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.
The North American Tire & Retread Expo will include its first annual Tire Recycling World exhibit in its 2016 show. Taking place 19-21 April at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, the three-day expo brings together a wide variety of tyre and retread industry professionals for networking, buying, and selling opportunities.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) has elected Bridgestone Americas’ chief executive officer and president Gary Garfield the chairman of its Board of Directors. Garfield will serve for a two-year term and succeeds Pete Selleck, chairman and president of Michelin North America, who held the position of RMA board chairman since 2013.
The new corporate headquarters for Kumho Tire USA is now officially open. Formerly situated in Rancho Cucamonga, California, the head office is now located in Atlanta, Georgia. The new site offers closer proximity to Kumho’s new factory in Macon, which occupies a 21 acre site close to Atlanta Airport, and its distribution centre in McDonough, Georgia; Kumho Tire USA says the positioning of its relocated headquarters will “help streamline communication and cooperation within our company.”
Trelleborg has manufactured its first agricultural tyre in North America, marking the start of operations at its new production facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA. The 40,000sqm production facility is Trelleborg’s first in North America dedicated to the manufacture of premium radial tyres for agricultural machinery. The facility boasts state-of-the-art machinery designed according to the latest Trelleborg technology standards.
Hercules Tire will showcase its latest tyres at SEMA 2015 in Las Vegas. Located in Booth #43079, the company will feature new consumer lines, such as the ultra-high performance Hercules Raptis R-T5, new medium truck tyre offerings, and new sizes in popular existing Hercules products.
Omni United Pte. Ltd. has acquired Interstate Tire Distributor (ITD), a US tyre wholesaler based in California, USA. Further details of the transaction have not been disclosed. According to Omni United, the acquisition of ITD “substantially accelerates the global growth strategy” of the company.
Lewis Hamilton’s 2015 Formula One Drivers’ Championship victory was sealed through a tactical battle in difficult conditions at the United States Grand Prix. Races run in wet to dry conditions always provide a challenge for teams; all the drivers started on new intermediates, waiting for the right crossover point when the track would be dry enough to move onto slicks. Both Hamilton and his team mate Nico Rosberg, who finished second, completed one opening stint on the intermediates followed by two stints on the soft tyre.
Kumho’s first North American tyre plant is due for completion in early 2016. The facility is sited in Macon, Georgia, close to Atlanta Airport, which Kumho explains is the busiest in the world, and under 180 miles from the international port of Savannah. Kumho aims to strengthen its position globally and in the key North American market, and has invested $420 million in the factory so far. When complete, the building will cover 21 acres, and produce around four million tyres per annum. Around 90 staff are already engaged on site, a figure that will rise to 400 by the time of next year’s opening.
Bridgestone Americas, Inc. is to buy large US tyre retailer The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack in an US$835 million all-cash deal. The transaction will be executed by Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC (BSRO), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas and follows the signing of a merger agreement under which BSRO will pay $15.00 per share, a price that represents a premium of 23 per cent over Pep Boys’ closing price of $12.15 on 23 October 2015 and a premium of 62 per cent over Pep Boys’ pre-buyout speculation price of $9.25 on 19 May 2015.
Pirelli will supply its P Zero Yellow soft and White medium compound tyres as Formula One visits the “crucial market” of the USA on 23-25 October. Austin’s Circuit of the Americas is the tenth venue to have hosted a Formula One grand prix in the United States. The track is well known for its spectacular elevation changes of up to 40 metres, with an uphill run to the distinctive turn one, which is a hairpin bend and the signature corner. Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director said: “The United States always offers us a very warm welcome and a fantastic race weekend. Like all the other stakeholders in Formula One, America is a crucial market for us so it’s very important for us to have a race there.”
Following Klarius’ take on the Volkswagen emissions scandal, UK parts distributor Euro Car Parts has asked other experts in emissions-related repairs what they make of the VW ‘defeat device’ scandal affecting Audi, Seat, Skoda, VW and VW Commercial vehicles. Tony Wilson, managing director of Klarius, said that the “upside for the aftermarket” is the wider […]
Around three and a half years ago, Bridgestone Corporation announced plans to develop the guayule plant into a commercially viable alternative to traditional sources of natural rubber. The company produced its first guayule-sourced natural rubber samples a year ago, and today shares it has reached another milestone on the path to guayule commercialisation – Bridgestone says it has produced passenger car tyres whose natural rubber content is 100 per cent sourced from the desert shrub.
USA-based Sumitomo Rubber Industries subsidiary Falken Tire Corporation has entered into a multi-year marketing agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB). This partnership is Falken Tire Corporation’s first deal with a professional sports league; for the past 30 years it has focused on motorsports marketing.
Michelin North America says operations at its giant earthmover tyre factory in Starr, South Carolina will be suspended by the end of this year in response to a slowdown in global demand for these products. The decision to put production at the relatively new factory on hold will effect some 100 employees; Michelin says they will be offered jobs at other Michelin facilities in the area.
Work has begun to expand Continental’s Sumter tyre factory in the USA. The company reports breaking ground on the project, and it is working to a timetable that will see plant production capacity rise from approximately four million units planned for 2016 to around eight million units by 2021. The Sumter workforce will rise in line with this capacity increase, growing from more than 700 (the plant is expected to employ around 800 by the end of this year) to some 1,600 employees. By the time this project is complete, Continental will have invested more than US$500 million into the Sumter plant.
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