A tree-planting day will be held at Yokohama Tire’s Salem factory in the US state of Virginia as part of the company’s “Forever Forest” project. On April 4, company employees and volunteers from the local community are set to plant 2,000 trees, thereby helping to offset the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions. The assembled team will be guided in their activities by Japanese ecologist, 2006 Blue Planet prizewinner Akira Miyawaki.
Yokohama Rubber has been manufactured and sold aircraft tyres, both new and retreaded, to the Japanese military and to Japanese domestic airlines since 1940, however the company has now decided to withdraw from this business. According to Yokohama, this decision was taken as aircraft tyre sales constitute only a minor part of Yokohama Rubber’s entire business, and do not offer strong future growth potential.
Projected sales and earnings for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 will be lower than previously announced, Yokohama Rubber has stated. Company management now projects consolidated net sales of 520.0 billion yen (£3.7 billion), down 5.7 per cent from the previous fiscal year; consolidated operating income of 11.5 billion yen (£82.1 million), down 65.3 per cent; and a consolidated net loss of 8.0 billion yen (£57.1 million), down from a consolidated net profit of 21.1 billion yen in the previous fiscal year. The revised projection for net sales is 0.6 per cent lower than the projection Yokohama announced on January 21; the projection for operating income 17.9 per cent lower; and the projected net loss is 1.0 billion yen (£7.1 million) larger.
Well-traveled tyre executive Jim Mayfield has been named president of Del-Nat Tire Corp., returning to the company he once served as marketing vice president. Mayfield took over for Ed Fabrizio, who left the private brander last December without explanation. Mayfield was marketing vice president for Del-Nat from 2004 to 2006, and subsequently held posts with Stamford Tyres and most recently with Yokohama Tire Corp.
Prior to joining Del-Nat in 2004, Mayfield held marketing and sales management posts with Continental Tire North America and Michelin North America. Dick Erickson, Del-Nat chairman, said, “Jim’s level of knowledge in our industry combined with an intimate understanding of our company makes him the right choice to lead Del-Nat to future growth and success.” (Tire Review/Akron)
Yokohama has announced that it will introduce a series-wide environmentally-friendly race tyre in the GT3 Challenge. Mark Chung, the company’s US director, corporate strategy and planning, stated, “The orange oil technology is extremely exciting for our race programme; reducing petroleum inputs by approximately 10 per cent and increasing recyclability while maintaining the high performance levels of previous race slick compounds.”
In a sign of the pressure on manufacturers that are supplying the automotive industry, news agency Reuters is reporting that at least three leading tyre makers have cancelled long-term Indonesian rubber contracts. Dealers told Reuters that SMPT, the rubber purchasing arm of Michelin, Yokohama Rubber and Continental have all abandoned provisional agreements with rubber suppliers.
Yokohama Rubber plans to hold the European launch of its new ‘dB super E-spec’ at the Geneva Motor Show, which gets underway on March 3. The tyre is, according to Yokohama, the “ultimate eco-tyre designed to be environmentally friendly in all respects.” Other new releases will be the “ADVAN NEOVA AD08,” released in Japan in February and marketed here in the summer, and the W.drive cold weather tyre – the latest in the four-product “.drive” series – which will be released this coming winter.
While the Japanese tyre marque Yokohama is mainly known for its high performance road, race and rally tyres, the manufacturer also produces a large range of tyres for the off-road and SUV market. The latest crop of SUVs as well as genuine off-roaders includes the ADVAN ST and Sport – part of the manufacturer’s flagship range – the Parada Spec X for the tuner market, and the Geolander range, designed for everything from on-road and light off-road to “hardcore” OTR usage.
The UK distributor, Yokohama HPT has recently introduced several new sizes across all ranges and now lists a further eight sizes for the Geolander A/T-S from 15” to 20”, four for the Prada SpecX from 20” to 24” and four for the ADVAN Sport XL from 17” to 21”. The M/T+ is available from 15” to 17”, allowing the off-road market to fit larger tyres than traditionally possible while the H/T-S ranges from 15” to 18” and the ADVAN ST, from 17” to 24”.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance and UK company Elektromotive, a pioneer in zero emission transport infrastructure, have announced they are collaborating in the Partnership for Zero-Emission-Mobility, with the aim of accelerating the installation of charging networks for electric vehicles (EVs) in cities.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the two companies ahead of an imminent and dramatic rise in the number of EVs on Europe’s roads, with the Renault-Nissan Alliance starting sales of purpose-designed EVs in Japan and the US from next year and globally by 2012.
Yokohama Rubber has released its results for the first three quarters of the current financial year, and the company has joined the growing list of firms whose income has been severely curtailed in recent months. Operating income to December 31, 2008 declined 43.8 per cent from the same period of the previous year, to 17.3 billion yen (£134.19 million), on a 0.2 per cent increase in net sales, to 410.6 billion yen (£3.18 billion). Net income declined a whopping 99.1 per cent, to 222 million yen (£1.72 million).
Sales growth in Yokohama’s Tire Group offset a decline in the Multiple (diversified) Business Group, the company reports. Operating profitability suffered from the rise in raw material costs during most of the nine-month period, from the appreciation of the yen, and from the sharp decline in demand for tyres and hoses, which undermined productivity in those product sectors. Net income reflected the downturn in operating profitability, the effect of the strengthening yen on foreign currency–denominated sales receivables and on debt liabilities at overseas subsidiaries, and the partial relinquishment of a tax benefit associated with the write-down of unrealised gains on inventories.
Bridgestone, Continental, Trelleborg and at least two other companies have been fined a combined total of 131.5 million euros by the European Commission for their role in the price fixing and rigging bids for rubber marine hose. The Commission’s decision follows the action of overseas authorities, such the US Justice Department, that has seen charges laid against a number of executives from British, French, Italian and Japanese firms.
The fines were announced on January 28 and Bridgestone received the largest penalty, 58.5 million euros. The size of Bridgestone’s fine, which was increased by 30 per cent, reflects its leading role in the cartel, which operated for more than two decades. Trelleborg’s French subsidiary has been handed a 24.5 million euro fine, while Continental, via its UK-based Dunlop Oil & Marine unit (a member of the ContiTech Group), has been fined 18 million euros.
The Nifty Fifty awards are held each year by US based magazine Heavy Duty Trucking to showcase the editors’ favourite new products from the previous twelve months. Named as one of these fifty favourites in the 2008 awards has been Yokohama’s 103ZR commercial tyre.
The ‘Nifty Fifty’ are selected from hundreds of new products reviewed by the magazine during the year and evaluated for their utility to truck operators in terms of innovation, serviceability and performance. The Yokohama tyre was chosen, say the editors, on the merits of its longevity and fuel-efficiency. The manufacturer also made it onto the list in 2007, with its 703ZL tyre.
Yokohama Rubber has downwardly revised its sales and earnings projections for the fiscal year to March 31, 2009. Company management now projects consolidated net sales of 523.0 billion yen (£4.2 billion), down 5.2 per cent from the previous fiscal year; consolidated operating income of 14.0 billion yen (£113 million), down 57.7 per cent; and a consolidated net loss of 7.0 billion yen (£56.5 million), down from a consolidated net profit of 21.1 billion yen in the previous fiscal year. The revised projection for net sales is 6.1 per cent lower than the projection Yokohama announced on November 12, 2008; the projection for operating income 46.2 per cent lower; and the projection for net income 16.5 billion yen (£133.2 million) lower. Management is reconsidering the year-end dividend of 7 yen that it had planned to recommend.
Yokohama has announced that the latest model to use its tyres as original equipment will be the new Nissan 370Z, the successor to the popular 350Z. The model will be fitted with the ADVAN Sport tyre and, having already gone on sale in the Japanese domestic market, will be rolled out globally during 2009.
Another car to use ADVAN tyres will be the Tesla Roadster, the world’s first electric sports car, to provide a combination of performance and safety on what Yokohama says is “one of the most innovative new vehicles for a long time.”
Work on Yokohama Rubber’s “Yokohama Forever Forest” project, started in 2007, is ongoing, and last December the company staged a tree-planting ceremony at its Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. facility. This is the third location outside of Japan to receive the Forever Forest treatment, following the Philippines and China in August and November 2008 respectively.
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