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Falken Dealers Visit Germany

Three dozen Falken customers from all over Europe recently visited the world famous Nurburgring race track in Germany. The Falken customers from the UK were hosted by Micheldever Tyres, Falken’s sole supplier in the UK, at one of the continent’s most prestigious motorsport events, the annual 24 hour ADAC endurance race. Falken tyres were one of the main sponsors of this year’s event with the company’s branding prominently positioned around the 13 kilometre race track, on every car and on in-car television coverage.

The Falken car, a Nissan 350Z eventually finished in 11th place and was the first non-German produced car to complete this arduous event. The customers themselves were treated to five-star hospitality and entertainment throughout the duration of the four-day trip, culminating in a ride with the European Drift car Champions.

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Avon Tyres Help Molyneux Win Manx TT

Isle of Man sidecar legend Dave Molyneux recently took his tally of Isle of Man TT victories to 14, with the assistance of some Avon tyres. Molyneux and passenger Daniel Sayle took Suzuki’s first three-wheeled victory ever on the Island. The victory on his A&J Racing Suzuki outfit also marked 20 years since Molyneux’s first sidecar victory on the island back in 1989.

The Manxman said: “The Avons worked brilliantly and were a pleasure to use. I was delighted to use Avons this year, as I’ve not used them since 1993 when I won on them. In fact my first race win at the TT in 1989 was on Avons too! The guys at BMTR put together the tyres and we picked some good compounds. It was a hard race, but we achieved what we set out to do. We had some trouble with the engine tuning but we ended up doing things ourselves, and it held together so it’s nice that we also managed to be the first bike to complete the race distance in under 59 minutes with laps over 115mph: we’re happy with that!”

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Expects Global Tyre Demand to Reach 1.25 billion Units in 2010

Continental AG passenger car tyre head, Nikolai Setzer predicts that global demand for passenger car tyres will grow to 1.25 billion units in 2010 from 1.2 billion units this year, according to an interview published in German motoring magazine Auto Motor und Sport on Thursday. The total expected to rise again to 1.3 billion units in 2011. The same article quoted Guglielmo Fiocchi, head of Pirelli Tyre’s German operations, as saying he forecasts a 7 to 10 per cent decline in global demand this year.

According the interview, Fiocchi expects the market to bottom out in or before 2010, with growth return after that. Pirelli reportedly predicts annual growth of up to 6 per cent after this. Meanwhile, the German Pirelli Tyre boss said he expects the German summer tyre market to fall 7 – 8 per cent with “better development” in winter tyre business.

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

VMI introduces New Body Ply Stock Splice Handling System

In mid-June the VMI Group reported the introduction of its new system for body ply stock splice handling. The company claims its new system offers an advance on previous models in that it not only prevents interference between splices from two different piles – it does this in a manner that reduces scrap and should also facilitate a high level of uniformity.

Body ply stock splice detection is a standard feature on VMI tyre building machines. The system measures the position of all stock splices in the body ply. If a stock splice comes to close to one of the body ply’s ends, the system automatically slices off a piece of material to prevent the stock splice being located too close to its machine splice within the tyre.

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Chinese Ministry Expresses “Deep Regret” after US Tyre Ruling

Continuing today’s theme of the fallout from the US International Trade Commission’s ruling that Chinese imports have disrupted the country’s markets, China’s Ministry of Commerce has expressed its “deep regret” at the decision. Yao Jian, a Commerce Ministry spokesperson posted the department’s reaction to the events on the ministry’s website:

“China has repeatedly expressed its opposition to foreign governments’ using safeguard clauses to launch investigations of Chinese products. The decision does not conform to objective facts, and also violates relevant World Trade Organisation rules in addition to U.S. law. We hope the U.S. will fully consider the actual situation of this case and proceed from the overall interests of the two countries’ industries,” Yao said.

Reuters reports that lawyers acting on behalf of Chinese manufacturers are arguing that US companies’ neglect of the low range market had occurred before they moved into the marketplace. The news organisation also notes that the complaint, which originated from the United Steelworkers, had not been voiced by US tyre producers.

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Avon Tyres helps Secure First Three-Wheel TT Victory

Dave Molyneux’s Avon shod Suzuki has given the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer its very first three-wheeled victory at the Isle of Man TT. Molyneux and passenger Daniel Sayle’s victory with A&J Racing Suzuki brings Molyneux’s TT win tally to 14, and marks the 20th anniversary of his first victory on the island.

“The Avons worked brilliantly and were a pleasure to use,” Molyneux commented. “I was delighted to use Avons this year, as I’ve not used them since 1993 when I won on them. In fact my first race win at the TT in 1989 was on Avons too!

19th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Production at Clairoix Site in 2010 a Possibility, Says MAG

Dubai’s Moaffaq Al Gaddah (MAG) Group hopes, according to numerous news sources, to complete an agreement to buy Continental’s Clairoix factory in France before the end of 2009. According to Fawaz Sabri, the company’s vice president for strategy and finance, if “they (Continental) sign (the due diligence process) by the end of this month, we can start the process on July 1, and by November or December could sign a final agreement … production would be in 2010.”

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Reports: Michelin to Sell Apollo Stake

Indian news sources are reporting that Michelin is intending to sell the remaining 7.3 per cent shareholding it has in Apollo tyres. On June 6 2009, Michelin sold a portion of its Apollo stake for approximately 500 million rupees (£6.67 million). The French manufacturer, which held an 11 per cent share in Apollo at the time, sold 3.3 per cent through open market sales. The company has held shares in Apollo Tyres since it acquired a 14.9 per cent stake in early 2004, a deal made at a time when a truck and bus radial joint venture between the two companies seemed likely.

Despite the venture’s failure to get off the ground and the September 2005 announcement that Michelin would acquire Apollo’s share in the joint venture, Michelin maintained its stake in the Indian company. According to reports, the French tyre manufacturer has made “a reasonable profit” from the sale of its Apollo shares. The reports follows Apollo’s takeover of Dutch tyre maker Vredestein Banden for a reported 175 million euros in May.

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

European Truck OE Tyre Demand Down 72.9% in May

European truck OE tyre demand fell at the fastest rate in the world in May (-72.9 per cent), according to recently released Michelin market data. Putting the company’s (and the industry as a whole’s) difficulties into perspective, Deutsche Bank analysts summed up the worst of the current volumes like this: “eight times worse than the worst year over the last 30 years (1991).” North America, Brazil and Japan suffered 53.5, 24.1 and 65.2 per cent falls in Truck tyre OE demand respectively in May, with China the only market to avoid the pain – growing 2.6 per cent. Truck tyre replacement sales faired better in most markets, albeit still falling between 12.8 and 23.3 per cent in four of the five covered zones. China remained flat.

Despite the depressing figures, Deutsche Bank analysts were optimistic that the worst is over: “Since sell-out demand is not as bad, dealers destocking can’t last forever. And therefore sell-in and sell-out market trends will converge soon. Lastly, May is a relatively small month for the industry when June is much more important. For example, June represents a high 25 per cent of Michelin’s first half volumes.”

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

NTDA Named as Principal Sponsor for Brityrex 2010

ECI International, the organiser of leading UK tyre trade exhibition Brityrex 2010, has welcomed the decision by the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) to sponsor next year’s show. At the same time Tyres & Accessories will continue in its role as media sponsor, informing the market of all the latest product, exhibitor and show developments across its print magazine, e-Newsletter and online www.tyrepress.com portfolio of products.

“The NTDA is a high profile and important partner in helping to spread the Brityrex message throughout the UK industry so it’s great news that the Council has given its full backing to next year’s exhibition,” said ECI managing director Paul Farrant.

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Liberian Rubber Workers Strike Again

Workers at Liberia’s second largest rubber plantation, the Guthrie Rubber Plantation, have again initiated strike action; the ground for this action, says the union representing employees, is a stoppage in salary payments and other benefits by the plantation’s management. Employees are demanding payment of three months’ worth of arrears salary.

According to reports, the protesting workers are considering blocking the highways linking major towns in Liberia to draw the government’s attention to their plight. This latest action is the most recent in a series of strikes in recent times, confrontations that have on occasion turned violent.

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Firestone Launches New UK AG Website

Firestone has responded to the communications and complexity challenges of the agricultural tyre market by setting up a new website embedded in the Farmers’ Weekly magazine website. In its first full month the link was seen over 180,000 times, according to the company. Barry Coleman, Firestone’s UK agricultural product manager stated: “I’m delighted with the interest the new website has generated. It’s very interesting to see what farmers are actually looking for. The most visited area of the site is Tips and Downloads, where farmers can find advice about things like hydro inflation, tyre pressures and wheel alignment.” The site can be viewed at the following address: http://fwi.firstlightera.com/EN/Microsites/1/Firestone/

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Restructuring Program Could Save 150 million euros Annually

Michelin’s domestic labour reorganisation program, (announced on 17 June) will save the company between 100 and 150 million euros a year, according to Deutsche Bank research analyst Gaetan Toulemonde. Restructuring charges are estimated at a maximum of 200 million euros to be accounted for in the first half of 2009 of which half will be paid for in cash and the other half as assets write offs.

In an investor’s note published today, the financial analysts explained that while the company’s complex statement appears to have been designed to avoid to much clamour after Continental and Goodyear’s recent difficult plant closures, “it looks like they aren’t doing much.” The bank’s take on the situation is that “some plants will be downsized, and the restructuring program involves 1,100 people on top of a pre-retirement program of 1,300 people. Thus, when normal attrition is included, approximately 3,000 people will leave the group by the next 18 months out of a French workforce of 25,000…of which 12,000 in production.”

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

TIA Voices Opposition to Restrictions on Chinese Consumer Tyres

In a statement released on June 17, the Tire Industry Association has claimed the USW initiated petition currently before the US International Trade Commission (ITC) will neither benefit consumers nor help preserve manufacturing jobs in America. While the TIA refers to the proposal under consideration by the ITC as “well-intentioned”, the organisation believes it to be one that will bring severe financial harm upon many retailers and motorists by restricting the availability of affordable tyres.

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Sapphire Energy Recovery Acquires Willow Tyres

Sapphire Energy Recovery is securing a reliable source of end of life tyres through the acquisition of a regular supplier. The company intends to purchase Surrey based Willow tyres following the announcement that founder and current owner Ray Bates plans to retire later this year.

“Willow has been a long trusted and reliable supplier of around 1.4 million tyres a year to Sapphire, and it was important to us that we could maintain that security of supply despite Ray’s retirement,” explained Clive Roberts, who is supply chain manager for Sapphire Energy Recovery.

18th June 2009/by Tyrepress Editors