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.
Michelin has bought Tablet, an online travel agency specializing in boutique and luxury hotels. Headquartered in New York, Tablet was founded in 2000 by Laurent Vernhes and Michael Davis to provide a high-quality selection of unique hotel experiences to millions of travellers, and an associated booking platform. The purchase of The Tablet follows Michelin’s earlier purchase of Bookatable.com in January 2016 and Restaurantes.com in December 2016.
Roughly two decades after taking the helm at Nissan (and later chairing the Japanese firm’s alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi), the carmaker’s board voted to remove company boss Carlos Ghosn following his arrest in Japan for underreporting his salary.
The million square foot (92,900 square metre), centrally-located warehouse that Cooper Tire & Rubber Company erected near three of its factories in the USA is now in operation. The new warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi employs approximately 100 people and is Cooper’s largest distribution centre nationwide.
Hankook Tire has been named exclusive tyre supplier for two race series in the USA, the F4 United States Championship and the new F3 Americas Championship, and has announced its return as official sponsor for the 24H Circuit of the Americas (COTA) race in Texas.
US-based vintage and classic tyre manufacturer the Coker Group has new owners. Four years after the death of company founder Harold Coker, the Coker family has sold the business to Wade Kawasaki, the company’s president and chief executive officer, and the current Coker Group leadership team in partnership with private equity firm Irving Place Capital.
Production capacity for truck and bus radials at Bridgestone’s Warren County factory in Tennessee, USA will increase as part of a three-year, US$40 million investment to “meet market demand and address emerging customer needs.” Bridgestone Americas says it will break ground on expansion work at the 28-year old plant before the end of this year.
Michelin North America has announced increases for US national account prices of up to eight per cent for all commercial brands, products and services. The new pricing takes effect 1 December 2018. Separately, prices for car, light truck and two-wheeler tyres sold under the Michelin, BFGoodrich and Uniroyal brands in the United States and Canada will increase by up to five per cent, effective 1 January 2019.
Prices for Pirelli car and light truck tyres sold in the US market will rise from 1 January 2019. Pirelli says the increase will be up to six per cent on average; it says it is implementing the new pricing in response to higher raw materials prices and “growing investment in the development of new technologically advanced products.”
Over the past two and a half years, Prinx Chengshan has established a presence in our region with the build up of its Prinx Chengshan Europe operation in Slovakia, however the tyre maker’s international growth plans don’t just include Europe. This year a new sales and marketing subsidiary in North America is also being established. The operation is headed by John Aben, who joins the company from Giti Tire.
One way of avoiding anti-dumping duties applicable to tyres imported from China is not to import tyres from China. This is what Magna Tyre Group is now doing in the USA – the company is meeting increased demand for OTR tyres in this market by expanding its production capacity in Thailand. Tyres made in this facility, comments Magna, are don’t attract tariffs in the USA and thus offer the opportunity for the company to “massively increase our presence on American market.”
Balkrishna Industries (BKT) has provided further details regarding its plans to build a factory in the USA. With a capital outlay of up to US$100 million, funded by investments and local debt, the tyre maker intends to establish a greenfield facility with an annual capacity of 20,000 tonnes.
Meguiar made a new addition to its popular Ultimate line at the recent SEMA show in Las Vegas – Ultimate All Wheel Cleaner. The new wheel cleaner is said to be “a powerful formula that offers deep cleaning, yet is gentle enough that it can be used on any wheel finish or type”.
In the USA, Multistrada is recalling 6,318 Achilles Desert Hawk A/P LT in size LT215/85 R16 115/112R 10PR. According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) recall notice, the tyres have the DOT date code range 1915 to 3618.
Following an investigation covering the period from 1 July to 31 December 2017, the US Department of Commerce has issued a preliminary determination that steel wheels from the People’s Republic of China were (or were likely to have been) sold in the United States at less-than-fair-value. It now invites interested parties to comment on this preliminary determination.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) must reappraise its final determination on truck and bus tyres from China after the US Court of International Trade (CIT) only partially sustained the ITC’s determination that the US tyre industry has been neither materially injured nor threatened with material injury by imports of these products.
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