Russia
Groupe Michelin will be the OE tyre supplier for Toyota Camry saloons produced at Toyota’s new plant near St. Petersburg, Russia. Michelin did not disclose where those tyres will be made, but it is expected the OE tyres will be produced at Michelin’s joint venture plant near Moscow. (Tire Review/Akron)
Amtel-Vredestein N.V., Russia’s largest passenger car tyre manufacturer, has announced that Mr. Rafael Nagapetiants (managing director and head of the Corporate Finance Department at Alfa-Bank) has been appointed chairman of the company’s Supervisory Board. Director Hendrik W. ten Bosch has been elected as vice-chairman. Maxim Ignatiev, who served as acting-chairman of Supervisory Board, will continue as a director and member of the Remuneration and Appointment Committee.
In July 2007 T&A reported news of a Chinese man who navigated the Yangtze River perched upon a truck tyre inner tube, and now a Yorkshire farmer is preparing to cross the chilly waters of Bering Straight – in a Land Rover. But do not fear, unlike our intrepid friend Mr. Cheng, who set off on his 3,000 kilometre trip without even the most basic safety equipment (you can read about Mr. Chen’s adventure here), the adventurers from Blighty have planned well for their journey, and can rely on the buoyant assistance of Cooper Tire.
Steve Burgess and his partner Nicky Spinks set off on their 30,000-mile journey from England to South America on January 29. While most of their travels will see them traversing solid ground, when they reach Russia’s east coast their trusty Land Rover 110 Pickup, shod with Discoverer STT tyres, will be fitted with ‘floats’, and driven into the sea towards Alaska, 50 miles away.
Nokian Tyres introduced the Hakkapeliitta Truck E a new tyre for trucks and buses, designed for the most demanding winter conditions. This new winter drive tyre is also the first member of the Nokian Hakkapeliitta Truck product family. The tyre’s tread design features more than 1,100 efficient transverse sipes, forming a dense network that helps maximise grip. The tyre is also equipped with special sipe activators that are very sensitive to the road surface and rapidly activate the sipes, particularly in changing temperatures and road conditions.
“Nokian Hakkapeliitta Truck E is the result of years of intensive work; it’s a new-generation product that combines the excellent grip and resistance properties that professional drivers value very highly,” says Teppo Siltanen, Product Manager, Nokian Truck Tyres. Development work drew on the experiences of the highly commended Nokian Noktop 41 traction surface and the Nokian NTR-817 truck tyre.
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Nokian Tyres is adding three new products to its winter tyre line-up in the Nordic countries and Russia. The company’s latest winter tyre for passenger cars is the studless Nokian Hakkapeliitta R, and the Finnish manufacturer also intends to further the range with a version designed for 4×4 vehicles. The company’s traditional Hakkapeliitta range is also venturing into new territory: the Nokian Hakkapeliitta Truck E winter traction tyre is the first product in this range to cater for the truck and bus segment.
The tyre range produced at Russia’s Nizhnekamskshina tyre factory will increase to 21 sizes this year, the company reports. And according to company representatives, total planned production for 2008 is to be 12.3 million tyres, slightly less than last year. Nizhnekamskshina currently has a capacity of 12.9 million units per annum.
Between 2001 and 2007 some 4.8 billion roubles (£100 million) has been invested into the 37 year old formerly government owned facility, and production at the Nizhnekamskshina plant focuses upon three key segments – passenger car tyres, truck tyres and tyres for agricultural equipment. Factory output is said to cover 30 per cent of Russia’s production output, and of the total volume, 23 per cent are delivered to OEM customers, 59 per cent to the domestic aftermarket, and the remainder exported.
Russia’s AK&M Information Agency reports that investment in the second stage of the Nokian Tyres facility in Vsevolozhsk, St Petersburg will this year be increased by 66 million euros. Total investment in the project, which will double the factory’s output to 10 million units per year by 2011, is expected to reach 195 million euros.
Stage one of the project required an investment of 155 million euros and production at the facility began in June 2005. Plant production reportedly covers 27.4 per cent of Russia’s output. In 2006 the factory’s net profit rose 30.5 per cent to 107.3 million euros, with net sales increasing 21.8 per cent to 835.9 million euros.
Demand in Russia for the steel cord used to reinforce tyres is rising, and to meet this growing market Bekaert has taken the decision to invest in a new production facility in the country’s Lipetsk Special Economic Zone. More than 97 million euros will be invested in this project in a series of stages over the period 2008 to 2013, with the first stage scheduled to enter production in 2010.
The Lipetsk region, about 400 kilometres south of Moscow, is strategically located close to the target markets, reports Bekaert, and features good logistics, ready access to energy supplies and a skilled labour force. Bekaert already has an established portfolio of customers in Russia, including tyre manufacturers. These Russian customers are currently being supplied by factories in Central Europe.
The organisers of the first Reifen China exhibition have published visitor attendance and exhibitor numbers from the inaugural “Asian Essen Show.” Held in parallel with Tyres & Rubber Tech China, a total of 5812 visitors from 41 countries passed through the show between 14 and 16 November. Of these, 16 per cent were described as overseas visitors. 88 exhibitors from 13 nations took stands in Shanghai, with the vast majority (68 per cent) directly from the tyre, casing and tube business. 16 per cent of exhibits represented press, publishing and associations; while 4 per cent originated from the equipment and vulcanisation sectors.
During Agritechnica at the end of 2007 Sibur Russian Tyres (SRT), presented a range of products from its TyRex Agro and VL lines, not to mention its TyRex all-steel truck tyre offering. TyRex Agro is a new brand from SRT and, according to the manufacturer, represents a range of “highly-professional progressive environmental-friendly tyres for both foreign and Russian tractors, harvesters, field engines, seeding- and spraying machines.”
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. has signed an agreement to supply Amtel tyres for Fiat Albea cars produced in Russia. The deal, struck with OJSC Severstal-Avto – the sole distributor for Fiat in Russia, will see the company start OE supply in the first quarter of 2008. Volumes are expected to be up to 10,000 tyres per month. The contract to supply tyres to Severstal-Avto has been in preparation for about two years. The main supplier will be the Amtel-Povolzhye tyre complex in Kirov. Amtel tyres have passed certificate tests at the Balocco testing area, in Italy, and numerous audit tests by Severstal-Avto and Fiat specialists at the company’s plant in Kirov.
Amtel-Vredestein NV is in discussions with “a number of companies” regarding the possible sale of its Moscow tyre manufacturing unit, “Moscow Tyre Plant-M”, which is located near the centrE of Moscow. In this event, the Company may relocate the tyre production plant to its Voronezh, Russia facility. “These negotiations may or may not lead to any agreement. A further announcement will be made in due course,” the official statement added.
While visiting Oman for the launch of Bridgestone’s Adrenalin Potenza RE001 tyre, the company’s general manager for the Gulf, East Africa and Nigeria, Takahiro Mitsui, spoke about the company’s activities and ambitions for the region, and the measures being taken to ensure global supply keeps pace with demand.
According to Mitsui, Bridgestone holds 30 per cent of Oman’s passenger car tyre aftermarket. This high percentage, he believes, is in part the result of the predominance of Japanese cars sold on this market, most of which arrive fitted with Bridgestone as OE. The activities of Bridgestone’s regional distributor, Towell Auto Centre, is another key factor, said Mitsui. From a solitary outlet in 2001 the distributor has expanded to 16 outlets by 2007. However the general manager believes that, should a sufficient supply of tyres become available, Bridgestone could feasibly hold 40 per cent of this market segment. Across all market segments, Bridgestone currently holds 35 per cent of the market.
The thirty-fifth edition of the now iconic Pirelli Calendar – the first ever to be photographed in Asia – has been unveiled in Shanghai. Set entirely in China’s largest city, the calendar uses as a backdrop the picturesque streets of the old French Concession, the splendid gardens of the former British Legation, the mysterious and sensual atmosphere of forbidden China, the convulsive Nanjing Road and the characteristic tea houses.
In each of the twenty-three portraits in this latest calendar (two for each month, except August) Pirelli aims to recount “the pomp of ancient China, with its splendour and the colours in which the Oriental myth of female beauty – perfection, purity, grace – is searched out.” Popular Chinese actress Maggie Cheung, featured in the 2008 calendar, explains this beauty: “Very often I find Western people seem to go for the more cliché Chinese faces: long hair, slanted eyes. All that has changed I think. Many Chinese women are graceful; I think we have an inner grace that’s more rare than you find in the West.”
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The Marangoni Village the Italian tyre and retreading systems manufacturer constructed at last year’s Essen show was about more than just combining exhibition space. As far as the company’s management is concerned, this move symbolised the first step in a “redefinition of the Marangoni’s corporate strategy.” In other words, the company is re-doubling its efforts to focus on the synergies available to a group that runs as a “highly networked system” rather than a number of autonomous entities.
Looking at the how the company has expanding internationally over the years, retreading has always been a key part of the group’s business. In fact the company’s domestic Italian market is the only territory in the world where less than half of group sales (40 per cent – see chart for more details) come from retreading related operations. With Western Europe accounting for 34 per cent of total group turnover the half of this figure that is retreading related remains central to the company’s operation.
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