Product News Archives - Page 62 of 260 - Tyrepress

Tyre industry professionals need to know what the latest product developments are. Look no further than the Tyrepress.com product news tag,

Posts

Schaeffler Has Eye on Another Conti Board Seat

It appears Schaeffler’s representation on the Continental AG supervisory board will be strengthened with the addition of a fifth representative. Reuters reported on April 20 that Hans-Jörg Bullinger, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, will not, as originally planned, stand as a supervisory board candidate at the April 23 Annual General Meeting. Bullinger’s comment to Reuters was that “Schaeffler would like it if the company is well represented.”

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

March Sales Give Pirelli a Glimmer of Hope

Upon reporting its first quarter 2009 financials, Pirelli commented that its tyre division experienced “signs of recovery” in March; these indications of better times came in the form of a slowdown in sales decline in some countries and positive growth rates in others. Various government incentives to boost new car sales partly contributed to this reversal of fortune following OE business contraction in the first two months of the year, Pirelli comments.

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Management “Welcomes” Clairoix Court Decision

Continental’s decision to close its Clairoix factory in France was met with allegations the company had failed to correctly consult employee representatives beforehand, as required by French law. The plant’s joint works council instigated legal action against Conti, however these claims were dismissed by The Tribunal de Grande Instance (high court) of Sarreguemines on April 21.

“Our Continental France subsidiary was ruled to have acted correctly throughout in informing and consulting with the members of the joint works council. We take the occasion of this court decision to emphatically reaffirm that Continental AG has consistently respected and complied with all legal stipulations,” declared Dr. Bernhard Trilken, in charge of worldwide production for the Continental Passenger and Light Truck Tires division.

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg Fined US$11M for Cartel Involvement

Sweden’s Trelleborg Group reports it has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice regarding investigations involving marine fenders and marine oil hoses. These investigations, Trelleborg adds, commenced in 2005 and 2007 respectively, and it has been awaiting a decision from the authorities “for a lengthy period.”

The agreements entail that the two Trelleborg Group subsidiaries in question shall pay a combined fine of US$11 million to the US authorities. The agreements are to be approved in court. The Group’s French subsidiary has previously paid close to $2 million in damages to aggrieved customers as settlement of a class action, which concerned Trelleborg and other companies, for alleged illegal price fixing concerning marine oil hoses.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Wins US Tyre Test Plaudits

Korean manufacturer Kumho’s US division has been awarded two “Best Buy” recommendations by US magazine Consumers Digest following the publication’s latest round of tyre tests. The Solus KR21, an all-season tyre made primarily for coupes and sedans and the Ecsta STX, a tyre for sports utility vehicle and light truck drivers, were given the gongs in the Touring Cars and Performance SUV categories based on independent test results in addition to technical expert opinion and road-based evaluations.

Rick Brennan, Kumho Tires vice president, sales and marketing stated, “all of us at Kumho are excited about the recognition these tyres have received. Earning Consumers Digest’s “Best Buy” award is a key indicator of Kumho’s pledge to value and performance.” The awards add to the company’s previous success in Europe, where British consumer magazine Which? told its readers that the company’s Solus KH17 represented “Exceptional Value”.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Prices May Plummet 35% as Tyre Sales Slow

International News

Global sales of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres may decline to 1.32 billion units in 2009 from 1.41 billion last year, said No Dock Moung, an analyst with the Singapore based International Rubber Study Group. The drop of almost 6.4 per cent would be the steepest since at least 1975, he said. And according to a Singapore based trading manager from Marubeni Corp., Japan’s largest rubber trading company, this could lead to natural rubber prices weakening by as much as 35 per cent.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Malhotra Growing in the Radial Business

Not many companies successfully negotiate the transition from retreading to the new tyre industry. India’s Malhotra Rubber Ltd., however, is one such firm. The company began producing cold cure retreading materials more than fifty years ago, but it was only in the late 1970s that it began the manufacture of new tyres. Much later, some five years ago, the Indian company entered the radial market with a commercial vehicle tyre intended for the domestic market. Despite this, the company’s offering in European markets continues to focus on the supply of cold cure retreading materials, which are sold under the ‘Malhotra’ brand name. The company stressed at Tyrexpo Asia that it also supplies materials for the as-yet not widespread Indian mould cure retreading industry – a line-up that includes bonding rubber and repair patches.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Providing Integrated Solutions

During the planning of a factory’s layout and manufacturing processes, the integration of process automation solutions and software at an early stage maximises cost and time savings for the customer. Rockwell Automation, a global leader in the supply of industrial automation power control and information solutions, is collaborating with German company TTC (Technical Tire Consulting) in order to do just that – deliver reduced integration costs, optimised capacity availability, safe product quality and ensured traceability. When Tyres & Accessories met with representatives from both companies during February’s Tire Technology Hamburg exhibition, they explained exactly how tyre industry customers stand to benefit.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Multi-Platform Promotions Coming from Toyo

Toyo Tire USA has launched its new brand awareness advertising and promotion push for 2009. The effort includes all-new TV and print ads, as well as POS kits dealers. Toyo’s new 30-second TV ad, entitled “People Who Know,” features a Toyo dealer explaining the value of Toyo tyres, including the brand being voted the number one overall tyre brand for seven of the last nine years in Tire Review’s annual Tyre Brands Study. The spots will run during NASCAR events on ABC and ESPN2, NHL playoffs and Stanley Cup finals on NBC, and the shows Pinks on Speed, Modern Marvels on the History Channel, and American Chopper on TLC.

The commercial is also online at http://toyotires.com/about-us/tv-commercials. The new print ads will run throughout the year in publications like Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road and Track, and Automobile, as well as niche publications like Truckin’, Dirt Sports, Car Craft, Hot Rod, Modified, and D Sport. The new dealer POS kit entitled “Natural Selection” is “loosely based on the Darwinian theme ‘only the fittest survive,’” said Toyo, and touts its light truck, high performance and luxury touring products. As in previous Toyo POS promotions, dealers can submit a photo of their store display to enter a contest to win prizes such as a mini HD video camera. (Tire Review/Akron)

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Freewheelers Volunteers to Ride on Avon Tyres

Cooper brand Avon Tyres has agreed to supply motorcycle tyres to the Freewheelers Emergency Volunteer Service, a registered Charity which provides emergency out-of-hours medical transport throughout the West Country.

Freewheelers’ fleet of marked-up Yamaha FJR1300s, often referred to as “Blood Bikes”, provide lifesaving transport for urgently-needed items such as blood (as the name suggests) test samples, patient notes, X-rays and medical supplies. Avon will supply Storm-ST tyres, while JHS Racing at Keynsham will service Freewheelers’ duty bikes as well as fit them with the brand new rubber.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Delivers a Le Mans 24 Hours One-Two Win

Following an eight-year absence, Michelin has marked its return to motorcyling’s Endurance World Championship with a one-two finish in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours on April 19. The French manufacturer came back to the series this year alongside Yamaha Austria Racing Team, winner of this weekend’s race in France, and with the factory Honda that finished on the second step of the podium.

The 32nd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, notes Michelin, was marked by particularly taxing weather, including non-stop rain throughout the night from Saturday to Sunday. Paradoxically, it adds, it was these extremely slippery conditions that enabled the top two teams to pull clear of their rivals – and Michelin attributes this ability to its tyres, developed especially to provide all-important grip on cold, wet tracks.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Covers Europe With the BBC

Hankook Tire is set to arrive in millions of homes across Europe courtesy of a new advertisement to be screened by BBC World News. The 20-second commercial, produced by the BBC Worldwide Client Solutions, focuses on Hankook’s enfren and Optimo 4S tyres, the first of which is due for its European launch next year.

The new campaign will run on BBC World News’ European feed from April to December 2009 in conjunction with Hankook’s global TV clip. “It’s great to welcome Hankook Tire as a first-time advertiser on BBC World News, and we hope that it will be the first of many campaigns they choose to broadcast on the channel,” commented John Williams, regional director Global Advertising Sales, BBC World News.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin’s OE Business 40% Down in North America – Wilkerson

Michelin North America’s Dick Wilkerson has engaged in a further tête-à-tête with his local newspaper, and he is clear that the company is “committed to manufacturing our product in North America and selling it in North America.” The regional operation’s chairman and president told The Greenville News that around 90 per cent of the company’s North American sales tonnage is produced on the continent, including at its Mexican and Canadian plants. These four factories complement Michelin’s 11 major US manufacturing facilities.

20th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Turbulent Times for Conti’s Dr. Nikolin

Dr. Nikolin, responsible for both Continental AG’s passenger tyre and commercial vehicle tyre divisions since the departure of Alan Hippe, is in the bad books with a sizeable chunk of the company’s workforce. He is, of course, the man who recently simultaneously announced the closure of two facilities – the first in Clairoix, France and the second in the company’s home city of Hanover, Germany. Since this time the road along which he’s travelled has been, to put it nicely, a little bumpy. High-level politicians both in France and Germany, with the saving of jobs in mind, have grabbed hold of the issue.

The blame for the planned closure of the Clairoix facility can’t really be pinned on Nikolin; this was already in the pipeline at the end of last year. But regardless of whose decision it was, the response from Paris is that the French President, a popular target for demonstrations during his two years in office, really can do without further news like Conti’s in the Paris region. Sarkozy’s economic policy is geared towards enhancing the country’s competitiveness, and amongst other measures this includes a future extension of weekly working hours. Such increased demands on the French workforce have also come from management at Continental, and have to a large extent already been implemented – around two years ago workers agreed to a longer working week to boost production when demand was high. Yet the very clear signals coming from “French politics” in recent times appear to have been enough to make Hippe hesitant and relegate the matter to the backburner for the time being. Vehement protests now seem to be inevitable. It looks like Continental will at any rate have to weather serious damage to its image in France, and perhaps there is nothing it can do about it.

20th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Estimates Suggest Price Decreases on Horizon

New figures published by the International Rubber Study Group of Singapore suggest that the rubber price rebound of 42 per cent over the past four months is coming to an end. The Group estimates that tyre manufacturers’ sales will see a slump of 6.8 per cent in 2009, in line with the general worldwide decline in the figures of the automotive industries. 67 per cent of global output was used in the manufacture of tyres in 2008, making the industry the biggest consumer of natural rubber. Top exporter Thailand is about to increase its supply following its seasonal drop, with prices at $1,530 per tonne – 18 per cent higher than oil-based alternatives – says Bloomberg. The financial news source quotes Goodyear spokesman Keith Price’s assertion that the company would be able to convert 20 per cent of its rubber consumption to synthetic alternatives “without impacting tyre performance”. The manufacturer is keen to enhance its ability to cut costs through synthetic substitution, a sign – alongside increased supply – that natural rubber costs may be on the verge of a downturn.

20th April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors