Bridgestone Sweden is to supply tyre services to Vagverket Produktion (a company within the Swedish Road Association). The three year contract will see the company provide a complete range of tyre services for vehicles including passenger cars, trucks and OTR vehicles. The contract will be managed through the national Truck Point service network.
BIPAVER, the European Retread Manufacturers Association has announced that it has relocated its offices and made several changes to its operational structure.
The Retread Manufacturers Association (RMA) has administered BIPAVER in the United Kingdom since 2002. Now the Association has decided to relocate its offices to Leiden in the Netherlands, where the Dutch Trade Association, VACO, will administer it.
(Akron/Tire Review) Sweden’s Trelleborg Wheel Systems has approved Arnco’s SuperFlex and RePneu flatproofing fill for use in its branded agricultural tyres. Arnco European Sales Manager Andrew Elliot said the results of extensive laboratory and field testing conducted by Trelleborg were a major factor in the decision.
Commenting on the testing, Trelleborg field engineering manager Bo Lenander said: “The end-user specially pointed out the positive side of being spared the expensive tire repairs, wrecked tires and the difficult and expensive down time. It was also noted that they were let off the continuing tyre pressure checks and the otherwise constant concern for air leakage.”
Nordic buying group Dekk Partner has reported that its network is growing at a rapid rate. Dekk Partner now has 110 workshops in Norway, close to 90 in Sweden, 60 in Finland and one in Estonia. On top of this group managing director, Leif Kristiansen, predicts that total turnover could peak at 215 million euros this year.
King Carl VI of Sweden was welcomed to Pirelli by Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman and chief executive officer, where he visited Pirelli Labs and viewed the MIRS-CCM plant. Carl Gustav XVI was accompanied on his visit by a delegation from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. The Pirelli Labs span 13,000 square metres in the Milan-Bicocca area and represents one of the most advanced research centres in the world. Projects include research in materials for energy generation and distribution and for new tyre production. The MIRS plant was opened in July 2000 as a pilot project and in three years has become a fully operational system installed in Germany, UK, Italy and the USA. Recently Pirelli added the continuous compound mixing (CCM) process to the facility allowing an unprecedented qualitative control of materials. The visit concluded with a lunch at the Castle Bicocca degli Arcimboldi where Marco Tronchetti Provera presented King Carl VI Gustaf with the first of the PZero Tempo wristwatches, numbered 001. The King presented Marco Tronchetti Provera with a crystal plate to commemorate the visit.
The European Union has approved grants given by the Portuguese government to Continental as an incentive to establish projects in Lousado, Portugal. The Swedish government had raised objections when Continental closed a production plant in Sweden (Gislaved) and transferred work to Portugal (Mabor). The EU reserves the right to re-examine the case if new evidence arises.
On-line tyre retailer mytyres.net has set up in Glasgow, UK, following in the footsteps of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden. The company behind mytyres.net is Hanover-based Delticom AG, which last year achieved on-line tyre sales of 21.7 million Euros. It promises next day guaranteed delivery on mainland Britain for orders placed before 12 noon and offers tyres from more than 40 manufacturers.
The German manufacturer made a loss of more than 250 million Euro last year, due mainly to restructuring expenses. This means that the group is going to close tyre factories in Mexico as well as Austria, Belgium, Germany and Sweden. While the European Car tyre Division remained very successful, the same cannot be said for the Truck Tyre Division and the American tyre activities are also in deep water, facing big losses. On the other hand, the group has had to pay over 200 million Euro for the remaining 40 per cent of Temic, having purchased the first 60 per cent from DaimlerChrysler earlier last year, but Continental has been unable to sell ContiTech; nobody was willing to buy that part of the group, which the management believes is worth about 1 billion Euro. What are the choices facing Continental now? Will the group not be forced to sell General Tire and the Truck Division in order to focus on passenger car tyres and ContiTeves in the automotive field?
The structure of the Trelleborg group (Sweden) has changed because of several acquisitions and sales of business units within last twelve months. The tyre and wheel business – included in the business unit Trelleborg Wheel Systems (TWS) and in which Pirelli is a joint venture partner – has improved sales by 7% (compared with the first half year 1999) and profits by 28%. OE business in agricultural tyres was positive, but the aftermarket continued to be slightly weak. Industrial tyres were in strong demand in North America and Korea, while the European market recovered slightly.
Pneu-Stössel AG (Schlieren) has sold its eight outlets to the strongest independent tyre dealer organisation in Europe, Danish Viborg Gruppen. With its subsidiary Pneu Matti AG (Dietlikon), Viborg Gruppen was already one ofthe leading Swiss tyre dealers. Integrating Pneu-Stössel creates Switzerland’s market leader among independent tyre dealers with 21 outlets and more than 140 employees.
From December to March, cars, light trucks, trailers and buses (up to 30 t) in Sweden must be fitted with M+S tyres. In the past, many motorists – particularly in the south of the country – drove on summer tyres all year round, especially on used cars or second family cars.
Finland has followed its neighbour Sweden by passing a law which means that, from 1st December to 29th February, all cars in Finland must be fitted with M+S tyres, having a minimum tread depth of at least three millimetres. The law applies not only to Finnish motorists, but to foreign drivers too.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
