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Bridgestone Plans 50th Tyre Plant

After the company only recently confirmed plans to build its 48th tyre factory in Brazil, Japan’s Nihon Keizai is reporting that Bridgestone will build two more facilities. According to the newspaper the new factories will be built in China and Eastern Europe at a total cost of more than £253 million. The Chinese plant will produce bus/truck and passenger car products in China and is likely to be built in Huizhou, Guangdong province. As for Eastern Europe, a number of locations have been the subject of media speculation. Possible countries include Slovakia or Poland where Bridgestone already has a tyre factory.

7th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Stomil Olsztyn Becomes Michelin Polska

Michelin has announced that it has consolidated its activities in Poland and will now conduct is business under the unified name of Michelin Polska. The newly created entity also took over the activities of Stomil Olsztyn manufacturing, and Michelin Polska trade Polish media sources are reporting.

According to Poland AM news digest, the aim of the move is to unify Michelin’s structure and strengthen its image on domestic market. Michelin Polska is also responsible for operations in other countries, including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The French manufacturer became Stomil’s majority shareholder in 1995 when it purchased 51.2 per cent of the tyre producer’s shares for $105 million. Last year, the firm posted a 153 million zloty (£26.53 million) net profit on revenues of 1.55 billion zloty (£268 million).

4th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Polish Market to Grow 3 per cent

The Polish tyre market is to grow at a rate of three per cent during 2004, according to Goodyear estimates. The company, which has invested in domestic tyre producer, Dębica, believes Polish consumers will buy a total of 7.1 million new tyres in 2004.

10th September 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Consider Moving to Eastern Europe

A number of news sources are reporting that Hankook Tire is considering sites in Eastern Europe for a possible new construction plant.

The Korean Maeil Business Newspaper identified Poland as one of the front-runners, for the $1 billion project. The claim that the report is supported by the company’s president, Cho Choong Hwana, adds credence to the story.

Meanwhile, the Warsaw Business Journal reports that it will take an estimated two to three years before construction of the plant is finished. The journal also suggests that Hyundai’s recent decision to open a plant in Slovakia could have been a motivating factor behind the move.

4th August 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Firestone Build Polish Plant

Firestone Industrial Products (FSIP), a business unit of BFS Diversified Products, LLC (BFDP), has announced that it will build a new manufacturing facility in Wolsztyn, Poland. The company’s recently formed Polish subsidiary, Firestone Industrial Products Poland, will produce air springs to support European demand from consumer and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers.

5th July 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Tiger Wheels restructures

South African Tiger Wheels has reached agreement in principle to create a uniform global ownership and management structure for its original equipment manufacturer wheel businesses. Eddie Keizan, a joint chairman of Tiger Wheels, said that this would involve the alignment of the previously unequal shareholding of Tiger Wheels and the significant German minority shareholder in ATS and TSW Manufacturing, the wheel manufacturing plant in Babelegi near Pretoria. Tiger Wheels owns 100 percent of the Babelegi plant and 74 percent of ATS and the remaining plants, including those in Germany, Poland, the US. This unequal and differential shareholding had led to conflict and difficulties in the past. Keizan said that possibly the easiest way to resolve the difficulties caused by the differential shareholding was for the minority shareholder to buy 26 percent of the Babelegi operations so there was then equal shareholding in all the manufacturing operations. As a result of the agreement with ATS, Tiger Wheels has terminated negotiations on the possible disposal of its wheel manufacturing businesses.

20th February 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Strong car markets in candidate states

In 2003 the automobile markets of the EU candidate states Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have developed strongly. According to press releases the Poles have bought 358,414 or 16 per cent more new cars than the year before. In Hungary the same figures amounted up to 210,000 cars or plus 21 per cent compared to 2002 while the Czech new car market only grew by 1.2 per cent.

12th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Daewoo Cuts Jobs In Poland

Daewoo-FSO Motor Polska is to slash up to 1,500 jobs in Poland, in a bid to save the company from bankruptcy and to encourage investment in restructuring. The exact number of jobs to be lost will be decided in discussions with unions, but 1,000 workers picketed a meeting of shareholders at the Economy Ministry.

30th September 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Work Begins On Slovak Factory For PSA

The cornerstone has been laid for Peugeot Citroen’s new factory in Trnava, Slovakia. Vehicle production should begin in 2006, with an annual capacity of 300,000 units, employing 3,500 staff. The project represents an investment of 700 million Euros and is part of PSA’s strategy to move manufacturing closer to expanding markets. In March this year, PSA’s market share in the six Central European countries of Croatia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia was 13.6 per cent, compared to five per cent five years earlier.

18th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit “No Comment” On Rumours

Having recently sold a number of its Stop ‘n’ Steer centres in the UK, there are rumours that Kwik-Fit is set to rationalise its European operations. Our information, which comes from sources close to Kwik-Fit, but who did not want to be named, is that the company is looking at selling its operations in Poland, Belgium, Spain and Ireland in order to concentrate on the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany. We contacted Kwik-Fit in the UK to see if this was indeed the case and received the following reply from a company spokesperson: “Kwik-Fit is undertaking a review of all its operations. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment on future plans at present.”

27th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

New Polish Factory For Tenneco Automotive

Tenneco Automotive has officially opened a new factory in Gliwice, Poland, to supply shock absorbers to European-based vehicle manufacturers. The facility is 21,000 square metres in area and will make six million units annually by the year 2005, eventually employing 120 staff. Tenneco says that the $20 million investment is the latest stage in the company’s strategy to expand in Eastern Europe.

28th December 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Heinz-Theo Pecher To Take Over Top Position At VRG

Heinz-Theo Pecher (57), who has spent 26 years working in the tyre industry in different leading positions, is now working for VRG in Norderstedt/Hamburg. VRG is a large buying group for tyre dealers. On 1st January 2002 Pecher will take over as managing director from Klaus Heymann, who is to retire but will act as a consultant until the end of June 2002. Pecher came from Continental, where he was responsible for the German truck business replacement market (all brands). He sees excellent opportunities for VRG in a fast moving market. In the future, VRG will focus not only on Germany but also on Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, as well as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

28th December 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Expansion In Eastern Europe For Tenneco

Tenneco Automotive has acquired a plant in Gliwice, south-west Poland, to produce shock absorbers for OE manufacturers based in Europe. The investment is $20 million and involves refurbishing the site and installation of new equipment. Production is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year. Richard Sloan, MD of Tenneco Automotive Europe, said that the low labour and operating costs, plus special investment conditions in the Katowice Special Economic Zone, made the decision to come to Poland “straightforward”.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

15 Day Closures For Stomil Olsztyn

Michelin controlled Stomil Olsztyn is to curtail production for 15 days during November and December. The shutdown has been brought about by the reduction in sales of the Kormoran marque in Poland. The company will use the break in production to reduce stocks.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Lay-Offs Next Year At Debica Factory

Press reports say that 800 workers at the tyre factory at Debica in Poland will be laid off by the end of 2001. This represents almost 19% of the total workforce of 4,218 and the move is part of restructuring plans. The Debica factory is controlled by Goodyear.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors