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American Tire Acquires Am-Pac

North Carolina, US based company American Tire Distributors has purchased California based Am-Pac Tire Distributors through a stock purchase deal. The acquisition, announced in December, is said to bring together two former competitors in a way that strengthens American Tire’s geographical distribution and builds upon its existing marketing through Am-Pac’s ‘Tire Pros’ franchise programme.

American Tire bought Am-Pac from Itochu Corporation. The Tokyo, Japan-based conglomerate had owned Am-Pac since 1999. Itochu also owns leading UK tyre distribution business, Stapleton’s.

7th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Europe Takes Full Control of Bandag EMEA

On January 2 Bridgestone Europe NV/SA announced it has assumed full control of Bandag EMEA through the purchase of all of the shares in that company from Bridgestone Americas.

5th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Vietnam’s Rubber Industry Suffers as Synthetic Rubber Use Increases

Vietnam, the world’s fourth largest rubber exporter, is faced with rapidly dropping natural rubber prices as a result of the global recession and the increasing use of synthetic rubber. According to the Vietnam Rubber Association, global tyre production, which accounts for more than half of the world’s rubber supply, is expected to grow more slowly in the years to 2010. Growth of between 2 and 3 per cent is anticipated compared with the 3.4 per cent growth enjoyed in 2007.

Tran Duc Vien, director of the Hanoi Agriculture University, said that current crude oil prices, which have dropped more than 70 per cent since July, are encouraging the use of synthetic rubber, which is in turn causing natural rubber costs to sink. This increased use of synthetic rubber has coincided with Vietnam’s peak latex production period (September to December), and a huge supply of rubber has arrived onto what has become a buyer’s market – in 2007 a ton of natural rubber could fetch US$2,700. In December 2008 this same quantity sold for only around $1,300. Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are forecasting further price drops in 2009.

5th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

ATD Buys California’s Am-Pac Tire Distributors

American Tire Distributors announced on Friday afternoon that it has purchased Simi Valley, California-based Am-Pac Tire Distributors. Am-Pac is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Itochu Corp. Terms of the deal were not announced. Both Am-Pac and ATD are member distributors of American Car Care Centers; it is not know what this deal will mean to the structure of the 1,100-dealer marketing group. ATD became an ACCC member distributor in September 2004 with its purchase of then ACCC member Target Tire.

Am-Pac also runs its own Tire Pros associate dealer program, which has approximately 300 member dealers. Some 90 of those member dealers are affiliated wholesalers for Am-Pac. The deal gives ATD some 100 distributor centers across 36 states, adding to its already vast distribution empire.

“By combining the resources of these two organizations, American Tire Distributors will be better positioned to service our customers,” said Dick Johnson, ATD chairman and CEO. “We will have an unmatched breadth and depth of product, a strong offering of dealer marketing programs, and a distribution network that is without equal in our industry. All of these attributes will make us a better distribution partner for our dealers.” (Tire Review/Akron)

22nd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Top Gear Car Of The Year 2008

Westfield Sportscars Ltd has welcomed the selection of the Caterham Superlight R500 as Top Gear’s Car of the Year 2008. Commenting on the announcement, Julian Turner, Westfield’s managing director said: “As a company already working intensively on the development of a lightweight electric race car, we welcome the recognition by the knowledgeable Top Gear Team of the significant potential performance of a lightweight vehicle powered by a smaller engine. The combination of smaller engines with the lightest chassis possible – without compromising safety, the use of alternative fuels and the application of eco-friendly methods of production; this approach should be a clear choice for the majority of manufacturers.”

22nd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Report: Schaeffler Needs up to 7 billlion Euros Share Capital

Schaeffler Group needs somewhere between 4 and 7 billion euros of new share capital, Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday 12 December. According to a Perella Weinberg study presented to Continental’s supervisory board, Schaeffler has net debt of around 11 billion euros (six times annual EBITDA), Handelblatt reported. The newspaper’s banking sources said at the end of November no changes would be made to Schaeffler’s 16.1 billion euro syndicated loan before 2009.

At the same time as Handelblatt published its story, Wall Street Journal Europe reported that Continental is in talks to restructure the multi billion euro loans it arranged for the purchase of Siemens VDO Automotive. However, Reuters reported that Continental is not trying to restructure these “at this stage.” Quoting a source familiar with the matter, the newswire said it may have to do so next year if Schaeffler increases its stake to a majority shareholding or if the economic environment worsens dramatically.

12th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti to Focus on Debt Reduction

Continental AG reports the company is drawing what it calls ‘further necessary consequences for the closing fiscal year 2008’ following an extensive analysis of the substantial negative development that has taken place in the automotive industry in the six weeks to December 10. At the same time, the company is adapting operational measures for 2009 to the industry’s predictably poor economic environment. A cost-cutting programme, said by Conti to be in the ‘high three-digit millions range’ has been initiated; this programme includes the postponement of investments as well as the stretching of expenditures in the area of research and development.

11th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Returns to Autosport

As 2008 draws to a close, Tyres & Accessories is looking forward to who will be exhibiting what at the 2009 Aftermarket/Autosport show. Arguably the biggest news is that Toyo is returning to the 2009 show, which will run from 8 – 11 January at the NEC in Birmingham, after having stepped back from it in 2008. Toyo Tire has booked a 120 square metre stand at Autosport 2009, and will be exhibiting road going, track day, slick and drag tyres.

According to the company Toyo will be showcasing a “fantastic range of tyres” in front of over 84,000 visitors, including over 28,000 trade buyers and over 800 companies involved in the business of motorsport and related industries. Toyo’s thinking is that, with this number and range of participants, the “it just wouldn’t be the same” without them. Visitors will also have the chance to win a set of the renowned Proxes R888 road legal track tyres.

8th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Lanxess, Tokyo Zairyo Form Chinese Sales Alliance

Special chemicals group Lanxess AG has announced the formation of an alliance with Japan-based Tokyo Zairyo to sell rubber chemicals to Japanese companies engaged in the industrial rubber product sector within China. This cooperative agreement took effect on December 1, and the German company expects that the partnership will also help its sales in Japan and other Asian countries.

5th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Retain a Healthy Balance with Magnum Plus

Magnum Plus tyre balancing compound is designed to surpass the effectiveness of fixed weights in two principal applications – balancing medium truck tyres economically throughout their life, and balancing light truck and on/off-road tyres that operate in variable driving conditions.

Most medium truck tyres, says manufacturer M & R Tire Products, are only balanced when new, as fixed wheel weights require re-balancing at regular intervals throughout the life of the tyre. The extra cost of doing this, adds the manufacturer, can end up costing as much as the tyre’s original purchase price, therefore money is saved by neglecting this necessary task. In contrast, Magnum Plus can be installed in a new medium truck tyre and will not only keep the tyre balanced for its first tread life, it can also be re-used in the tyre after retreading.

3rd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kraiburg Installs New 3.6 million euro Internal Mixer

Kraiburg Austria recently powered up a new internal mixing line. According to the retreading material supplier, the new machinery will primarily be used to produce high-performance compounds for tyre retreading. The new equipment is said to be more efficient and capable of mixing compounds with little or now oil. This means polymer chains are maintained better, which has a positive effect on mileage.

The new line is now producing K_base, K_tech, and K_plus products. Prior to the installation of the new machinery the K_tech and K_plus products, which are said to be “very demanding from a technical perspective,” have only been available in limited capacities.

2nd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

NTDA Survey Shows Tyre Retailer Confidence Down

The NTDA (National Tyre Distributors Association) has published the results of a members survey, which shows that UK tyre retailers are battening down the hatches to avoid the pain of the looming recession. “Even though it’s the early days of the recession, the answers to our survey indicate that tyre retailers are battening down the hatches and are expecting a tough time ahead,” association director, Richard Edy commented.

Two thirds (66%) of those questioned said that they have reduced their capital expenditure, while 62 per cent have postponed the purchase of equipment. When it comes to the workforce, just over half of the businesses (55 per cent) have reduced staffing levels and 50 per cent have awarded pay rises below the level of inflation. 45 per cent reported that they had reduced staff hours or cut overtime.

2nd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tronchetti Provera – Car Market Not Yet Rock Bottom

According to Marco Tronchetti Provera, the car market has yet to reach rock bottom. The Pirelli chairman was quoted by Reuters has saying that consumers would most likely wait several months to see if government measures to revive slowing economies proved successful before they considered making a larger purchases, such as a new car.

28th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

MAM Launches Network Solutions

In order to meet the growing demand from its customer base, MAM Software has launched a new range of network solutions for company-wide data communications.

MAM Network Solutions (MNS) offers customers a streamlined infrastructure on which to operate their multi-branch Autopart ERP software. Supported directly by MAM Software, MNS utilises the latest MPLS telecommunications technology to connect sites in a fast, reliable and secure company-wide virtual private network (VPN).

21st November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

China Pledges Thai Rubber Imports Won’t Decrease in 2009

Global number one natural rubber consumer China has pledged it will import as much natural rubber from Thailand next year as it has in 2008, despite feeling the impact of the global economic slowdown. Thailand deputy minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Teerachai Saenkaew stated this on November 18, elaborating that he has discussed natural rubber cooperation during his recent meeting with China’s vice agricultural minister Niu Dun.

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors