The 406 km/hr Bugatti 16/4 Veyron supercar is the latest vehicle to be equipped with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres and the company’s Pax System. Tyre sizes are 365-710 R 540 A (rear) and 265-690 R 500 A (front) and they were developed especially for the new Bugatti, which claims to be the world’s fastest production car.
Tyre production at the Dunlop Zimbabwe factory at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, stopped for a week recently, due to a chronic shortage of coal. The plant uses around 50 tonnes of coal a day, sourced from Zimbabwe’s Wankie Colliery Company, which is itself suffering from a shortage of diesel. Production resumed when Dunlop bought coal from middlemen, but its poor quality led to machinery breakdowns. Dunlop Zimbabwe closed for almost a month earlier this year because of problems arising from price controls on tyres, re-opening only after being allowed to increase prices by 20 per cent.
Bridgestone is to build a factory in China’s Jiangsu Province to make anti-vibration products for automobiles, both for the domestic market and export. Total investment in the four hectare site will be US$ 16 million, with production planned to start late 2004 and reaching 150,000 units a month in 2005. The plant, which will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, will operate as Bridgestone (Changzhou) Automotive Products Co. Ltd.
Fiat’s 1Q results were worse than forecast. Turnover for the Fiat Auto division was 4.9 bn Euros, against a forecast of 5.6 bn. Reasons given for this were de-stocking, a slower market and a flood at a Fiat factory, which led to lost production. Turnover at Iveco was down 5 p.c. and at Case New Holland, 18 p.c., virtually all due to currency factors.
A tornado struck the General Motors Oklahoma City assembly plant on May 8th. There were no serious injuries reported, but the plant has been badly damaged and GM says production has been halted “indefinitely”.
In April Nokian Tyres began the delayed production of RoadSnoop pressure watches. Production capacity will be increased gradually during the summer and the autumn. The first products have already been delivered to customers. The product will be sold globally, and specifically in Nokian’s major markets. Several versions of the current RoadSnoop systems have been developed for different types of end users. Plans are underway to introduce a pressure watch designed for frequently travelling professional drivers, such as taxi drivers, policemen and ambulance drivers.
The Bridgestone group has received a Supplier of the Year award from General Motors for the eighth year running. This is in recognition of products (both Bridgestone and Firestone brand tyres) and services provided globally to GM by Bridgestone. The award was accepted by Bridgestone Corporation executive vice president Keisuke Suzuki at a ceremony held in the Miracle Theatre in Miami recently. Said GM’s vice president, worldwide purchasing production control and logistics, Bo Andersson: “The Bridgestone Group’s performance and contributions have been instrumental in helping GM to become the industry’s low-cost producer of high-quality vehicles. They serve as a role model for other suppliers.”
Ohtsu Tire & Rubber is to merge with its parent company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, from 1st July. Falken brand products will be marketed independently in competition with other SRI group brands. The company ex pects growth in Falken sales and improved product supply due to synergies in all areas from production planning through to logistics.
In the USA, Goodyear is gearing up for negotiations with the United Steelworkers of America about a new Master Contract, covering 10,000 hourly-paid workers. The previous two sets of negotiations (in 1997 and 1994) resulted in strikes and the current negotiations are taking place against the backdrop of financial losses and worker layoffs and, according to American newspapers, it is too soon in the negotiation process to tell whether or not another strike will result.
There are reports in the Chinese press that the Tianjin Saixiang Technology Co. Ltd. is to supply moulding equipment for truck radial tyres to Michelin factories across the globe. The contracts will run for the next three years and the first shipment of TST equipment – destined for France – will take place in August.
Auropolis analysts expect vehicle production in North America to fall by 10 per cent in 2003 even is a war is avoided or short. The drop will continue even if current price-cutting is extended. Despite action to maintain volumes US sales fell for eight months in 2002 and showed lower year-on-year figures for the second straight year in a row. In a market characterised by fears over some carmakers’ financial foundations, waning consumer confidence and a market which has been almost saturated with overly-cheap cars for three years, the prospects are poor. Past cycles in the US show, that when it comes, the market normally corrects sharply and quickly. Swings in sales of more than 20% from the highest point to the lowest over an 18 month period are typical says the firm. The only reason that the situation might be better this time is because Mexico’s market should grow in 2004 thanks to price cuts anticipated there. Assuming a normal pace of recovery, Autopolis say the North American market will take until 2009 to have returned to its peak level again.
Transense Technologies shares recently crashed when the company announced that it could not enter volume production of its tyre pressure sensors until late 2004. However last week saw the shares rise to 26p after Bridgewell Securities assisted the rise by clearing out a big seller at 14p on Thursday. Rumours that Michelin, the tyremaker and existing Transense licensee, is set to inject cash in return for equity are believed to be unfounded.
Galaxy Tire & Wheel has acquired a controlling interest in Rumaguma, the Serbian manufacturer of agricultural and off-road tyres. Rumaguma began producing tyres in 1982 and currently exports more than 75 per cent of production, with the largest customer being Continental. Currently Rumaguma is operating at 65 per cent of capacity and the excess capacity will be used to manufacture Galaxy and Constellation products. Galaxy is to embark on “a multi-million Dollar capital expenditure programme” over the next five years, at the end of which, Rumaguma’s production capacity will be doubled.
Indian domestic tyre production rose last December by 27 per cent, with gains in most product sectors. Total production rose to 4.642 million units from 3.661 million units in December 2001. Exports also increased to 317,000 tyres from 235,000 in December 2001.
Belshina is seeking investment of 72.2 million dollars from Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Japan for the completion of three projects to develop new tyre production at Belshina. The Belarussian government has a programme to attract 1.5 billion dollars in place for 2003. This will be allied to a monetary, price and tax reform designed to encourage inward investment.
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