USA Archives - Page 257 of 268 - Tyrepress

Across the Atlantic they are called tires, while over here we use a “Y” and say tyres. This tag provides the latest tyre business news emanating from the United States of America (USA), whichever way you spell it.

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Hayes Lemmerz Faces Great Distress

Can you imagine? Hardly three years ago, the share of the world’s biggest wheel manufacturer was worth 30 US Dollar, sometimes it even reached 40 US Dollar. With one US Dollar only on September, 28th 2001, this share has reached is absolute baisse so far. An alarm bell that cannot be ignored. The company is in great danger of collapse. And the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center could have finished the company off. Already before that, the group had replaced its long-term boss “Ron” Cucuz by Curtis J. Clawson, who enjoys the reputation of a fireman within the automotive business.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Mexican Recall For Bridgestone/Firestone

Bridgestone/Firestone Inc is recalling 8,000 Wilderness LE tyres made in Mexico and fitted on GM SUVs because of adhesion problems. Around 150 tyres, made on April 24 last year, are affected, but one week’s production is being recalled to be on the safe side.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Car Sales In Western Europe To Fall

Automotive consulting firm Autopolis has produced a report which predicts that the western European car market is going through a decline at the moment. 1999 was a record year, with 15.1 million vehicles being sold, but last year the market dropped by 2% and Autopolis says that the fall will continue this year and next, with sales dropping to 13.4 million cars – a decline of 11% in three years.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Wind Of Change At Goodyear

Changing climatic conditions are leading Goodyear engineers to develop tyres with greater levels of grip on wet surfaces. Precipitation levels in North America have risen dramatically in recent years, with figures climbing by as much as 15% in the US/Canadian border states. Elsewhere, storm levels have increased and seven hurricanes are expected this year. Goodyear’s chief engineer, Bill Egan says, “Greater levels of grip on rain-slick roads can be engineered on the computer for real world conditions. Improving a tyre’s wet-traction capabilities is vital in these times of changing weather patterns.”

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Retail Distribution Of SmarTire Begins

SmarTire Systems, the tyre pressure monitoring equipment supplier, has launched the US distribution of its new aftermarket products through the Tire Rack and Big O Tires. SmarTire CEO, Robert Rudman says, “These orders follow our initial distribution in Europe and represent the beginning of our marketing strategy for SmarTire’s aftermarket products in North America.”

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

A Change For The Better – Cooper-Avon Tyres

In 1997, Avon Tyres, a British-owned rubber goods and tyre manufacturer for over 120 years, was taken over by the American manufacturer Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. The subsequent three years or so have been among the most eventful in Avon’s long history; fears that the British company (annual turnover in excess of 100 million Pounds) would be absorbed by its new parent (annual turnover approaching $4 billion) proved to be groundless. This came as a relief to locals, as Avon was (and still is) the town of Melksham’s largest employer and plays an important part in community life. On the contrary, Cooper has invested heavily in its first manufacturing base outside the USA and Avon has reorganised, rethought its product offering and, in an uncertain economic climate, prospered. Our article examines how the company has changed and examines its prospects for the future. Managing Director Ron Shield and Marketing Director Julian Baldwin outline the events since the takeover and the way that the Cooper-Avon relationship has developed.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Recall Ends In Divorce

As if last year’s voluntary recall of 6.5 million Firestone tyres in the USA had not caused enough damage, the Japanese-owned tyre manufacturer is facing another crisis. May 21 Bridgestone/Firestone was severing all its business connections with Ford. That was it, the 100-year relationship was over, Bridgestone/Firestone had had enough and this was goodbye. It certainly seemed a drastic step to take, but the reason became apparent the next day, when Ford announced that it was recalling 13 million Firestone tyres; an exercise that would take nine months and cost the company up to $3 billion. This is a cost that Bridgestone cannot afford and the company has indicated that any demand from Ford to help with the costs would receive short shrift. Press reports say that Ford President Jacques Nasser has a statistical study which shows that Firestone Wilderness tyres fail three times more often than the industry average. Bridgestone/Firestone suggests that the Explorer design is to blame; something which Ford strenuously denies, saying that Explorers sold with, for example, Goodyear tyres, have had no tread separations. As far as John Lampe of Bridgestone/Firestone is concerned, the company has no obligation to participate in a further recall. In a statement, he said; “No-one cares more about the safety of the people who travel on our tyres than we do.” Bridgestone President Shigeo Watanabe gave the reason for splitting from Ford, saying that the new recall, coming on top of last year’s exercise, would have been “a life or death matter for Bridgestone/Firestone.” Later on, he played down fears that not supplying Ford would have a marked effect on Bridgestone/Firestone, saying that, at most, the group would lose 1.5% of its sales worldwide. On the plus side, freed from the need to be polite to a major customer, Bridgestone/Firestone can now say what it thinks about the part played by the Explorer in the accidents and defend itself more vigorously against the still-vocal consumer and pressure groups, not to mention the lawyers, of course. John Lampe, who wrote to Jacques Nasser, outlining Bridgestone/Firestone’s reasons for severing business relations with Ford: “Business relationships, like personal ones, are built upon trust and mutual respect. We have come to the conclusion that we can no longer supply tyres to Ford since the basic foundation of our relationship has been seriously eroded.”

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Additional Orders From Ford For Continental

Continental has announced that it has received an additional order from Ford for over 2 million car tyres. Whether or not this is at the expense of Firestone is unclear. Continental now claims to be one of the biggest tyre suppliers for Ford in Europe, if not the biggest. In the US the tyre manufacturer is in dire straits. The Continental General tyre company is facing a loss in the US this year of up to 100 million Euro despite the fact that Continental also took advantage of the Firestone recall on the US replacement market. It is expected that Continental General will make another loss next year of up to 50 million Euro. The company also announced a restructuring program for the North American tyre market, aimed at saving costs of 90 million Dollars within 3 years. Presently Ford is not accepting General tyres as OE in the USA after the NHTSA said that the claim rate of the General Ameri 550 S is much higher than the Firestone tyre, which it replaces.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Detroit Motor Show: Concerns About The Economic Situation In The USA

Almost all car manufacturers are offering new SUV models. While sales figures for December last year fell dramatically for the “big three”, the European, Japanese and Korean producers were very successful. Analysts are worried because they expect a price war in the till-now-profitable SUV segment, caused by growing over-capacity. Products from Chrysler especially, but also from GM to some extent, are under growing pressure. So far, the big three have cut back production in order to avoid a costly incentive programme. During press conferences in Detroit, high ranking managers were unable to dispel these concerns and thus analysts do not recommend GM and DaimlerChrysler shares as a buy; in fact, quite the contrary.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Terrible News For Continental In The US

According to an article in the Washington Post, the tyre General Ameri 550 s will be subject to more claims due to tread separations than Firestone. As well as General, some other brands are under the microscope on the NHTSA-list, and their identity has not yet been revealed. It is expected that further explanations will be issued this week. A spokesman for Continental denied the accusation and said the NHTSA statement would be misleading. Ford did not comment.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

50 Years of Eibach

In Mid-September, the Spring-, Suspension- and Chassis-specialist celebrated its 50th anniversary in Finnentrop, with the slogan: “50 years of experience – Ready for the future.” More than 400 guests accepted the invitation for the central celebration event, approximately 50 percent of them being customers, coming from 40 countries. The terror attacks in the USA had their effect on this event too: is it possible to celebrate an anniversary thinking about thousands of victims in the States and the pain of their families? “The main impact has come from our colleagues in the United States, who wanted us to continue with the programme. We also want to give a example of multinational understanding and positive relations”, declared a visibly-moved Wilfried Eibach, head of the family owned company. The success story started in 1951 with the production of industry springs. In the Seventies the department for automotive springs was founded. Nowadays the name Eibach is known world-wide as a synonym for leading chassis technology. For some years the programme has gone far beyond the pure spring. The construction process has been supported by “CAD”-applications and it has carried out pioneer work in the field of new methods of corrosion-protection. Also the chassis system harmonisation is a huge field of activities in the year 2001. Today Eibach AG stands as a family holding on top of the German company group, consisting of four daughter companies. Abroad, Eibach is represented with production, engineering and/or distribution facilities in Irvine (California, USA), Broughton Astley (Leicestershire, GB), Tokyo (Japan) and Warriewood (New South Wales, Australia) and through more than 50 exclusive distributors. In Germany the 250 employees have achieved a turnover of 25.2 million Euro. The world-wide turnover in 2000 of the 400 employees amounted to 48 million Euro. During the celebration guests had practical experience of the secret of Eibach’s success: the fact that – beyond the many technological qualifications – the family owners have never neglected the human dimension, and they have always been aware of their social responsibilities.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

“Classic” Status For Goodyear Blimp

The Corporate Design Foundation has named the Goodyear blimps a “business and design classic”; an accolade bestowed in the past on such well-known icons as the paper clip and the Coca-Cola bottle. Every year in the USA, the Goodyear blimp is seen live by 60 million people at sporting events, and by millions more on TV.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Director Of Marketing Appointed At Goodyear USA

Goodyear Tire & Rubber has appointed Kevin Kramer to the post of director of marketing, consumer tyres for North American Tire. Kramer has been with Goodyear for 18 years and has held numerous marketing appointments in the USA and Singapore. He is replaced in his former post of general business manager for the Southern Region by Steve McClellan, recently general manager of Allied Tires, a Goodyear-owned subsidiary.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Suffers Under Bad Market Conditions

The French group has achieved a rise of 4.5 per cent in the first half of 2001, compared to the same period last year, and now has a turnover of 7710 million Euro, but the EBIT has fallen 9 per cent to 491 million Euro. Analysts had been expecting a slightly better result. As a prominent supplier of truck tyres, Michelin is suffering under the very bad market conditions prevailing in the US. Not only did the OE market fall, but – and this was unexpected – so did the replacement market, and the company cannot foresee any improvements in the US market for the second half of the year. Michelin as a group did not sell as many tyres as expected, as a result of the Fiestone recall, but the trend towards premium brands (the so-called “flight to quality”) still exists. The Michelin brand has sold a lot more tyres than in previous years, which gives the group much better margins. The return on sales for the whole year should be between 6.2 and 6.8 per cent – some months ago, 7.7 to 8.3 per cent was expected. Perhaps there might be some more good news for Michelin if Firestone and General were forced to recall more tyres.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Lighter Steel And Alloy Wheels

Hayes Lemmerz is the world’s leading global manufacturer of automotive and commercial highway wheels and one of only a few companies producing wheels from both steel and aluminium. Regarding steel wheels, the company, whose headquarters are in the USA, is the worldwide market leader. Regarding aluminium wheels, Hayes Lemmerz is among the leading manufacturers in Europe. Recent years have seen a move from steel to aluminium wheels in original equipment. Looking purely at price, the steel wheel is absolutely unrivalled, but obviously the two criteria of weight and styling have proved more important to the car manufacturers. Realising that it was not enough that the steel wheel is cheaper, the manufacturers decided to become competitive also in the matter of weight. With its newest development of a steel structure wheel, Hayes Lemmerz has attained this target; this kind of wheel is now fitted in a 16 inch size on the newest Ford Mondeo model. But it must be said that is was not only an achievement of the wheel company but also for the producers of new kinds of steel which gives the wheel more rigidity and stability than before and offers the opportunity to make the wheels thinner and therefore lighter. Regarding styling, Hayes Lemmerz tries to mimic the smart aluminium wheels with new finishes that look like aluminium or chrome or are even coloured. Another opportunity is to create a very well-fitting wheel cap. Being also one of the most sophisticated aluminium wheel manufacturers, Hayes Lemmerz tried to develop lighter alloy wheels too. One competitor (Stahlschmidt & Maiworm) has already made much progress with hollow spokes and this kind of wheel is fitted on the top models of Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. The idea of Hayes Lemmerz engineers was not to use the spokes but the rim bead section for cavities: they call the invention “Hollow-Hump Technology”.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors