Winter Tyres
The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) has admitted Nokian Tyres’ “Hakkapeliitta” brand name to its ‘List of Trademarks with a Reputation’. So far, 42 trademarks have been admitted to the list. Admission to the list requires substantial evidence of trademark's awareness in Finland, and is used to help avoid trademark disputes.
The bus drivers’ union in Calgary, Alberta, is calling on city officials to fit its transit buses with winter tyres, according to Tire Review reports. Mike Mahar, Calgary local president for the Amalgamated Transit Union, said the winter tyres would aid the bus system in better serving riders during severe weather.
A further addition to the Continental Tyre 2009/2010 Winter Tyre Guide has been made to cover new Swedish regulations affecting foreign registered vehicles entering the country from December 2009 onwards. The new rules stipulate that foreign cars and light commercial vehicles entering the country must be equipped with winter tyres with a tread depth of at least three millimetres between December 1 and March 31, whilst wintry road conditions prevail.
Nailing Continental’s colours to the mast, the company’s head of passenger and light truck tyres has spoken of its commitment to technological investment and growing its high performance passenger car range. Nikolai Setzer said, “Technology leadership is a decisive factor for further growth”, concurrently claiming that despite the financial woes of the past 15 months, the high-performance tyres market will continue to grow. Setzer sees new technologies, investment in research and development, and underpinning the sales in the replacement business through success in original equipment as the way to go. In the high-performance tyres sector in particular, he can see attractive opportunities for growth in Europe.
UK and Irish truck and coach operators driving on Continental roads this winter can benefit from a new guide Continental Tyres has released. The guide outlining the various tyre requirements they can expect to encounter in Europe has been updated for the 2009/2010 winter season and can be downloaded free from Conti’s UK website.
Although the volume of cold weather tyres sold in the UK hints at a sun-kissed climate far out of kilter with reality, in other European countries the winter tyre market is big business and swapping over to winter rubber a seasonal duty for all motorists. For this reason, Continental has expressed dismay at the presence of numerous so-called winter tyres on the market; although these bear the much trusted M+S mark, the German manufacturer reports the tyres in question are “not or only slightly suitable for winter”. According to Conti, these M+S marked tyres are really all-season or summer tyres “produced cheaply in the Far East”, and therefore consumers should check carefully whether a tyre really is a winter tyre before making a purchase.
In the third quarter of 2009 Lanxess AG reports delivering a “strong operating performance”, with EBITDA pre exceptionals of 143 million euros. The specialty chemicals company had expected third quarter operating earnings in the vicinity of the 112 million euros earned in the second quarter. EBITDA pre exceptionals were down 26 per cent year-on-year but rose 28 per cent from the second quarter due to an improved macroeconomic environment worldwide, driven by China, as well as savings yielded by the company’s “Challenge09-12” package of measures, which are expected to cut Lanxess’s costs worldwide by about 360 million euros by 2012. Another key performance metric – EBITDA pre exceptionals margin – was 10.4 per cent; higher than the previous quarter and nearly reaching last year’s level.
Nokian Tyres’ net sales for the first nine months of 2009 totalled 550.8 million euros (down 32.2 per cent on 813.2 million euros in January to September 2008). Meanwhile the company’s operating result amounted to 61.2 million euros in the period. According to the company, sales and operating result improved clearly in the third quarter. July to September operating profit fell 39 per cent compared with 43.7 million euros (£42.492 million; $64.6 million). Reuters reported that this figure beat all of the forecasts in its poll. During the same period, sales fell 28 per cent to 204 million, in line with expectations.
Sales and operating margin is said to have improved, compared to previous quarters, due to pre-season deliveries of winter tyres, restocking of heavy tyres by OE customers, production restructuring and reduced raw material cost.
Continental AG’s Rubber Group led the way in total group pre-tax profits (EBIT) of 413.4 million euros in the third quarter of 2009, with EBIT for the first nine months of this financial year totalling 662.1 million euros. The impressive profits, made from group sales of 5.337 billion euros in the third quarter (third quarter 2008: 5.892 billion euros) are widely seen as opening the door for Continental’s previously discussed 1 billion euro capital increase/ refinancing negotiations – “to be concluded no later than end of 1st quarter of 2010.” However, it wasn’t all good news and special effects of around 1.36 billion, and in particular a goodwill impairment of 875.8 million in the Automotive Group cannot be ignored.
The New Zealand Government has prohibited the fitting of both winter and summer tyres to the same vehicle, yet for a man that has campaigned against the cold weather product for two years this ban does not go far enough. Don Graham’s fiancée was killed in 2007 when her car – fitted with winter tyres on the rear wheels – lost traction on a wet road, and he believes that cold weather tyres have no place in New Zealand.
(Tire Review) Quebec’s CAA wants to help motorists to make informed decisions on winter tyres as the season grows closer. The motorist group has developed an online reminder system for drivers, which includes winter tyre purchase pointers. “Being well informed is crucial,” said Sophie Gagnon, CAA-Quebec’s senior director of public and government relations. “This is a significant expense for drivers and a matter of safety. The reminder is designed so consumers can have a guide at their fingertips when they are making their choice. In fact, it covers the essential questions that have to be answered before the purchase.” The electronic version is available at CAA-Quebec, or in person at CAA-Quebec’s 12 service centres, 10 technical inspection centres, or nine outlets offering vehicle registration services. Quebec law requires vehicles to be equipped with winter tyres by 15 December.
For the last few years CITExpo has been a fixture in the Nankang Rubber Tire Corporation’s annual events calendar. And the tyre maker, one of Taiwan’s largest, does not head to Shanghai each year just to give the exhibition an international flavour – as Eric Shih, marketing and project manager for Nankang’s export department, explained to Tyres & Accessories, the CITExpo show offers a “good chance to do tyre business.” Hence Nankang is always pleased to return to the exhibition. Admittedly, the Taiwanese company didn’t have far to travel to reach CITExpo: Nankang has an office in Shanghai and since 2003 has operated a factory in nearby Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province.
US based publication Consumer Reports has rated four Michelin tyres the top spots in North American market all-season (S and T speed ratings) and performance all-season tyres (H and V speed ratings), and winter categories in the magazine's November issue. Each of the four Michelin models received an "Excellent" rating. The Michelin tyres bested tests of 69 models – the largest group ever tested by Consumer Reports. That includes all-season and winter passenger car and SUV tyres.
Now President Barack Obama has stuck 35 per cent import duty on all passenger car and light truck tyres from China for the next three years what happens next? Chinese tyre manufacturers won’t want to sell fewer tyres each year. But US importers, consumers and manufacturers are equally unlikely to want to pay or absorb the additional costs. Tyres & Accessories spoke to a range of US, Far Eastern and Chinese companies and found that manufacturers are having to rely heavily on production flexibility, while traders are now setting their sights on one market in particular – Europe.
Stephen Wu, managing director of Chinese tyre trading operation, Best Choice International, reports that orders from the US stopped came to a virtual standstill in July. Their strategy is now openly towards producing more European market orientated products: “We stopped an SUV/LT project and waited for the decision. And we produced more European UHP tyre sizes, not US sizes.” Companies like Best Choice are now prioritising orders in other markets – especially Europe – where they aim to sell the most popular sizes, UHP and winter tyres. Best Choice is apparently interested in other markets as well, but Wu refused to give further details at this time. As far as Best Choice is concerned there is now zero chance of getting orders in the first year of the tariff, except in the 19-inch and over category. As a result competition is likely to be based on just two factors: price and delivery time.
Dutch wholesaler De Klok Banden is releasing a completely updated product range for the 2009/2010 winter tyre season. But it is not only the size and depth of the line-up that’s been taken care of – the company is also convinced that tyre dealers will be hard pressed to go past De Klok’s brands when it comes to quality, availability and pricing. Furthermore, a recently added extra 15,000 square metres warehouse capacity shows that the firm from Oud-Beijerland, south of Rotterdam, is set to expand.
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