss 302 Laguna Seca models, says Tire Review. The cars will be shod with P Zero and P Zero Corsa tyres, respectively.
Analysts from investment bank Morgan Stanley have recommend investors buy shares in “Michelin against Goodyear” following its Alphawise surveys in Europe and the US. Based on current market performance and taking catalysts into the equation, the analysts estimate that “Michelin are 20 per cent above consensus, while for Goodyear we are 15 per cent below the street.” As a result Cooper Tire shares are described as the firm’s preferred stock in North America, while in Europe, the bankers recommended Michelin and Pirelli over Continental and Nokian.
Maxxis International, which is owned by Cheng Shin Rubber has announced that it is to build a new production facility in Xiamen on China’s south east coast, where it already operates two successful factories. The announcement follows the news that the company will build a new plant in Chong Qing, south west China within a similar timeframe.
A mobile dealer locator application for Blackberry smart phones currently being rolled out in the US and Canada has been described by Michelin Americas Truck Tires (MATT) as the “first truly mobile tyre-related application in the trucking industry.” The tyre maker intends the new Blackberry application to complement its existing Michelin ONCall emergency road service and online dealer and service locator in its “Wherever You Go” offering.
Motorists in every country have their preferred method of choosing the right tyre for their vehicle; for us Brits the standard procedure is to stroll into a tyre dealer and ask for the cheapest tyre in the applicable size, while the Germans studiously peruse comparative tyre tests published in leading Automotive magazines. The Americans also like to get the facts, but this information often comes in the more relaxed format of tyre ‘tips’. Yokohama Tire is one such provider of tips for consumers on the hunt for the perfect black circle, and it has now released the third installment in a series of educational videos.
Almost a year has passed since the United States imposed a tariff upon consumer tyres imported from China. This tariff, which in its first 12 months added 35 per cent to the existing four per cent import duty, has been applauded in some quarters. United Steelworkers international president Leo W. Gerard, for example, stated in an April 2010 letter to US President Obama that “the domestic industry is, in fact, continuing to make good progress in recovering from the near fatal blow caused by the market disruption from a surge in Chinese consumer tyre imports.” Yet such opinions are not universal. As the tariff’s first anniversary approaches, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) has also drafted its own letter to the President, in which it states it “has found no evidence that the tariffs on low-end Chinese tyres have had a positive effect on American jobs, and we suspect the tariffs have had an overall negative economic impact on American consumers.”
On August 19 it was announced that the Iowa Economic Development Board, an Iowa state government agency, has awarded CGS Tires US $924,000 from its Grow Iowa Values Fund. This amount, the board reports, will be used to support 154 of the 192 jobs to be created when the Czech Republic’s first factory in North America is built. The total project cost is $43.8 million and involves reconfiguring the former Winnebago Industries manufacturing facility in Charles City for the production of radial agricultural tyres, amongst other products.
The photo accompanying this article depicts a world renowned and respected personality. Standing next to him is the Prime Minister of Canada, who of course is also highly respected, even if his global recognition is somewhat lower than the Michelin Man’s. Prime Minister Stephen Harper posed for this photo opportunity together with Bibendum during a visit to Michelin’s Waterville plant in the province of Nova Scotia.
Gulfstream, a manufacturer of technologically-advanced business jet aircraft, has named Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Aviation business one of its 2009 Suppliers of the Year. The tyremaker supplies Gulfstream with its Flight Eagle tyres, which are produced for the business jet segment and manufactured at Goodyear’s Danville, Virginia, plant.
For those of us raised with a good working knowledge of the offside and LBW rules, American football can sometimes appear an unfathomable mystery. But there’s no denying it’s hugely popular on the other side of the Atlantic, and Yokohama Tire Corporation is keenly aware of this. In July the tyre maker signed a one-year sponsorship agreement with the Dallas Cowboys, and now it has added two more National Football League teams to its collection: the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens.
North Carolina’s Stanly County and two towns located within the area are offering Michelin US$900,000 in incentives for the promise of adding 70 jobs to the company’s Norwood aircraft tyre facility. The Norwood operation currently employs 320 people and Michelin intends to spend $11.3 million to add a retreading capability to the plant during the second half of 2010.
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