Having closed its unionised tyre plant in Mayfield, Kentucky, and all but closed its unionised Charlotte tyre plant, Continental Tire North America (CTNA) has turned its attention to upgrading its non-union plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Last week, CTNA announced a three-year, $70 million to $100 million capital investment programme for the facility – the only dedicated and operating tyre plant CTNA owns in North America.
(Akron/Tire Review) In the US Yokohama Tire Corp. said it will increase prices on all of its tyre lines as of 1 October. The increase includes all Yokohama and Mohawk branded lines, as well as associate and private brand produced by Yokohama. The increases of up to 7 per cent on passenger, light truck /SUV and medium truck tyres, and up to 8 per cent on OTR tyres, Yokohama said. In-line adjusts will also be made, Yokohama said, and will be announced later.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., posted an 11 per cent increase in net sales, to 106.8 billion yen (£486.7 million), in the three months ended 30 June. The increase resulted primarily from robust growth in overseas tyre business, according to the company. Tire sales also benefited from increased shipments to automakers in Japan. However, the rising prices for raw materials offset the sales growth in the Tire Group, and operating income in the group declined 64.6 per cent, to 1 billion yen (£4.56 million).
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., has announced that the company’s Advan Sport (V103S) tyre has been approved by Audi AG for original equipment on the new S8 model. The 265/35ZR20 99Y XL tyres are the first Yokohama products to be fitted to an Audi and the latest addition to Yokohama’s Advan Sport flagship series.
Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner scored a victory in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours in front of 235,000 spectators. Audi has effectively succeeded in its bold bid to win the world’s most demanding endurance race with diesel technology. And Michelin rose to the challenge to join its partner on the top of the podium, its ninth consecutive victory at Le Mans. The French tyre firm was also successful in the LMGT1 category with Chevrolet Corvette and in LMP2 with the RML-run Lola.
Pirelli also came away with honours after the LNT British team, Panoz Esperante, won the LMGT2 category. Pirelli took the LMGT2 title with Yokohama-equipped teams following in second and fifth places in the same category.
(Akron/Tire Review) In the US Yokohama Tire Corp. has expanded its performance tyre lines – Advan Sport, Advan S.4., Advan S.T., Parada Spec-X and ES100 – with a series of new sizes. During this year, Yokohama added 27 sizes to the Advan Sport line, seven sizes to the Advan S.4. line, and three sizes to the Advan S.T. line. Seventeen sizes were recently added to the Parada Spec-X line, and two sizes were added to ES100 line.
Yokohoma has announced plans to build a light truck and motorcycle tyre plant in Vietnam over the coming 13 months. According to analysts reports, the plant is expected to come on-line by June 2007, with annual capacity of 3,100 metric tonnes of mixed rubber.
International stunt driving ace Terry Grant drove himself into the records books yet again recently, by performing two car control records for the Guinness World Records TV show in Madrid, Spain. He used his new TVR Sagaris to break the 2005 Guinness World Record set by Dale Morrison for 69 consecutive and uninterrupted ‘donuts‘. (360° on the spot spins). Terry coaxed the standard road-going Sagaris and its Yokohama tyres to a total of 71 to snatch the record.
(Akron/Tire Review) With Ohio Governor Bob Taft on hand, Yokohama Tire Corp. dedicated its new 650,000-square-foot distribution center in Groveport, Ohio, near Columbus, yesterday. The new facility, Yokohama’s fourth distribution center in the US, will be fully operational in July and can hold some 1.2 million passenger and light truck/SUV tyres. The warehouse, which was finished to Yokohama’s specifications and is being leased, will service tyre dealers and other customers in the northeast.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that it will increase its bias tyre production capacity for motorcycles and light trucks in Vietnam by 2.5 times. For this, the company will begin constructing a new tyre plant in June of this year production set to start in June 2007. Yokohama Rubber plans to invest a total of 1 billion yen (7 million euros) in this construction programme.
(Akron/Tire Review) Yokohama Rubber Co. has launched a “grand plan” for the next dozen years leading up to its 100th anniversary, a three-phase management scheme that calls for 10 per cent in operating profits by 2018.
Yokohama is planning to establish a passenger car tyre production plant in Europe in 2008. The news came in the context of a dealer presentation by the German distribution company Yokohama Reifen GmbH. Observers suggest that the move is likely to be a way of strengthening ongoing OE projects and relationships. Yokohama did not specify which locations are being considering, give details of which tyre lines might be produced, or suggest how much would be invested.
Press sources say that Yokohama Rubber is considering getting into the rubber processing sector in an effort to secure supply of natural rubber and to reduce rising raw material costs. General Manager of Corporate Purchasing and Strategic Sourcing, Keiichi Sekiya, said the Yokohama “wants to get closer to the rubber plantation people,” adding: “it doesn’t mean we want to get into the plantation business.” Should the company buy some land for growing rubber trees, this would only be for research and development purposes, he said, with the results shared with rubber growers.
BRABUS has introduced its new, 21″ Monoblock E light-alloy wheel for the latest Mercedes S-Class. This exclusive, sporty wheel design with nine strikingly-shaped spokes and polished drop centre was custom-developed for the top-of-the-line Mercedes. The new BRABUS Monoblock E wheels can be mounted on the luxury sedan in sizes 9Jx21 on the front and in size 10.5Jx21 on the rear axle.
Yokohama has announced that it has developed the “ADVAN AC Y-255,” radial aircraft tyre. The company began delivering the products for use on Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 aeroplanes in March. The products are sized 50×20.0R22 (26PR and 32PR).
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