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.
Titan has launched the Goodyear Optitrac LSW1400/30R46 agricultural tyre as part of the Goodyear range of “extreme floatation” tyres. Intended as an alternative to tracks or conventional dual configurations on large four-wheel drive tractors, the tyre offers “the best combination of floatation, traction and ride quality,” according to Titan.
At the Grand Prix of Americas, riders on Pirelli motocross tyres have been crowned the new World Champions in MXGP and MX2 classes. Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings sealed the titles with one race to go, bringing Pirelli’s haul of titles in motocross up to 66. The Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the seventeenth and penultimate round of the 2016 championship, though Hurricane Hermine forced organisers to condense the Grand Prix of the Americas on Saturday.
USA riders on Dunlop tyres scooped both FIM World Motocross Grand Prix victories at the Americas Grand Prix in Charlotte yesterday. Dunlop riders used the Dunlop Geomax MX3S front and rear.
It’s tariff time again. The US government has imposed trade sanctions on US-produced OTR and industrial tyres before. They have done so with car tyres twice before. This time it’s truck tyres. But are they effective? Will they halt the rise of Chinese tyre manufacturers in general? And what does it mean for those doing business with truck tyres in the UK and Europe?
Harley-Davidson is paying US authorities $12m (£9m) to settle allegations its motorbikes polluted the air at higher levels than allowed. It has also been ordered to stop selling “super tuners”, devices that enable motorbikes to generate power but also increases emissions.
CEOs and experts from China’s leading companies gathered in Shanghai and Beijing to explore how smart manufacturing will deliver value to the manufacturing industry and support government initiatives including China Manufacturing 2025. Hosted by Rockwell Automation “The Connected Enterprise CEO Forum” was led by Rockwell Automation’s new president and CEO, Blake Moret. However the interesting point from a tyre industry perspective is that the firm revealed that it is helping any unnamed Chinese tyremaker construct a factory in the US.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. is to establish a tyre research & development centre in North Carolina, with R&D activities scheduled to start this September initially in the greater Charlotte area. The company presently conducts R&D on tyres for the North American market in several US states and in Japan, but aims to consolidate the majority of these R&D activities at the new centre. With the consolidation, Yokohama also plans to double the current size of its North American R&D staff.
America’s Car Museum (ACM) and the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) have announced that Boston will be the starting point of “The Drive Home II: The Heritage Run” – an 11-day, 2,150 mile winter road rally, from December 28 to January 7, concluding at the opening of the North American International Auto Show.
The Drive Home II (TDH II) will feature ACM’s 1957 Chevrolet Nomad, 1961 Chrysler 300G and 1966 Ford Mustang, all of which completed the first “The Drive Home” in early 2016, from the Museum’s headquarters in Tacoma, Washington to Detroit.
A facility dedicated to the production of the Tweel airless radial opened in the USA late in 2014, and Olivier Brauen, Michelin head of Michelin Tweel Technologies, states that now the site in Piedmont, South Carolina is fully operational, the company can respond to demand for these products. It has done so by increasing supply of its 12N16.5 X Tweel SSL Hard Surface tyres.
How do you reach the “most discerning” consumers within a market and become the “undisputed leader” in premium-tier products and services for this group? For Pirelli, the answer is to offer an entire “brand experience,” and the tyre maker is now putting this concept to the test in North America with the opening of its first P Zero World retail outlet.
The United Steelworkers (USW) union has expressed its disappointment in the US Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination regarding the introduction of anti-dumping duties for OTR tyres imported from India. USW international president Leo W. Gerard notes that the Department of Commerce announced a negative preliminary determination for anti-dumping duties in response to the petition filed by the USW and Titan International earlier this year.
Michelin North America shares that it has “reached favourable settlement agreements” with Atturo Tire Corporation and Svizz-One Corporation Ltd., regarding the patent infringement suit it filed in the US District Court in Greenville, South Carolina on 13 May. The specific terms of the settlement are confidential.
Yokohama Tire Corporation has found its “ultimate Chelsea FC fan”. Responding to the Yokohama True Blue Fan Challenge contest, Daniel E of Phoenix, Arizona put on his Chelsea beanie and shirt and started working on the winning entry. The tyre manufacturer, and Chelsea shirt sponsor, called his short video “creative” and “clever”, awarding it the top prize out of hundreds of entries: a trip to see Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on 27 July. The prize also included $1,000 in spending money, tickets, hotel, airfare and a 2016-2017 Chelsea FC jersey signed by the first team squad.
Production capacity for passenger car and light truck tyres at Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ (SRI) Tonawanda factory in the US will double by the end of 2019 as part of a US$87 million investment the company will make over the coming four years. The Tonawanda site came under SRI ownership following the dissolution of the Japanese manufacturer’s global alliance with Goodyear Tire and Rubber last October, and the capacity increase will facilitate the tyre maker’s growing reliance upon the plant for meeting North American market demand.
When Tyrepress.com visited Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd in China late last year, newly-appointed executive vice-president Rami Helminen shared details about the US factory project he’d been hired to head. He disclosed that “hundreds of millions of US dollars” would be invested in a factory, and that a search for a suitable site was already underway. It appears the tyre maker has decided upon a location in the state of Tennessee.
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