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Winter Tyres

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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

A Question Of Grip: The Conti Winter-Roadshow 2001

Time has come for German car drivers to renew their acquaintance with the cold season. Using their annual country-wide winter roadshows, Continental’s experts are explaining the aim and object of winter tyres with their better grip on low temperature roads. Because of a special compound – in contrast to summer tyres –they are made as flexible as possible for road temperatures below seven degrees, in order to produce enough grip when starting, braking or cornering. This flexibility ensures the necessary traction of the tread on asphalt, snow and ice. There are more and more car drivers who realise that adapting to winter tyres has more advantages than merely better grip; a view which is supported by constantly rising sales figures over recent years. Whereas in 1997 30 million of these winter specialists were sold all over Europe, demand rose to 37 million last year. In some European countries even more winter than summer tyres have been sold so far. Thus, last year’s winter tyre market share was about 40% in Germany, 59% in Austria, 57% in Switzerland and 61% in Sweden. About 16 million winter tyres were sold in Germany alone last year. The reason for this demand is the increasing number of new cars with their more powerful engine performance. The trend towards higher performance cars causes the consumer to order winter tyres designed for speeds over 190 km/h. Another reason: car drivers want fun when driving even in the winter, as long as road and weather conditions are appropriate. If possible, they choose tyres of the same size and speed rating as their summer tyres. Also, research by Continental reveals that fun-driving in winter need not be more expensive. Winter tyres will cost about 0,20 Euro each day in use.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Tyre Sales Stable In Germany

Sales of Winter Tyres for 2000 were in line with those for the previous year. Roughly 16 million winter tyres were supplied to dealers in Germany last season. 1999 was a record year with sales of 16.1 million winter tyres. However, the Continental Group has been successful in increasing its market share of that figure to around 33%.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Improved Sales And Profit For Nokian

Nokian has released interim financial figures for the first nine months of this year. These show an increase in net sales of 7.4 per cent to 277.7 m Euro and an operating profit of 25.3 m Euro (11.9 m Euro for the same period last year). Net profit reached 9.1 m Euro (2.7 m in 2000). Nokian’s target for the year is to achieve a sales growth of around 10 per cent and improve on last year’s profitability.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Poor Profits For Vredestein

Vredestein’s profits for the year 2000 have fallen to only 200,000 Euro (compared with 10.4 million in 1999). High raw material costs and the disappointing sale of winter tyres were cited as the main reasons.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

2000 Figures From Michelin

Michelin has released sales and market details for the year 2000. Consolidated net sales rose 11.9% to 15.396 bn Euro (1999: 13.763 bn). Growth in the 4th quarter was slower than the previous nine months. For the year, European V/Z car tyre sales rose 41.6% in a market which grew by 13.3%. European truck tyre sales rose 1.7% in a flat market. In the USA, 4×4 and light truck sales rose 27.7%. Financial results will be made public on 27 February.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

MMS Annual Poll 2000/2001: German Tyre Retailers Have Missed Their Targets

In the German tyre retailing business, the mood has swung towards the negative side over the last year. This is the main result of an annual poll carried out by the Marketing + Management-Systeme (MMS) among 2,400 German tyre retailers. According to the MMS-report, 80 percent of tyre retailers have been disappointed in their economic expectations. Among the co-operation members this is even higher at 85 percent. The main reason for the depressed mood has been the disaster of the winter tyre business in 2000 and there is no sign of any compensation in the form of new business activities. For 80 percent of the companies questioned, their central goal is to improve their service quality during this year. One year ago 30 percent of the retailers had stated that their expectations had been more than fulfilled, for 49 percent the expectations had been fulfilled. This time there are just three percent for whom the expectations have been more than fulfilled and another 17 percent who had achieved their aims. The most serious problem is the high quantity of winter tyres in stock. They block the capacities for the coming summer tyre season and cost a lot of time and money. First calculations are that 28 percent of the winter tyres have been not sold, which means a volume of five million units. With an average worth of 85 DM this adds up to an amount of approximately 400 million DM up to 425 million DM.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Car Fleet Business

The car fleet servicing market in the UK is a very tough business. The size of this segment become evident looking at new car registrations in the UK last year, 57% of more than two millions were fleet vehicles. In absolute figures the German market surpasses the British, but the proportion of fleet cars is less. The potential is enormous: Industry sources say that the average fleet car needs 1.8 tyres replaced a year, which gives a total market of 9 million tyres in Germany. And it should be remembered that fleet cars are normally newer than the average, travel more miles per year and fitment rates of winter tyres are higher than for private cars. A fleet service provider knows how much he has to pay for tyres per mile. It should be routine to ask whether the fleet has the right cars and the most suitable tyres, but could another model of car be more appropriate to the needs of the fleet because of how it is used? Car fleets need a mobile fitting network wherever the cars are driving. The tyre dealer carrying out the service on behalf of a leasing company must know the state of the tyres, has to ensure that they are at the correct pressure, has to identify the reasons for unbalanced abrasion patterns and has to fit the car with winter tyres before the first snowflakes fall. Whoever wants to participate in the growing market segment of car fleets has to be fully professional – and he has to invest money. For example, an integral component of car leasing or full service fleet management systems is the use of the Internet. All those involved in the package use the Internet as a communication platform and they want to reduce the costs for the fleet parc. Customers are very interested in quality; the package they anticipate is more than “only” good tyres. Car fleet servicing might be an opportunity, but not a cheap one.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

New Record in Winter Tyres Sales

Never before so many winter tyres were sold in Germany. The dealers association BRV estimated 17 million units (= +15.3%) for 1999. Also the aftermarket in summer tyres was in plus (+0.9%) with 23 million in total.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Nine-Month Figures From Nokian

Nokian Tyres has released figures for the first nine months of the year. Sales rose 29.9% to 258.6 million Euro (199 m for the same period 1999) and operating profit fell to 11.9 million Euro (18.4 m). Net profit was 2.7 million Euro (9.9 m).

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Introduces New High-Performance Tyre A 539

In the last week of March Yokohama Rubber Co. presented the new A 539 tyre to the European trade press at the Japanese D-Parc (Daigo Proving Ground and Research Center). Thirty-three sizes of this tyre will be available in Europe, about 20 of them are already in the market, the remaining sizes to be introduced within the next four weeks. The A 539 has an asymmetrical tread pattern and, according to the manufacturer, the excellent qualities of sportiness, quiet running and good cornering stability on dry and especially on wet roads.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

German Tyre Replacement-Market At A Record Level

According to the German tyre dealers association BRV (Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk), in 1999 more than 50 million tyres were sold in the German replacement market, 43 million of them in the passenger car sector. Especially, a new record in winter tyres sales was achieved. Sales in the commercial vehicle sector increased five p.c. to 5.7 million tyres. Whereas retreaded truck tyre sales were stable at 1.7 million units, the fall in sales of retreaded passenger car tyres continued.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Turnover Up, Profits Down – Nokian’s First Quarter Figures

Nokian’s net sales in the first three months were up 18.4% over last year’s figures, reaching 67 million Euros (1999 Q1: 57 million Euros). Operating profit was -4.4 m Euros (2.7 m Euros). Manufacturing made a profit of 2.9 m Euros (5.8 m Euros) while the retail chain made a loss of -6 m Euros (-2.9 m Euros).

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Flagship Brands From Cooper-Avon At Reifen 2000

Cooper-Avon Tyres Limited will be exhibiting a number of flagship products from both its Avon and Cooper brands at the “Reifen 2000” international exhibition in Essen, Germany from 20-23 June. For the motorcycle market the company will be unveiling for the first time the “Azaro” with Avon’s variable belt density (VBD) technology. Furthermore two new winter tyres – “CR75″ and CR85” – will make their debuts at the show as well as the new 4×4 tyre named “Ranger H”.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Turnover Of Passenger Car Tyres Increase

As the 14th annual meeting of the German tyre dealers association announced, the turnover of passenger car tyres increased 44 p.c. over the previous year. Responsible for this positive development was the winter tyre segment which increased 14.8 p.c. to 17 million pieces. In spring 2000 43 percent of all passenger cars had been equipped with winter tyres. This year the association expects – in contradiction to the positive prognosis – a stagnant market. Reason: the bad results in the passenger car sector during the first months of this year.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors