The Hungarian Tire Association (HTA), founded in 2011 by seven international tire manufacturers with manufacturing capacity and representation in Hungary, has published an interview on its website with the Managing Director of Michelin Hungária, Dr. Attila Nemes who says that they aim to produce 100% of their tires from bio-based, renewable or recyclable materials by 2050.
Reacting to the issues that have taken their toll on the sector (new coronavirus pandemic, raw material problems, inflation, etc.) the Managing Director says they take decisions based on their ‘everything is sustainable’ approach announced a few years ago. "This is about balancing people’s well-being, environmental protection and economic performance. This approach has served as a good line guide during Covid. Looking back on the most difficult period of the pandemic, our most important steps were to ensure the health of our employees. Our teams have made extraordinary and successful efforts to overcome logistical and procurement difficulties. As a result of all this, our Hungarian units have continuously maintained their operability, and we have been able to serve our customers continuously."
He adds that naturally, demand for their products also decreased temporarily, which had an impact on their work schedule, and during this period, they financially supported their employees in the most difficult situations. "I am proud of the cooperation, professionalism and determination that our teams showed during the pandemic. In the past year and a half, we have diversified our raw material sources, and today we have a higher proportion of suppliers from the Far East or Europe than before. Thanks to this, we were able to ensure the supply of raw materials to our factory in Nyíregyháza without any interruptions. Of course, we are constantly working on optimizing our raw material procurement. Another good example of our ‘everything is sustainable’ approach is how we have dealt with the energy crisis: we have converted our previous gas-based vulcanisation and heating systems to electric-based, allowing us to use fully renewable sources and thus reducing our environmental footprint, increasing energy efficiency (both per unit consumption and per unit cost) and improving working conditions for many job posts."
In reaction to the observation that one side effect of this inflation is that Chinese manufacturers flood the markets with cheap products, the Managing Director notes that globally, they are seeing an increase in market share of the budget sector. However, even in this segment, awareness of European-made budget brands, product quality and services may justify higher prices. "And with all the steps we’ve talked about with inflation, we can keep the price difference within a range acceptable to users. Consumers should be aware that only a few manufacturers are able to improve or even maintain all the performance of tires at the same time, and in many cases a low price is achieved by reducing one of the performances. Therefore, before buying, it is worth finding out about the consumption (rolling resistance) or braking properties of tires. These two parameters are clearly visible on the product label. A very important additional parameter for the buyer is the lifetime of a tire (or mileage). It is not visible on European labels, but can be found through independent tests. We are convinced that the Michelin Total Performance logo on the sidewall of our tires shows that thanks to our high technical know-how, we can balance all tire performance parameters at the same time. When it comes to regulating tire performance, we welcome the new EU rules expected in the coming years: the R117.4 standard for rolling resistance or the inclusion of tire wear in the Euro7 standard. By ensuring that only products of adequate quality can be placed on the market, these actions are directly in the interests of consumers by reducing consumption and protecting our environment. One of the consequences of stricter technical requirements may be the displacement of very cheap, low-performing products."


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