Conti Boss Kessel Still Interested In Pirelli’s Tyre Division
During an analysts conference in New York, Conti boss, Dr Stephan Kessel, restated his continuing interest in a joint venture/merger with Pirelli’s Tyre Division.
Known for its style, speed and performance marketing values, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational company based in Milan, Italy, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, with a temporary privatization period by the consortium led by the Chinese state-owned enterprise ChemChina.
During an analysts conference in New York, Conti boss, Dr Stephan Kessel, restated his continuing interest in a joint venture/merger with Pirelli’s Tyre Division.
The tyre factories of Brisa (Bridgestone/Sabanci), Pirelli and Goodyear are all situated within a few hundred metres from one another along a road leading out of Izmit, the town so severely hit by the earthquake. Bekaert also has a production facility nearby, Continental manufactures technical rubber products not far away, and a second Pirelli plant makes cables. It will only be a matter of days until production, only partially interrupted by the earthquake, returns to full strength while the aid campaign has gone into full swing at the same time.
Volkswagen has chosen 63 of its 10,000 suppliers to receive the ‘Corporate Supplier Award – The Leading Edge’. Among these are Contiental Teves (Automotive Systems) and Pirelli (Tyres).
In its August issue NEUE REIFENZEITUNG reported that Pirelli had fallen behind with its plans for Germany, in parts by 20 p.c., and that the attraction of the Pirelli brand was on the wane, with price erosion as the consequence. Dr. Wentz, the Pirelli Reifenwerke boss, it was said, had to postpone his intended retirement, because G. Sala, his successor-designate, was unable to take up his post for health reasons. We also mentioned the possible return to Höchst of Dr. P. Masera as Pirelli Reifenwerke boss. Pirelli declared that Dr. Wentz would stay in office for several more years, and that there was no question of the Pirelli brand becoming less popular, rather the contrary. Results were good, we were told, Pirelli was doing very well in Germany and no redundancies were planned. One month later the head of the group, Tronchetti Provera, announced 2,800 job cuts for this year, 800 of them on the tyre side. In this context Milan made special mention of the significant price reduction in the winter tyre segment and in super-high-performance tyres, especially in the German market. In the meantime Dr. Masera has taken over as Chairman of the management. Dr. Wentz will leave Pirelli Reifenwerke by the end of the year but retain his seat on the board of Pirelli Deutschland AG and is also in line for a seat on the supervisory board.
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