According to Deutsche Bank Markets Research, Groupe Michelin is expected to announce on June 11 the closure of its Tours, France, truck tire factory.
Research analyst Gaetan Toulemonde reports that closure of the 1.2-million-tire per annum capacity plant would be a product of weak volumes in Europe. While the European passenger car tire market is now 6% higher than 2007 pre-crisis levels, at 404 million tires, over the same period the European truck tire market has dropped 8% to 20 million tires.
Continental and Pirelli have already reduced a total of 2 million truck tires from their European capacity in the last five years, and Michelin’s European truck tire operations currently only operate at 60% capacity.
Michelin operates seven truck tire plants in Europe and has a total annual capacity of 10 million tires. A restructure such as closing the Tours facility may cost 70 million euros but lead to annual savings of 35 million euros, Toulemonde adds. (Tyres & Accessories)