Kumho’s second quarter sales amounted to 429 billion won (£241.094 million), lower than the 469 billion won figure that was widely expected. At the same time operating profit of 14 billion won (£7.868 million) was said to be similarly disappointing compared with market estimates of 40 billion won. Operating profit fell by 70.5 per cent year-on-year and 45.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Millennium UHP tyres have been “a great success since” their launch at the beginning of the year, according to exclusive distributors Viking International. “Designed to compete with high performance premium brands in terms of performance, but priced at a level to provide excellent profit opportunities for our customers, it’s not difficult to see why Millennium has been so popular,” Viking representatives told Tyres & Accessories.
Viking International has launched a website in order to provide more information about its new Millenium Tyre range following strong demand.
The website includes information about the tyre range, specifications and suitability of the UHP tyres for a vast range of cars. The site also provides dealer support with consumer incentives and POS support, and a unique password protected trade area where dealers can gain access to downloads and order POS materials direct.
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co has expanded sizing on some of its performance and light truck/SUV tyres. Three sizes were added to the Cooper Zeon 2XS ultra-high performance line: 215/35R19 Y-rated; 235/35R19 Y-rated; and 275/30R20 W-rated.
South Korea’s leading tyremaker Hankook Tire Co. said that first-half earnings rose more than 13 per cent from a year ago on increased exports and sales of high-end products. Net profit came to 114.4 billion won ($112.5 million) in the January-June period, up 13.1 per cent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Hankook has launched two 300 km/h UHP tyres into the UK market, the Ventus S1 evo tyre and the Ventus R-S2 track day tyre. “The UHP sector is expected to experience growth in the order of 60 per cent or more over the next five years and Hankook is poised to take advantage of this increase, having doubled its UHP tyre sales year-on-year for each of the past three years,” said UK sales manager, Ian Mayoll, explaining the motivation behind the releases.
As the UK tyre business was observing events at the Autosport/Aftermarket show, on the other side of the globe, the Tokyo Auto Salon was attracting some 300,000 spectators. Approximately 30,000 of these passed by the Hankook stand each day. According to Hankook, every Japanese car, wheel and tyre manufacturer was present.
Demonstrating its new corporate identity, the Korean company adopted the Hankook Emotion theme for its stand. The exhibition displayed 20 items including its range of Formula 3 racing tyres, Ventus UHP tyres, the low-noise XQ-Optimo and a number of concept products. The company also tried to charm its visitors with a racing Porsche on the company stand, with a magician providing further entertainment.
“The Hankook Tire booth was a fine chance to promote our new corporate identity program in Japan, one of the world’s most important markets for modified automobiles. We worked hard to make a venue that would give auto buffs from around the world a look at our world-class technology and tyres of the future,” commented a Hankook representative.
Hankook Tire has announced third quarter results, which were stronger than expected both in terms of income and product sales. The third quarter results show that Hankook beat Institutional Brokers Estimate System expectations by 20 per cent with net profits rising 30 per cent year-on-year to 46 billion South Korean won (£27.376 million). Quarter-on-quarter the same figures fell 2 per cent due seasonality. Following the same pattern, volume shipments rose 5 per cent year-on-year but fell 6 per cent quarter on quarter.
In addition, the third quarter saw the Korean company sell 50 per cent more UHP tyres than it did at the same time last year. This equates to 737,000 units in the last quarter. In total Hankook reports that sales are up 5.1 per cent. For Hankook, any news of increased sales is welcome as it will help offset rising raw material costs.
Goodyear presented three new high performance Dunlop tyres at the SEMA show in an effort to rejuvenate its North American line up of the fading brand. Independent tyre dealers and consumers that attended the show had the chance to see the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx, the company’s new “flagship ultra-performance tyre” that has already been released into the European market and that performed well in Autocar’s recent tyre tests.
According to Andy Traicoff, director of the Dunlop brand in North America, the tyre has been received enthusiastically from manufacturers seeking “original-equipment tyres for their high-horsepower models.”
Consumer Association magazine, Which? put the leading UHP tyres through their paces recently with the Goodyear Eagle F1 coming top of its category
again. A convoy of cars were driven over 6,000 miles each in order to compile the results, with the spotlight turned on performance in both wet and dry conditions, ride comfort, noise creation, rolling resistance and wear. The Which? test saw the Goodyear Eagle F1 competing in the 17 inch category, a tyre that would normally be fitted on sporty versions of cars such as BMW 3 Series, Ford Mondeo and VW Golfs. The extensive testing saw the Eagle F1 given an impressive score of 70 per cent across all categories, with Which? reserving special comment for its grip in both wet and dry conditions, as well as declaring it the quietest in its section.
Ultra High Performance Tyres (uhp) are not only for super sports cars nor high performance marques, but also for the top models of volume car makers. They are the biggest customers of the European uhp tyre manufacturers nowadays. From the middle of the decade, uhp OE sales begin to slacken, but aftermarket sales continue to grow. At the moment the OE sector accounts for the majority of uhp tyre sales, but this will turn around in a couple of years. Nowadays, 16″ tyres are usually the smallest in the uhp market; 17″ and 18″ increase, 19″ and 20″ are still comparatively rare. 55 and 50 series aspect ratios are the usual sizes, but tyres as low as 30 series can be fitted. Looking ahead, the V speed rating looks set to explode. In W/Y/Z speed ratings, the premium tyre manufacturers dominate, but for V-rated tyres, the not-so-well-known brands can get a slice of the cake. In 1999, sales of V, W, Y and Z-rated tyres in Western Europe were in excess of 20 million units and by 2005, this will be doubled. In volume terms, Germany will be the biggest market – even today, one in three uhp tyres sold in Europe is bought by a German. But Germany is the leader only on numbers sold; when it comes to uhp tyres as a percentage of the tyre market as a whole, last year this sector accounted for 30% of the German market. The leader in percentage terms was Switzerland, with 38%.
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