Truck Tyres
General Truck Tires is offering severe service and construction vehicle fleet operators in the NAFTA region a new all-position wide base tyre intended for super single fitment on steer and trailer positions. Named the Grabber OA (Off Road, All Position) Wide Base, the tyre is being introduced in size 445/65R22.5 during November and two further additions to the range will be made in 2011.
Michelin will take to its stand (5/B 70) at the NEC, Birmingham-hosted Euro Bus Expo 2010 to introduce an additional X Energy Savergreen XZ tyre size to its growing range. The availability of a 315/80 R 22.5 X Energy Savergreen XZ tyre will enable a greater number of coach operators to fit Michelin’s rubber to vehicles in their fleet. Designed primarily for long distance journeys, the X Energy Savergreen range yields a seven per cent increase in grip when compared with the previous generation XDA2+ Energy tyres, and provide reduced rolling resistance and greater longevity, according to the manufacturer.
Sibur is planning to exit the tyre business “eventually,” in a move that would mark the end of the firm’s tyre subsidiary – Sibur-Russian Tyres – in its current form. Speaking to journalists at a recent press conference, Dmitry Konov, chair of the executive board and president of Sibur said he expects a significant degree of consolidation amongst the Russian tyre makers in the coming years. The company’s eventual aim is to dispose of the tyre production assets “at a profit,” he explained.
Having raised the prices of its US passenger and light truck tyres by 6.5 per cent, Cooper Tire has told analysts in a conference call that the manufacturer expects raw materials costs to rise into 2011, as suggested by reports in the Financial Times and on tyrepress.com yesterday. Increased demand from automotive suppliers, especially in China and India, alongside unhelpful weather conditions in the rubber tapping season in south-east Asia have driven natural rubber prices continually upward in 2010.
Yokohama Tire Corp. is investing $13 million in expanding operations at its Salem, Virginia manufacturing plant, reports Tire Review. The project will include new tiremaking machinery, upgrading and modifying existing machines and an increase in high-performance and light truck tyre manufacturing flexibility. The expansion, which will result in a 10-12 per cent increase in production capacity, is slated for completion by August 2011, the company said.
Marix UK, sole UK distributors of car, van & 4×4 Marix tyre products, has declared its experience of its first Brityrex show in Manchester to be “a very important part” of its five-year brand awareness programme. Marix exhibited its 4×4, summer and winter passenger and full truck ranges.
Hankook Tire America , which previously announced it would raise prices on all consumer and commercial tyres effective with shipments on 1 November, has postponed the increase until 1 December due to “our current supply difficulty,” reports Tire Review.
Michelin has reported that its net sales for the first three quarters of 2010 shot up 19.4 per cent to 13 billion euros. According to the company, the growing figures reflect increased unit sales growth across all sectors and follow a particularly sustained recovery in unit sales of passenger car and light truck tyres. As a result of the good third quarter figures, Michelin reaffirmed is predictions that the company would achieve around 12 per cent growth in unit sales by the end of 2010, “close to 9 per cent operating margin before non-recurring items” and positive free cash flow for the year.
Referring to the company’s third quarter sales of 4.65 billion (which were up 24 per cent year-on-year), financial analysts praised the fact that the results were 6 per cent ahead of consensus estimates. However, writing in an investor’s note published 27 October, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that this figure was largely down to better-than-expected foreign exchange rates. Sales growth is said to have equated to +15 per cent excluding foreign exchange effects during the quarter.
On 12 October China’s Ministry of Industry announced a new policy for the local tyre industry aimed at promoting environmentally friendly and energy-efficient development but it looks likely to have a knock-on effect on global players as well. One of the key points of the policy is that it sets out radialisation targets for each of the main product sectors. By 2015 the passenger car segment is expected to reach 100 per cent radialisation, with a 90 per cent goal for heavy truck tyres and 85 per cent for light truck tyres.
Tire Review reports that Bridgestone Americas' Dayton brand medium truck tyres are no more. The manufacturer announced yesterday that it would discontinue sales of Dayton brand medium truck radials as of 1 January, 2011. The tyre-maker said it anticipates it will burn off its remaining Dayton inventory by the end of this year, but did not say when it stopped production of the tyres. The move, Bridgestone Americas said, does not impact production and sales of its Dayton branded passenger and light truck/SUV lines.
Qingdao, China-based tyre manufacturer Sailun Co., Ltd., has appointed Martin West as managing director of its new Sailun Tyres (Europe) subsidiary. West previously held a number of senior roles with Goodyear, Lassa and most recently Infinity. Tyres & Accessories understands that the new European team, which will be based in the UK, currently consists of two people including the recent appointment of a back office manager that brings with him logistics experience at Goodyear Dunlop. According to a statement released by Sailun Europe, the recent moves follow the firm’s decision to begin “strategically focussing to further develop their presence in the European market.”
SEMA says that tyres are a hot topic among those planning to attend the upcoming 2010 SEMA Show and Global Tire Expo, according to Tire Review. In all, more than 9,000 attendees are specifically interested in tyres and tyre-related products. Among that group, SEMA said, more than 3,000 attendees specifically identified themselves as “tyre buyers.” The 2010 SEMA Show and GTE will be held 2-5 November at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
In response to rising raw material costs, Toyo Tire USA is increasing prices for its passenger car, light truck and truck tyres by up to six per cent, with in line adjustments.
Prices for Hankook Tire America’s passenger car, light truck and medium truck tyres will increase by up to 6.5 per cent on November 1, 2010. The company reports that rising energy, raw materials and transportation costs have necessitated this price adjustment.
Giti Tire has doubled the size of its European test centre, based at the MIRA research facilities in Warwickshire by both expanding its garage space and staff numbers at the test track. The development, which comes not much more than two years after the company embarked on its European research and development programme there, reflects the company’s determination to significantly increase sales and further develop its products to compete with longer established brand names.
As a result of the investment Giti has made, the company’s operation is now amongst the largest tyre testing programmes operating at MIRA. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories during a recent truck tyre demonstration day, company representatives explained that this UK-based European testing operation is increasingly adopting the position of a global centre as it now tests products for the US and various other global markets as well as its European mainstay. In addition the test centre has reportedly played host to the engineers from the firm’s Indonesian and Chinese production bases. Furthermore, the experienced test team that has been established under the leadership of the company’s European Technical Centre head, Eddie Young, has also begun bi-annual winter tyre testing at respected centres in Finland and New Zealand.
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