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.
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.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has been named a recipient of the 2016 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the nation’s highest honour given to employers for exceptional support of guard and reserve employees. Goodyear and the other recipients will be honoured in a ceremony at the Pentagon on 26 August.
As the countdown begins to the 2016/17 Premier League football season, Yokohama is aiming to achieve a “global brand boost” thanks to Chelsea FC’s pre-season preparations in the United States, which includes participation in the International Champions Cup.
In the US Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC) and Chelsea FC are holding free youth soccer clinics during July and August. The clinics, open to the general public, are in conjunction with Chelsea’s U.S. summer tour.
Two tyres from the Yokohama Geolandar range have been selected as original equipment fitments for Mazda SUVs sold in certain global markets. The Geolandar H/T G056 will be available as an original equipment tyre on the CX-9 crossover when it goes on sale in North America this spring, and buyers will be able to receive the Geolandar in size P255/60R18 107H or 255/60R18 108H. In China, Yokohama Rubber will ship its Geolandar G91 to Mazda for fitment on the new CX-4. The crossover SUV will receive the Yokohama tyre in size 225/55R19 99V.
In February, Continental announced plans to build a new commercial vehicle tyre plant in the US state of Mississippi and shared that the US$1.4 billion project would eventually create some 2,500 jobs. Construction of the plant is not scheduled to begin until 2018 and production won’t get underway until the end of the following year, however concerns have already arisen and even a protest held over the potential makeup of the plant’s construction team.
Matthias Müller, the boss of Volkswagen has rejected calls to offer the same sort of compensation to offer European customers in the same way as American drivers when the carmaker agreed to a $14.7bn settlement in the US over its emissions scandal.
The warehouse at one of the two Michelin factories fully dedicated to the production of BFGoodrich tyres will more than treble in size through a US$8 million investment. Michelin North America shares that the warehouse of its BFGoodrich factory in Tuscaloosa (Alabama, USA) will increase from 29,000 square feet to 92,000 square feet (8,550 square metres). This expansion will result in a storage capacity more than nine times greater than at present. Construction work on the project begins in August and is expected to be completed early next year, with the enlarged warehouse operational in the second quarter of 2017.
Last May, Germany’s Evonik Industries reported its intention to set up a precipitated silica plant in the USA, near major tyre factories located in the country’s southeast. US newspaper The Post and Courier now reports that this facility will be built in Berkeley County, South Carolina and constructed with an investment of US$129.4 million. The publication writes that while Evonik has yet to officially confirm its choice of location, the company’s plans can be found in South Carolina state agency documents.
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