North America
Michelin North America will become the first tyre maker and just the fourth company honoured with induction into the Florida based Sebring Hall of Fame. The distinction was announced on December 3 by the Sebring Sports Car Racing Hall of Fame board of directors, and acknowledges Michelin’s unprecedented 11 consecutive overall wins and 31 class wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race.
Continental Tire North America has become tyre supplier for the US based Grand-Am Road Sports Car Challenge Racing series. In a five-year agreement that begins on January 1, Continental takes on the championship’s exclusive tyre supply and title sponsorship. The series will henceforth be known as the “Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge” and will utilise Conti’s newly released ExtremeContact tyre range.
Yokohama Tire will take its green focus to a new level at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Visitors to the exhibition, which gets under way on December 4, will be greeted by a 90-foot high grassy “living wall” at the Japanese manufacturer’s display site. According to Jim MacMaster, Yokohama Tire executive vice president and COO, the living wall is intended to be both decorative and a feature that leaves virtually zero waste.
Bridgestone, Continental and Yokohama have become the latest tyre suppliers in the US to announce price rises for consumer products. All three companies’ new prices are valid as of January 1, 2010.
Nexen Tire America has put an 8 per cent price hike on all of its South Korea-produced tyres, according to Tire Review. Additionally, Nexen reportedly said it is shifting moulds for its SB702 line from its plant in China to its home plant in South Korea. The move, in reaction to the new 35 per cent added tariff on China-produced passenger tyres, will also necessitate a price increase for that line, Nexen said, but the exact amount had not yet been determined. Nexen reportedly said the 8 per cent increase is due to increased raw material costs.
South Korea’s Hyosung Corp. has announced it will close its tyre cord plant in Scottsville, Virginia, in January 2010. The former Uniroyal tyre cord plant, which Hyosung took over in 2002, employs 106 people, according to Tire Review’s report.
The US tyre magazine explains that the facility was built in 1944 by the Defense Plant Corp. to help with the war effort, and Uniroyal bought the plant in 1945. Hyosung bought the plant from Michelin North America, and struck an exclusive supply deal with Uniroyal’s successor.
Toyo Tires USA Corp. has signed on as presenting sponsor of the 2009 Big-12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series on Fox Sports Net. The Hardwood Series features match-ups between Big-12 and Pac-10 men’s basketball teams during November and December, with the six Pac-10 home games broadcast nationally on FSN.
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Last month tyre and aftermarket systems supplier Signal Extraprise opened a European office with the UK and Irish markets the primary focus. Since 1992 Signal Extraprise has developed information systems that support tyre outlets and auto service centres across North America.
In 2006, Signal reportedly set out to create a revolutionary product, targeting all tyre and vehicle-servicing enterprises in the automotive aftermarket. That work culminated in 2009 with the launch of eXceed an offering designed to help service providers to remake their businesses based on the very different marketplace they face now. Instead of, for example, focusing on the mechanics of ordering, quoting, work orders and the like (which are all still important and included), Signal built a technology to help the dealers transform their stores into engines of growth and profitability.
Tyre manufacturers in the US are likely to follow Goodyear in raising prices to offset tariffs on Chinese made tyres and rising raw material costs. This is the opinion disseminated by Associated Press, which reports KeyBanc analyst Saul Ludwig’s view that prices will be up some five to ten per cent by January. Goodyear, which will increase consumer replacement market prices by six per cent in December, imports around two per cent of its tyres from China. Its price increase, thus, could offset the extra costs.
Transense subsidiary, Translogik Ltd has secured significant order for its tread depth and tyre pressure field inspection kits from Cetaris, a leading Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) provider in North America. Cetaris will now deploy the Translogik kits as part of its innovative EAM and Fleet Maintenance Solution. The system will provide its customer fleets with "real-time" mobile data capture capabilities. The announcement follows a successful pilot programme, the newly ordered kits will be deployed throughout the Cetaris network in 2010.
The Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association has announced that chairman, CEO and president of Bridgestone Retail Operations LLC and executive vice president of Bridgestone Americas, Larry Magee will do the honours as keynote speaker at its third annual Vision Conference. Aftermarket Business reports that the conference will take place on 17 March at the InterContinental Chicago O’Hare, Rosemont, Illinois.
In an effort to thwart ongoing tyre thefts, the Genesee County (Michigan) Road Commission has resorted to branding every tyre it buys for its vehicle fleet, reports Tire Review. The branding effort is apparently part of strategy officials say are being made to prevent future thefts of tyres and other equipment, according to the Flint Journal. Last week Road Commission chairman David Miller and vice chairman James Pomeroy told the county Board of Commissioners about seven policy changes, including the serial number branding plan, but have still yet to discuss the scope of internal thefts at the road agency or how the thefts occurred. In late October, the Road Commission suspended one employee without pay and turned an internal investigation of tyre thefts over to the Michigan State Police.
It is forty years since Yokohama Tire Corporation commenced business in the US. The company’s first headquarters – the first sales operation to be set up outside of Japan – was located in Los Angeles and opened its doors for the first time on November 24, 1969. Four decades later, YTC services a nationwide network of more than 4,500 points of sale through its four distribution centres.
Bridgestone Canada will receive funds from the Province of Quebec to assist in the upgrading of its Joliette facility. More than CA$40 million (£22.7 million) is to be invested in purchasing new equipment for the passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyre factory, including a government contribution of $4.8 million. The non-repayable government contribution, comments the department, is aimed at improving the plant’s productivity.
Petrol pumps are evil, so thank goodness then that we have a white, rotund hero prepared to do battle against this malevolent force. This dramatic scene, part of Michelin’s new global advertising campaign, is now appearing on a larger than life scale on the sides of buildings in New York and Los Angeles. The giant posters portray, in Michelin’s words, the “Michelin Man fighting an evil gas pump and coming to the aid of motorists in trouble.” In doing so, the Michelin Man – Bibendum to his friends – demonstrates that ‘the right tyre can change everything’.
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