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 USW has petitioned for and received an extension from the US Department of Commerce, pushing back to November the deadline for completion of the preliminary determination on its antidumping and countervailing duty complaint targeting China-made consumer tyres imported into the US, Tire Review reports.
After extending its partnership with NASCAR Group company the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), Continental Tire the Americas will continue as official tyre of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and exclusive tyre supplier and sponsor to several event classes. The company will also remain entitlement sponsor and exclusive tyre supplier to the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. All up, Continental says it will continue as the ‘official tyre of IMSA’ through to 2018.
With the launch of its new MichelinTruck.com site, Michelin Americas Truck Tires says it has introduced some industry-first features, including a retread selector. It also says the refreshed website is more customer-driven and mobile-friendly than the previous incarnation.
In 1889, Édouard Michelin took over a factory in Clermont Ferrand, France that produced farm machinery and rubber balls, and renamed it Michelin et Cie. Exactly 125 years have passed since that fateful acquisition, and part of its celebrations in this anniversary year, Michelin is calling on interested parties to take part in a “treasure hunt across the United States with the world’s largest location-based activity: geocaching.”
Tyre brand Dmack achieved the most successful motorsport weekend of its short history in July. The firm’s gravel tyres, manufactured by Shandong Yongtai, helped secure victory at a number of high-profile international championships. Drive DMACK World Rally Team crew Ott Tänak and Raigo Molder won an emphatic and popular home victory at Rally Estonia – a round of the FIA European Rally Championship. Tänak has hit a run of good form for the Drive DMACK team, having previously claimed 25 WRC2 points in Poland.
In its final determination on the tyre design patent infringement complaint that was filed by Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. and Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas on 20 September 2013, the US International Trade Commission issued limited exclusion orders and cease-and-desist orders to the eight remaining respondents. These orders prohibit them from importing or selling any infringing tyres. Each respondent was found to be in default and in violation of the law prior to the 28 July determination.
Two years ago, Goodyear Tire & Rubber said it would hire 1,000 United States ex-military personnel over the coming three years. Today, the company announced it surpassed this goal more than a year early, and has pledged to hire an additional 1,000 veterans. The company has also formed an employee veterans association, which is devoted to supporting the transition to civilian life and enabling internal networking opportunities.
Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC) has announced that it will move its Western Region distribution centre to Chino later this year. The 22 mile move is inspired by recent growth, causing the company to increase warehousing capacity from its existing 380,000sqft facility in Fullerton, California. The newly constructed Chino warehouse will measure 658,000sqft.
Yesterday the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) determined there is a reasonable indication that imports of certain passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres from China – tyres alleged to be subsidised and offered for sale in the US at less than fair value – materially injure or threaten to materially injure the country’s domestic industry. USITC chairman Meredith M. Broadbent, vice-chairman Dean A. Pinkert, and commissioners Irving A. Williamson, David S. Johanson, F. Scott Kieff, and Rhonda K. Schmidtlein voted in favour of continuing the investigation into these products.
Moves by United States trade authorities towards reintroducing duties on certain Chinese tyres have been applauded by the union representing many US tyre industry workers, yet China says this not only contradicts international trade rules and national law, but any new antidumping or countervailing duties that emerge from current investigations will also fail to achieve their intended result.
Tire Group International has added Kevin O’Brien and Rishi Raj Bhatnagar to its team. They take up the roles respectively of vice president of strategic accounts for its domestic division and territory manager for the African market. Both have more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
In this month’s magazine (July 2014), as well as our the conclusion of our comprehensive review of the Essen Show (see page 40 onwards) plus features on manufacturing (from page 24) and batteries (page 8+), we report on the potential “Return of US tyre import tariffs” (on page 30). Reading this article, you could be forgiven for thinking you had stepped into a time warp to 2009 where proceedings followed a very similar course. This time round, the potential implementation of a second round of import US import tariffs aimed squarely at China have fermented rumours about whether anything similar is likely to happen in Europe. So will it?
A fire at the Bridgestone Americas plant in Wilson, North Carolina, USA. According to news reports emanating from US trade magazine Tire Review, the fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of employees on Saturday 28 June 2014.
The Tire Industry Association (TIA) recently elected Tom Formanek as its new board secretary at its biannual meeting held 18-20 June 2014. He will begin his one-year term as secretary on 3 November. After that year, he will proceed as vice president, then president, then past president; all of these positions are for one-year terms.
The Tire Industry Association (TIA) is opposing the International Trade Commission (ITC) that would limit the import of Chinese-made passenger and light truck tyres into the US. TIA previously opposed a similar measure in 2009. According to a statement published today, the association “feels strongly that this measure, despite being well-intentioned, would not help in the preservation of manufacturing jobs, and would be harmful to consumers, as these tyres are often an affordable solution to those drivers with limited budgets. However, the association also reiterates its long-standing position that all tyres – regardless of country of origin – must be held to all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.”
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