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Winter Tyres

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Michelin’s First Half Figures – A Mixed Bag

Michelin has released financial figures for the first half of the year. Sales were down 6 per cent to 7.348 billion Euro, but excluding currency effects, this would be a rise of 4.4 per cent. Operating profit rose one per cent to 578 million Euro and net income was 165 million Euro; below what was expected, but this was almost entirely due to charges of 178 million Euro for restructuring in Spain. Truck tyre sales were better than expected, while car tyre revenues were worse. Michelin’s debt increased by 0.1 billion Euro to 3.9 billion, due largely to the acquisition of the Viborg chain.

1st August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Analysts Downgrade Michelin

Market analysts MorganStanley have downgraded Michelin from “Overweight” to “Equal Weight” status. This is despite the fact that Michelin has outperformed the Autos industry by 15 per cent since February and is in response to an expected cyclical slowdown in the industry. Michelin itself has said that it expects a marked slowdown in the European market, with only winter tyres showing increased volumes, and a continued fall in the North American market.

18th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

New Nokian Brand Announced

Up until now, Nokian Tyres’ contract manufacturing has mainly been focused on Nordman branded winter tyres. The Finnish tyre maker now plans to increase summer tyre production as well in the Russian joint venture factory of Voronez, attaining an annual capacity of two million tyres in 2004 and also plans to introduce a new summer tyre brand at the year-end.

8th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Sales And Profits Rise For Nokian

Good 4Q sales have helped Nokian to increase turnover and profits for last year. Sales rose 13.2 per cent to 479.2 million Euros (2001: 423.4 m). Operating profit was up at 60.1 million Euros (2001: 50.1 m) and profit before taxes rose 29.5 per cent to 48 million Euros (2001: 37 m). Sales from car tyres were up 17.5 per cent to 242.8 million Euros (2001: 206.6 m) and operating profit rose 10 million to 51.4 million Euros. Much of the tyre sales (73 per cent) came from winter tyres. There were increases too in sales of heavy tyres and bicycle tyres, but sales of retreading materials slipped slightly. The Vianor chain also showed an increase in turnover and profit.

19th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Guarantee From Volkswagen

In Germany, VW/Audi has embarked on a press publicity campaign for winter tyres. The program runs for October/November and includes tyre and wheel assemblies with tyres from companies Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin, Pirelli and Mabor Winter Jet, a Continental house-brand. The interesting point is that, when the tyre is purchased, a storing service is offered, accompanied by a free guarantee. The 24-month guarantee includes protection against punctures, damage caused by kerbing and vandalism. The guarantee is not restricted to VW or Audi cars. More information will be available under www.reifengarantie.de, although the page is not yet up and running.

30th September 2002/by Tyrepress Editors

New V-Rated Winter Tyre From Vredestein Carries The Load

Vredestein has introduced the Wintrac V XL, a V-rated winter tyre that has the same load capacity as W, Y and Z-rated summer tyres. With few, if any, winter tyres available at these higher speed ratings, drivers have previously had to fit V-rated winter tyres with lower load-carrying capabilities. The Wintrac V XL will be available for this year’s winter tyre season.

28th December 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti’s Santa Claus Event in Scotland

It has become a tradition that the tyre producer Continental invites the press to a “Santa Claus Event” around the 6th of December each year, presenting a certain topic/issue about the market. Whereas the group had been international for a couple of years, Conti returned to the original concept of an only German speaking group in 2001. Last year’s topic was the development and construction of 4×4 winter tyres and the problems this presents in addressing the contradictions in the expectations of performance. In addition, an optimisation of existing test methods of 4×4 tyres off the road was discussed with the journalists. The event took place in the Scottish Highlands. One outcome: Tyre suggestions for 4×4 cars can only ever be just a compromise – even if on a high level. The tyre has to perform well off the road and on the road. Safety aspects have to be taken into consideration as well: braking, handling and high speed performance have to be convincing as well. In addition there is the strong goal-conflict between driving performance and rollover danger.To put it in a nutshell: The ideal tyre that fits perfectly on every SUV for every use does not exist. This statement is as true as it is simple – and was demonstrated to the journalists’ group in the Highlands. The cars (Land Rover and M-Class) that had been equipped with Continental’s “4x4WinterContact” had to capitulate very soon in the muddy ground, because the tyres have been developed for different ground conditions. What makes it even more difficult for tyre producers is the fact, that there are insufficient testing standards for tyres on 4×4 cars. Tests are made either by the car industry of by the car magazines. Uniform procedures have not been developed yet. There can only be recommendations for the best case scenario.

23rd December 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Car Servicing As An Opportunity For Tyre Retailers

The disastrous sales of winter tyres in Germany at the end of last year have shown at least one thing: hope has no place in the calculations of business administration, and whoever has not yet understood that will have no future in this business. All the hand wringing of the tyre retailers does not help in this situation. Considering declining gross yields and the many new distribution channels for tyres, tyre retailers are forced to diversify and widen their service offers in order to compensate for loss of profit. One example of how this can be achieved is car servicing, which brings in gross yields between 40 and 50 per cent on average. A lot of business members have long ago realised this fact and extended their range of service offers. So car servicing is no longer a question of “if” but of “how”. The differences between the service offers and the quality of tyre retailers engaged in car servicing are huge. They range from the traditional Fast-Fit-Sector, covering the classical elements (exhausts, brakes and shock absorbers) to the fully equipped and professional working car repair station, offering every kind of car servicing. In this issue of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG the present level of involvement of German tyre retailers in the car servicing business will be explained and described, including some examples.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

The Retreading Of Truck Tyres

Whereas the incidence of car tyre retreading is slowly diminishing (in summer tyres this segment is virtually insignificant, in winter tyres market shares are falling dramatically and are approaching the ten percent mark), truck tyre retreading seems to be stable across Europe. But there are significant national differences especially regarding the incidence of retreading and the relationship between new tyres and retreads. Looking back over the last decade, not from the technological viewpoint but at the main players and their market shares, it was (before Michelin’s Recamic came on the scene) the Marangoni group (including Ellerbrock), which showed most growth. Kraiburg also showed positive development but the world’s no 1 in cold retreading Bandag showed signs of stagnation. If these three players have improved, strengthened or defended their market shares then there must also be losers, these being the new tyre producers who supplied the retreaders with materials for their business but especially the hot retreading. The four big players in the European truck tyre market (Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental) have tied up packages which should be regarded by the retreading specialists (like Bandag, Marangoni/Ellerbrock, Kraiburg) with some discomfort because the result is a lessening of their influence. New tyre manufacturers, retreaders and dealers find themselves as part of a package. The importance of retreaded truck tyres grows, while the importance of retreaders shrinks. The retreaded truck tyre is an integrated part of a very complex marketing concept. The retread is another item in a customer relation program, a marketing instrument, which is designed to lead to the sale of the next new tyre.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter-Workshop 2000 With Michelin

At the end of November Michelin invited motor journalists to a so-called “Winter Workshop” at the “Arctic Driving Centre” near Rovaniemi (Finland). The main topic of the event was of course the capabilities of winter tyres. Despite the very mild climate at the end of last year the tyre industry expects that with 18.4 million winter tyres, sales will reach a new record this season in Germany: Based on this Michelin says that customers will spend some three million DM for new tyres and service. As well as such basic market data, the Winter Workshop gave those present the chance to check out the advantages of modern winter tyres. To illustrate this the tyre manufacturer had prepared four different sections, focusing on influences on winter performance such as the tread depth, the age of the tyre and the tyre speed index and dimension. All in all, 24 combinations were tested and more than 50 journalists driving the test cars led to a great number of – sometimes astonishing – results, and the data allowed the establishment of average values for each section. Michelin says that the results of the workshop will have a bearing on future developments and the criteria for choosing the right tyre. Learn more about this in the January edition of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Tyres Business – A Hope And A Worry

Last year’s miserable winter tyre business has had a marked effect on many market players. Only a small number of dealers in very few regions of Germany could report a normal winter tyre business. In most parts of the country the snow came too late. If it does not snow until the beginning of November it becomes increasingly harder day by day to convince the end users to fit their cars with winter tyres. November is absolutely the most important month for retailer‘s winter tyre business. In late summer and early autumn of 2000 the tyre manufacturers were very happy about their sales to the dealers, which reached record levels. But of course the managers of the tyre industry are not so naive as to regard the lack of sales to the end users later on in the season as a problem only for the dealerships. This problem comes back to the manufacturers in two ways. First of all dealers experienced a lack of financial liquidity and there were problems in paying invoices. Secondly, having tyres in stock affects the willingness to order for next year – in this case 2001 – at the same level as before. Because merely listing the troubles would be pointless and unproductive, we tried another approach: we spoke to a lot of market players in order to form an overview of opinion and compared this with some hard figures.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Worries Over German Winter Tyre Sales

The tyre industry in Germany will not be able to attain its goal of sales of 18 million winter tyres, although sales of 16.5 million are possible. Signals coming from dealers reveal another worry, as it seems likely that, of the 16.5 million tyres delivered, 4 million will remain unsold to end users.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Tyres From Continental For Porsche

Tyre manufacturer Continental is producing a special edition of its WinterContact TS 790 V tyre exclusively for Porsche. The tyre – already mounted on the rim – will be distributed in Germany by Porsche dealers only.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Lower Profits Warning From Nokian

Nokian Tyres has warned that its profits for its tyre chain in the fourth quarter, and for the year as a whole, will be lower than expected, although group sales and profits developed as expected during the autumn. The reason cited for lower sales was the mild winter so far in Nordic countries, which depressed sales of winter tyres.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Ongoing Pressure On Goodyear

According to the monthly investors’ update, the group is still under pressure. In the US the replacement business was quite good, not so in the OE business. In Europe, the group is suffering because of the warm weather, which is having a negative effect on sales of winter tyres, and in Asia, the company has been forced to lower prices due to the fact that cheap imports from China are putting pressure on prices. In a cost cutting move, Goodyear is offering an early retirement package for around 700 white collar workers, half of them working in the Akron HQ.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors