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Titan Tests New 63-Inch Tyre

Titan International subsidiary Titan Tire Corporation reports it has begun testing its new 63-inch tyre on the company’s newly constructed 24-foot bull wheel. The first 63-inch tyre, built in February 2008, is approximately just over four metres in total diameter and weighs approximately 5.45 tonnes. Titan will test the 63-inch tyre on the bull wheel, loaded with up to 226 tonnes at a speed of up to 45 miles per hour, and this testing will confirm the tyre’s casing and its heat characteristics. Ten days of testing is equivalent to a year of field use, and will allow Titan to know how it will perform before volume production begins.

“There were many who doubted Titan’s ability to produce and test this tyre,” said Titan Chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “Never underestimate a small entrepreneurial company. This tyre has surpassed all of Titan’s expectations.”

21st April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Europe Offered $375 million in Takeover Bid

British-based OTR wheelmaker Titan Europe has received an all-share takeover offer from parent company Titan International. The announcement comes four years after the company was floated by Titan International, which kept a 17 per cent stake. According to market observers, the offer equates to 230 pence per share offer more than 100 per cent more than Titan Europe’s 111p closing price on Friday 11 April.

Illinois-based Titan International is reportedly interested in buying back Titan Europe because market conditions have led it to re-focus on large size off-road wheels, having decided to focus on smaller wheels in 2004.

14th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Sales Hit Record, Loss Still Posted

Titan International’s 2007 sales were up 23 per cent compared to the year prior, but the company yielded a net loss of US$7.2 million for the year. Sales for 2007 reached a record $837 million, up 23 per cent compared to 2006’s sales of $679.5 million. Those results were buoyed by record fourth quarter sales of $204.9 million, said Titan. The profit drop compared to a net positive profit of $5.1 million in 2006.

Titan said the sales boost was primarily due to expanded agricultural and OTR tyre offerings, including the addition of General branded OTR tyres to its portfolio. Titan’s year-end cash balance was $58.3 million, up some $25 million from $33.4 million at year-end 2006, and Titan’s long-term debt balance sat at $200 million at the end of 2007, down $91.3 million from the year prior.

3rd March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan to Increase Giant OTR and Agricultural Tyre Capacity

Production of giant OTR tyres at Titan International is set to markedly increase, says company chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. At a speech given to the Tire Industry Association in Hawaii on February 22 Taylor said that the company expects to produce more than twice as many giant OTR tyres as previously estimated.

25th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan’s First 63-OTR Tyre Ready

Less than a year after committing itself to developing giant 63-inch radial tyres, Titan Tire has manufactured the company’s first prototype specimen at its Ohio facility. Production examples are expected to be ready for shipping to mines within 60 to 90 days.

“This project has been an unbelievable experience for a large group of Titan employees – starting with myself,” said Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “I know a lot of people think I’m a little different, and that’s fine, but I’m very lucky to have a great team. Titan has some of the best employees in this business and they proved it today by producing this tyre in seven months, starting from scratch. A site that used to be a soybean field is now the beginning of a state-of-the-art giant tyre facility. In addition to developing this 63-inch tyre, Titan has also filed for a patent on the new construction used in this design that will improve tyres and lower cost to manufacture.”

18th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

‘Poke Us, and We’ll Poke Back’ – Titan Tire

One of the key agitators behind the US Department of Commerce’s anti-dumping duties has praised the February 6 decision to introduce tougher measures against subsidised OTR tyres from China. Titan Tire, a vocal advocate of US business rights, released a statement on the issue from company chairman and CEO, Maurice M. Taylor.

“Today’s decision will help to restore conditions of fair trade to the US market for OTR tyres by requiring Chinese imports to be priced fairly,” announced Taylor. “For far too long, US producers of OTR tyres such as Titan and our workers have had to compete against Chinese tyres sold at dumped prices, which is illegal. Now, importers and producers will have to compete on the same level field as other producers.”

8th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

US Outlines Duties on OTR Tyre Imports

The US Department of Commerce has set in place preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 210 per cent on Chinese made OTR tyres allegedly sold in the US at artificially low prices. These duties were implemented on February 6, and tyres thereby now become the sixth Chinese product to fall foul of US anti-dumping duties since the start of 2008.

“Price distortion by Chinese exporters puts American manufacturers at an unfair disadvantage,” said David Spooner, assistant secretary of commerce for Import Administration, in a statement announcing the action. “In an effort to encourage a healthy economic environment and to strive to maintain a strong and fair relationship with our trading partners, the administration will continue its commitment to aggressively enforce America’s trade remedy laws.”

7th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Investment Group Gets Large Stake in Titan

Citadel Investment Group LLC took what it calls a “passive” stake in tyre and wheel maker Titan International, according to news reports. Citadel bought a 5.7 per cent stake in the company – about 1.6 million shares. The investment firm said it does not plan to change or influence control in the company. (Tire Review/Akron)

23rd January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

USW Reacts to Taylor Freeport Threat

Reacting to last week’s news that Titan International Chairman Morry Taylor threatened to reduce the workforce at its Freeport, Illinois, plant, USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover issued this statement:

“The USW international, including myself, supported Titan’s purchase of the Freeport facility (from Goodyear), and I participated in the bargaining to accomplish the transaction. These negotiations were no different than most. Both parties had specific issues to address at the bargaining table.

22nd January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan May Chop Production at Ex-Goodyear Plant

It appears, as previously reported, that the honeymoon between the United Steelworkers and Titan International Chairman and CEO Morry Taylor is over. News reports say that Taylor is threatening to move tyre production out of Titan’s plant in Freeport, Illinois, unless the USW goes along with his plans to make the former Goodyear plant operate profitably.

“That’s the way it is,” Taylor told the Freeport Journal-Standard. “We’re going to run a profitable plant or we’re going to shave it down until it does make money. I told everyone that when we first came here.” Apparently, Titan is seeking staffing and wage reductions, but specifics of Titan’s plan for the plant were not revealed. In a memo obtained by the Freeport newspaper, Taylor said that without concessions from the USW employment could be cut to the bare minimum allowed under Titan’s current contract with the Steelworkers.

18th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan to Transfer Jobs from Freeport Plant

News reports from the US indicate that Titan Tire is considering cutting back operations at one of its facilities. The Illinois based television channel WREX TV claims Titan Tire CEO Maurice Taylor is unhappy with the revenues generated at the company’s Freeport, Illinois farm tyre plant, and Taylor further believes that union leaders are making it difficult for changes to be made. In response, it seems likely Taylor will opt to expand facilities in Bryan, Ohio and Des Moines, Iowa and transfer jobs currently at Freeport to these two plants. “I can make money with those products and those facilities,” Taylor told WREX TV. “I can not do it up in Freeport and I’m just tired of the hassle, and so are all my managers. This is nuts.”

17th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Tire to Increase Prices

Titan Tire will increase prices on Titan, Goodyear and General branded OTR, farm and construction tyres as of March 1. The company reports that the increases will offset rising raw material, energy and transportation costs. While Titan reports that most prices will be seven per cent or less, it adds that “certain tyre prices may rise in excess of seven per cent due to realignment and positioning of the product.”

17th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Fire Halts Work at Titan Plant

(Tire Review/Akron) A small fire at Titan Tire’s plant in Des Moines last week forced the evacuation of some 125 workers. No one was injured in the fire, which reportedly started near rubber mixing equipment at the plant. The specific cause of the fire remains under investigation. Production resumed at the plant later in the day, though, report said, the mixing equipment involved in the fire remained off-line.

17th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Lauds Commerce Department Ruling

(Tire Review/Akron) Titan International Inc. offered its comments in the aftermath of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision earlier this week to impose preliminary countervailing duties on new OTR tyres imported into the U.S. The Commerce Department found Chinese tyremakers exporting to the U.S. were benefiting from government-sponsored subsidies, which out U.S. tiremakers at a market disadvantage. The subsidy margins ranged from 2.38% to 6.59%, said the Commerce Department.

17th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Welcomes Ruling on Chinese OTR Tyres

For Titan International, the US Department of Commerce’s decision to impose duties on new OTR tyres from China deemed to be benefiting from government subsidies comes as welcome news. “Today’s (December 13) determination sends a signal to producers in China that they have to start playing by the rules of game just like everyone else,” said Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor. “Tyre producers in China benefit from government subsidies that give them an illegitimate advantage in our market, and it is the US industry and American workers who have suffered as a result. Hopefully today’s decision will start to counteract the damage being done by China’s unfair subsidies.

14th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors