ERJ Top 10 News Stories of the Week

Lanxess confirms talks to sell stake in rubber unit

Lanxess AG is in talks with potential partners for its synthetic rubber business, the company has confirmed to ERJ. The talks involve has two rubber business units; High Performance Elastomers and Tire & Specialty Rubbers. These are positioned within the group’s Performance Polymer segment, which generated an estimated €4.5 billion in sales in 2013.   Read more

Audi: Tire makers must bring suppliers to R&D table

Tire makers should do more to bring their major suppliers in on development projects with automotive OEMs, an Audi AG manager has warned. Audi has to deal with increasingly complex challenges around the development of tires and wheel/tire systems for new vehicles, Dr Thomas Roscher told ERJ at the Tire Technology Expo in Cologne.  Read more

Future Tire to take place during Reifen 2016

The Future Tire Conference, organised by ERJ publisher Crain Communications, will take place for the first time during the international tire industry event Reifen and co-located Rubber Tech Europe in Essen in 2016. The conference is focused on factors shaping the future of the tire industry and its supply chain, including automotive market trends, environmental & safety regulations and issues around the availability and price of rubber and other key raw materials.  Read more

Tire labelling jamming test laboratories

Tire labelling is placing increasing strain on the capacity of test laboratories within the tire manufacturing sector, according to Christian Leger, senior vice president and global business director of Solvay Silica. Along with an increasing flow of product-development work, the need to test for compliance with the labelling scheme for rolling resistance, wet grip and tire noise “is jamming customer laboratories,” Leger told ERJ at Tire Technology Expo.  Read more

Yokohama to invest over €800m in expansion, upgrades

Offering a window to its Phase IV of its Grand Design 100, Yokohama Rubber said it would work to increase the overseas share of its business with automakers and planned to raise its annual tire production capacity to 74 million tires/year by 2017 and 89 million tires/year by 2020.  Read more

Bridgestone to build on strong 2014 results

For fiscal 2015, Bridgestone management is forecasting a 9-percent improvement in operating income on 8 percent higher sales, with the diversified products businesses providing the biggest share of the earnings increase.  Read more

Thai NR prices up as demand rises, supply tightens

Futures and physical rubber markets in Asia stayed in an upward trend during the week of 2-6 Feb, supported in part by the current supply tightness, the Thai-based International Rubber Consortium (IRCo) has reported.  Read more

DuPont, Trian dispute escalates ahead of annual meeting

Dispute has escalated between the major stockholder Trian Fund Management and DuPont after Trian on 11 Feb filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking for the election of its nominees to the board of directors at the 2015 annual meeting of stakeholders.  Read more

Recovered carbon black players to merge

Under a non-binding agreement signed 12 Feb, cct subsidiary cct Stegelitz GmbH is to be incorporated into Pyrolyx AG by way of a capital increase. In exchange cct AG will receive shares corresponding to a share of 16.6 percent of the share capital of Pyrolyx AG ...  Read more

EU posts record growth in car registrations

According to Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), some 999,157 car units were sold in the first month of 2015, with Spain registering a record high 27.5 percent growth. Italy, UK, France and Germany all displayed substantial growth as well.  Read more