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.
Collaborations with US-based shared mobility providers Borrow and Envoy are providing Goodyear Tire & Rubber the opportunity to pilot its predictive digital service solutions with electric vehicle fleets. Experience gained with the two companies allows Goodyear’s Innovation Lab in San Francisco to test solutions on new models of emerging mobility.
Goodyear has started to pilot a new predictive digital service with Borrow, a short-term, fully electric car subscription company based in West Hollywood, California. Reflecting the tyre manufacturer’s increasing interest in future mobility services, Goodyear is using its predictive tyre servicing solution for connected fleets to forecast and automatically schedule needed tyre maintenance and replacement. Leveraging Goodyear’s expertise in tyres, the cloud-based platform predicts and automatically schedules tyre servicing via vehicle data and proprietary algorithms.
The USA has determined the rate of anti-dumping and countervailing duties it will charge on steel commercial vehicle wheels imported from China, and the levels set are high. This month, the US Department of Commerce announced final anti-dumping duties of 231.7 per cent and countervailing duties of 457.1 per cent.
Hankook Tire reports that two awards came its way at this year’s Honda Supplier Conference in the USA. The tyre maker was one of just four “double award” suppliers to receive Supplier of the Year awards for excellence in both Quality & Delivery as well as Value. In total, Honda honoured 85 North American OEM parts suppliers.
It appears that Sentury Tire has paused its project to set up a tyre factory in the USA. Local newspaper the Valley Times News shares that work has been “placed on hold indefinitely.”
Following a month of orientation, Nokian Tyres has sent the first group of employees hired for its new factory in the USA on a six-week training experience at its facilities in Russia and Finland. The training trip’s aim is to equip members of the Dayton, Tennessee plant launch team with the skills they’ll need when beginning the production process ramp-up ahead of the start of commercial production in 2020.
Here in the UK and in Europe, Uniroyal belongs to the Continental tyre portfolio, but in North America it is a Michelin brand. And across the pond, Uniroyal Tires has gained a new brand mascot – Royal.
The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) says it “applauds” the recent formation of the bipartisan Congressional Tire Caucus, co-chaired by Joe Wilson and Jim Cooper, members of the House of Representatives from South Carolina and Tennessee, two states with significant tyre manufacturing footprints.
By taking advantage of synergies arising from its acquisition by Kenda in 2017, STARCO has introduced its UK-made Flex lite wheel solution to the US market. Kenda USA subsidiary Martin Wheel presented this European market top-seller at a trade show in Las Vegas last week. STARCO shares that interest in the 10- to 15-inch solutions amongst end-users was strong, and it looks forward to receiving feedback about Flex lite from US-based manufacturers and distributors.
Almost 60 ContiLifeCycle partners around the world, including 30 in the USA and Canada, currently retread tyres using ContiTread treads. Demand for these pre-cure treads is growing in North America. For this reason, Continental is raising production this year at its February 2018-inaugurated tread plant in Mount Vernon, USA by 300 per cent compared to 2018 levels. A second shift was added in March to facilitate this.
In the USA, the recent United States Trade Representative (USTR) Section 301 investigation exploring potential tariffs on a range of Chinese imports has reported back. After tariffs of 10 per cent were put into place in September, the planned increase to 25 per cent in January was delayed while trade talks continued.
Nokian Tyres is sending the first group of US employees from its Dayton, Tennessee factory to Europe for training. After a month of orientation, Nokian reports that it is sending the staff group on a six-week training trip to its facilities in Russia and Finland.
Tirescanner.com has appointed former Jack Williams director of marketing, Scott Friedman as VP of sales. The US online tyre sales portal’s president, and founder of Blackcircles.com in the UK, Mike Welch said: “I am delighted to be able to welcome Scott into the Tirescanner family. It is really important to me that we appoint the very best talent from the tyre industry.”
Marangoni Tread North America (M.T.N.A.) is preparing for a change of leadership. Bill Sweatman, the company’s president and chief executive officer, will retire on 1 May and be succeeded by Clif Armstrong.
US-based independent tyre wholesaler Tire Group International (TGI) has appointed Rick Wheeler its vice-president of National Sales. In his role, Wheeler is responsible for sales, marketing, and customer service teams for the North American market.
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