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Tornel or Hulera Tornel is a Mexican enterprise and only surviving Mexican tire manufacturer in Mexico, dedicated to making tires and other automotive industry-related products. Founded in 1933 by Mexican businessman Armando Tornel, who in October 2006 entered the Worldwide Tire Industry Hall of Fame. Hulera Tornel is the top Latin American tire manufacturer, and one of the largest tire manufacturers currently active in the world. [1]
Compañía Hulera Tornel is a Mexican tire manufacturer currently part of JK Tyre group of India.
Compañía Hulera Tornel was originally founded by the Tornel family, one of the oldest families in Mexico, renown in the Mexican industry and society. The company was founded by Isauro Tornel Toriz and his eldest son, Armando Tornel Murillo, native from El Salto de Juanacatlán, Jalisco, Mexico. Armando entered the tire business when he was only 15 years old, while working as a tire seller at the same time he was studying in the night school of San Indelfonso in Mexico City. Years later, his father Mr. Isauro Tornel Toriz decided to send Armando to the United States, where he pursued a technical career in Tire Engineering at Smithers Laboratories, and rubber technology at Vanderbilt Laboratories, gaining technical and practical experience at Goodyear and Mohawk, both in Akron, Ohio. Upon Armando´s return to Mexico during 1933, he partnered with his father and his younger brothers Salvador and Raúl, and together they opened a tire-sale business with 27 employees, at a store located at Hidalgo Avenue number 91, in the historic downtown area of Mexico City.
In 1937, the Tornel family business was formalized via incorporation of Compañía Hulera El Centenario, company that manufactures and marketed at the time tires under the America and All States brands. In 1940 the Tornel family associated with Firestone through a joint venture, changing the name of the company to "Cía. Hulera Firestone Centenario". Some years later, the Tornel family decided to sell their stock to Firestone, and independently pursued continuity in the tire business on their own by incorporating the wholly owned Compañía Hulera Tornel (Tornel Rubber Company), manufacturing tires as well as rubber and supplies for tire repair.
Under Compañía Hulera Tornel, Armando assumed the position of Chair of the company’s board, while his brothers Raul and Salvador occupied other key positions as senior members of the company's Board of Directors until their deaths. In the 1950s Compañía Hulera Tornel entered other sectors and started manufacturing bicycle tubes and also devised new manufacturing techniques. In 1968 it expanded to manufacturing bicycle tires as well.
Compañía Hulera Tornel remained in the Tornel family for 4 generations.
In the 1970s the company started to grow dramatically within the closed economy then existing in Mexico, and also began to compete with other national tire companies like General Popo, Euzkadi, and the oldest of all, Hercules. At this time Compañía Hulera Tornel began to launch most of its modern products such as the tire tubes manufactured with point technology and dabbled in making tires for trucks and buses.
The 1980s brought a crisis to the Mexican economy due to devaluations that caused the closing of Tornel's competitors: General Popo, Euzkadi and Hercules. When the company saw these closings, they paid attention and steered the business toward specializing in the retail vehicle and truck sales niche. This move allowed them to adapt and later thrive in the market. The closing of these competitor factories allowed Tornel free rein in the market but not for long since soon after competition began from foreign tire manufacturers which would turn out to be aggressive commercial rivals, such as Goodyear, Bridgestone, Michelin, Firestone, and BFGoodrich. However, despite the incursion of foreign companies, the market position and Tornel prestige was not diminished. After four generations of members of the Tornel family running the company, in 2008 Compañía Hulera Tornel was acquired by JK Tyre of India.
In May 2008, Tornel was purchased by India-based JK Tyre for $68 million. JK Tyre is an Indian tyre manufacturer that is about the 23rd largest in the world. It intends to use Tornel as the base for its approach to the North American market taking advantage of the NAFTA, and is investing in molds to manufacture tires under both the Tornel and JK brands. Tornel has a total of three manufacturing facilities, all within the metropolitan area of Mexico City. Before the sale of the company, the Tornel family assisted to the ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada where Armando Tornel was granted a place in the Tire Industry Association Hall of Fame in October 2006. [2]
A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which the wheel travels. Most tires, such as those for automobiles and bicycles, are pneumatically inflated structures, which also provide a flexible cushion that absorbs shock as the tire rolls over rough features on the surface. Tires provide a footprint, called a contact patch, that is designed to match the weight of the vehicle with the bearing strength of the surface that it rolls over by providing a bearing pressure that will not deform the surface excessively.
Bridgestone Corporation is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi (石橋), meaning 'stone bridge' in Japanese.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, RVs, race cars, and heavy off-road machinery. It also licenses the Goodyear brand to bicycle tires manufacturers, returning from a break in production between 1976 and 2015. As of 2017, Goodyear is one of the top five tire manufacturers along with Bridgestone (Japan), Michelin (France), Continental (Germany) and MRF (India).
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey S. Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles, and the company was a pioneer in the mass production of tires. Harvey S. Firestone had a personal friendship with Henry Ford, and used this to become the original equipment supplier of Ford Motor Company automobiles, and was also active in the replacement market.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. With headquarters in Findlay, Ohio, Cooper Tire has 60 manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical, and design facilities within its worldwide family of subsidiary companies, including the UK-based Avon Tyres brand, which produces tires for motorcycles, road cars, and race cars.
Dunlop Tyres is a brand of tyres which is managed by different companies around the world. It was founded by pneumatic tyre pioneer John Boyd Dunlop in Dublin, Ireland, in 1889.
BFGoodrich is an American tire company. Originally part of the industrial conglomerate Goodrich Corporation, it was acquired in 1990 by the French tire maker Michelin. BFGoodrich was the first American tire manufacturer to make radial tires. It made tires for the then new Winton car from Winton Motor Carriage Company.
Charles J. Pilliod Jr. was an American business executive and diplomat. He was ambassador to Mexico from 1986 to 1989.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is a global tire and rubber company based in Japan. It is part of the Sumitomo Group. The company makes a wide range of rubber based products, including automobile tires, golf balls and tennis balls. Sumitomo brands include Dunlop Tyres, Falken Tire and Ohtsu Tire.
Dunlop Ltd. was a British multinational company involved in the manufacture of various natural rubber goods. Its business was founded in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and he involved John Boyd Dunlop who had re-invented and developed the first pneumatic tyre. It was one of the first multinationals, and under du Cros and, after him, under Eric Geddes, grew to be one of the largest British industrial companies. J B Dunlop had dropped any ties to it well before his name was used for any part of the business. The business and manufactory was founded in Upper Stephens Street in Dublin. A plaque marks the site, which is now part of the head office of the Irish multinational departments store brand, Dunnes Stores.
Dunlop is a brand of tyre originally produced by the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company from the end of the 19th century, taking its name from John Boyd Dunlop. The brand is used for many other products made from rubber or with rubber components and some with a looser connection to rubber.
Pacific Dunlop was a highly diversified Australian conglomerate company that operated in, among other things, the Automotive, textile, electronics and biotechnology industries. Products commercialised included tires, car batteries, cables, clothing, electronics, bedding, condoms.
Sava Tires is a Slovenian tyre and other rubber related products' manufacturer, it is now a subsidiary of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. It is located in Kranj, Slovenia. The company was formed in 1998 under the name Sava Tyres d.o.o., although tyre manufacturing had started in 1920.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to tires:
Ansell is an Australian company which manufactures protective industrial equipment and medical gloves. It was originally known as a condom manufacturer but sold that division in 2017.
The Seiberling Rubber Company was an American tire manufacturer for motor vehicles.
Service Industries Limited (SIL) (سروس انڈسٹریز لمیٹڈ), doing business as Servis, is a Pakistani multinational shoes and tire manufacturer which is based in Lahore, Pakistan.
An aircraft tire or tyre is designed to withstand extremely heavy loads for short durations. The number of tires required for aircraft increases with the weight of the aircraft, as the weight of the airplane needs to be distributed more evenly. Aircraft tire tread patterns are designed to facilitate stability in high crosswind conditions, to channel water away to prevent hydroplaning, and for braking effect.
Tire lettering is the practice of putting, or drawing visible letters on the sidewall of an automobile's tires. In modern usage, the lettering is often big car brands or tire brands names, with custom lettering being a much smaller niche of that. It can also refer to other after market customizations to the side wall of the tire, such as the "white wall tire" look, but any color of the spectrum is available now, including "rainbow wall tires".
In motorsports, a tire war occurs when more than one manufacturer provides tires for a motorsports series. Historically, tire wars have occurred in many high-level series, such as Formula One, NASCAR, Super GT, and MotoGP.