In its latest market trends update, Michelin reports that European on-road tyre markets were mostly down in March. Original equipment and replacement market passenger car tyre sales in Europe (including the Turkish and growing Russian markets) were respectively down 15 and 11 per cent year-on-year during March 2013. The year to date decline is 11 per cent for original equipment and nine per cent for the replacement market.
This year, Lassa Tyres will once again field the Team Lassa Tyres in the British Drift Championship. The team’s drivers for the 2013 season are Simon Perry and Jody Fletcher in Super Pro-Class and Richard ‘Juddster’ McCourt in Semi Pro-Class; once again, they will compete in all six rounds of the UK’s premier drift championship.
Along with displaying its range at the Geneva motor show for the fifth consecutive year, Turkish tyre brand Lassa has outlined its recent activities. Halit Şensoy, international sales and marketing director of Lassa manufacturer Brisa, shared that last year the tyre maker benefitted from the largest investment in production capacity in the company’s entire history. Brisa’s factory in Izmit, Turkey now has the capacity to produce ten million tyres per annum. The investment, Şensoy added, was made in order to meet growing demand in both local and export markets.
Those wanting to see more overtaking action in Formula One won’t be disappointed by what Pirelli has in store. During today’s presentation of Pirelli’s 2013 motorsport season, the Italian tyre maker detailed its new F1 tyres. It stated that this year the P Zero dry weather and Cinturato wet weather ranges have been “completely revolutionised,” having been developed “according to the wishes of the teams and the latest rules from world motorsport’s governing body, the FIA.” Pirelli says the objective of all these innovations, which work closely together, is to improve performance and increase thermal degradation, to ensure at least two pit stops per race and open up more strategic options for all the teams.
The latest tyre market data published by Michelin is being read as a warning signal by market analysts. The figures, which reflect demand trends in December and for 2012 as a whole suggest tyre sell-in unit volumes were weak. European light vehicle replacement sales, specifically, continued to slip (-7%), despite falling 19 per cent year—on–year in December 2011. Overall this is being interpreted as a response to a poor winter tyre season.
Petlas Tire Corporation, which is known for producing the Petlas and Starmaxx brands, has announced that it has made substantial investments into expanding the agricultural radial tyre production capacity of its manufacturing plant. According to the company, the move reflects growing demand for Petlas and Starmaxx tyres from the European and North American agricultural markets. As a result of the expansion Petlas reports that it reached a annual capacity of 300,000 radial agricultural tyres – double previous levels – as of December 2012.
The Euromaster Group, the Michelin-owned fast-fit service provider present throughout much of Europe, including in the UK as ATS Euromaster, has announced its entry into the Turkish market. The company says it has taken on 230 passenger car and truck service outlets in Turkey, the 17th European market where Euromaster is active. In total, Euromaster now operates 2,250 fast fit outlets Europe-wide, 790 of which are owned by franchise partners. ATS Euromaster is responsible for more than 380 outlets in the UK.
Pirelli will take its hard and soft tyre compounds to India when Formula One visits the Buddh circuit for the second time this weekend, just like in 2011, though this year the P Zero Silver and P Zero Yellow tyres are softer compared to their equivalents last year. The tyre supplier says a better knowledge of the circuit and some real data have allowed Pirelli to be less conservative this time, and the brand is confident that these tyres should lead to even closer racing. Last year, the performance gap between compounds was around 2 seconds. Another factor affecting tyre strategy is the 600m pit lane – the longest in F1 – which adds considerable time to pit stops.
The world’s largest vehicle wheel manufacturer, Maxion Wheels, has completed its project to double production of cast aluminium wheels in Manisa, Turkey, near the city of Izmir. With this week’s official opening ceremony for the facility – which is promoted as a second plant – annual capacity has increased to four million units. This means the Manisa site is not only the company’s largest in this product segment, rather it is – along with the Borbet facility in Bad Langensalza, Germany – the industry’s largest plant in Europe.
Japan’s Nikkei newspaper and various Turkish media sources report Sumitomo Rubber Industries intends to invest 40 billion yen (£315 million) in building a tyre factory in Çankiri, about 90 miles from Turkey’s capital Ankara. Construction on the plant is set to start next year and the first phase will be ready in 2014, with further work completed in 2015. Output from the plant will be sold in Europe and the Middle East. No information on planned production capacity has been given.
On 5 September Michelin updated its tyre market statistics, and reported a four per cent year-on-year upswing in Europe’s (including Russia and Turkey) original equipment passenger car tyre market for July 2012. Year-to-date, however, the segment market is still down three per cent. A six per cent decline was reported for Europe’s replacement market passenger car tyre business. Replacement sales are down ten per cent year-to-date.
On Sunday 1 July, retread and repair materials producer Vipal visited Donington Park with the truck racing team it has sponsored for the past two years, Buggyra of the Czech Republic. Buggyra driver David Vrsecky collected 37 points over the weekend, with a second placed finish in the final race.
Titan Europe plc has announced that limited production at the company’s large agricultural wheel facility in Finale Emilia, Italy recommenced on 16 July, a little under two months after being knocked out of operation by an earthquake in the region. The rim-rolling and assembly welding areas of the factory will progressively return to normal volumes over the next few weeks, with production scheduled to continue during the normal summer shutdown period, the company’s Board of Directors stated.
The tyre and automotive sectors are Lanxess’ most important in Turkey, and the company aims to further expand in this growing market. On 18 June the specialty chemicals firm took what it calls an “important step in this direction” with the official opening of its new subsidiary in Istanbul. In future, Lanxess Kimya Ticaret will manage the company’s business in Turkey, a market where it generated record sales of some 125 million euros in 2011, nearly triple the firm’s 2009 result. The new company will initially start off with 20 employees and is headed by general manager Ömer Bakir.
At the General Assembly of the international association for parts distributors, FIGIEFA, held on 24 May in Brussels, president of the German association GVA, Hartmut Rohl, was unanimously voted (with 34 votes) to the position of Figiefa president for the second time. He takes over from Michel Vilatte of FEDA (France) who was elected to the vice-president’s role with 30 votes. IAAF chief executive Brian Spratt was elected as Figiefa’s new treasurer with 31 votes.
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