Italian tyre maker Pirelli announced that Chinese state chemical giant Sinochem’s control over the company has ended.

The board majority approved the end of Sinochem's control, with 9 out of 15 directors voting in favour, citing international accounting standards. Chairman Jiao Jian and four other Chinese directors cast the five dissenting votes, while another director abstained.

“The decision regarding the absence of control of the shareholder Sinochem represents a first, but not decisive, step on the path to the necessary adjustment of company governance to regulatory constraints in the USA," the company said in a statement.

Pirelli, a key player in the high-value tyre segment, noted that the USA is crucial for developing and distributing its Cyber Tyre technology.

The company also declared its financial results for 2024. Pirelli's 2024 consolidated net profit rose 1% to €501.1 million, compared with €495.9 million in 2023. Revenue increased by 1.9% to €6,773.3 million.

The company's adjusted EBIT margin improved to 15.7 percent of sales from 15.1 percent in 2023, while the EBITDA adjusted margin rose to 22.4 percent from 21.7 percent.

Pirelli confirmed its 2025 targets despite a "high level of uncertainty surrounding US tariffs" and said it has defined a mitigation plan should the announced measures come into effect.

The company's net financial debt position decreased to €1,925.8 million at the end of 2024, down from €2,261.7 million a year earlier

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The Dunlop RoadSmart IV has emerged as the top performer in the latest road tyre test conducted by renowned German publication MOTORRAD. This premium sport touring tyre received high marks for its outstanding handling characteristics and its ability to deliver balanced performance regardless of weather or road surface conditions. The victory adds to Dunlop’s growing list of independent testing successes this year, following a similar overall win for the SportSmart mk4 in an earlier sport tyre comparison.

In the test, MOTORRAD fitted three road focused tyres to a BMW R 1300 GS using the specific sizes of 120/70 R19 at the front and 170/60 R17 at the rear. The RoadSmart IV secured first place overall in the road tyre category, demonstrating class leading wet performance while also tying for the best results in the dry sub category. This achievement marks the second time in half a decade that this particular tyre has claimed top honours in a MOTORRAD test.

Testers were especially impressed by the tyre’s precise dry handling and the clear feedback it provides to the rider. They observed that the RoadSmart IV turns in more easily than its rivals, making it highly recommended for motorcycles that tend to have sluggish steering behaviour. On the BMW test bike, the tyre felt stable rather than unsettled, excelling with high cornering speed, solid grip at maximum lean angle and extremely accurate feedback. In wet conditions, the tyre offered easy manoeuvring ability through fast cornering sequences, with its precise communication clearly signalling the limits in a user-friendly manner.

MOTORRAD summarised the RoadSmart IV as an incredible all-rounder that combines excellent handling with top performance in all conditions, even suggesting that riders on a GS could use it to annoy superbike riders. Thanks to its strong showing on both dry and wet surfaces, the tyre also earned the magazine’s coveted Kauftipp, or purchase recommendation, award.

Roberto Finetti, Marketing Manager, Dunlop Motorcycle Europe, said, “This result for RoadSmart IV reinforces our goal to deliver a perfect balance of outstanding dry performance and exceptional wet grip and precise handling, even after several thousand kilometres. We’re proud to see it recognised once again as a benchmark in the sport touring segment.”

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The JK Tyre - WIAA Women's Car Rally to Valley 2026 took off on 28 March from NSCI, Mumbai, with a flag-off ceremony led by Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) Chairman Nitin Dossa and JK Tyre officials. Over 200 women participated, decorating their vehicles around themes like cancer awareness, gender equality and women’s empowerment before driving towards the Novotel Imagicaa hotel in Khopoli.

Families and supporters gathered at the start, creating a festival-like mood as participants wore themed attire. The rally follows a Time-Speed-Distance format, rewarding precision and teamwork over speed, with contestants navigating hilly roads for about 125 kilometres to the finish.

Organised by the 107-year-old non-profit Western India Automobile Association, which advocates for safe mobility, road safety, environmental sustainability and policy change, the event has become a platform celebrating womanhood and resilience. This year’s edition reinforced the global road safety messages of #CommitToLife and #BeSafeBeStrong.

JK Tyre has long supported women in motorsport through dedicated initiatives, and its continued partnership with the WIAA Women’s Car Rally reflects a belief that motorsport can drive meaningful change both on and off the road.

Srinivasu Allaphan, Director – Sales & Marketing, JK Tyre & Industries, said, “For over a decade, we have been committed to encouraging women’s participation in motorsport, and the JK Tyre–WIAA Women’s Car Rally to Valley stands as a testament to that vision. Now a marquee event, the rally celebrates the spirit of motorsport while championing important social causes. We are encouraged by the strong enthusiasm of the participants as we continue to build greater awareness around road safety.”

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Scandinavian Enviro Systems AB (publ) has announced that its representatives on the Board of Directors of the joint venture entity, Infiniteria Europe Sàrl, namely Ewa Björling and Fredrik Aaben, have made the decision to vacate their respective director positions. This move follows prior communications from Enviro regarding a broader strategic shift in its relationship with the joint venture.

Earlier, Enviro had already disclosed that it was initiating a corporate reorganisation process, which included the termination of the various agreements that had previously defined and governed the working relationship and collaborative framework between Enviro and Infiniteria. This fundamental restructuring of their partnership set the stage for further complications, as disagreements began to surface between Enviro’s board members and the other directors serving on the Infiniteria board.

Specifically, the differing viewpoints between these two groups centred on critical matters related to corporate governance standards and the internal functioning of the board itself. Due to the emergence of these unresolved conflicts, combined with the ongoing dissolution of their formal cooperation agreements, Björling and Aaben concluded that stepping down from Infiniteria’s board of directors was the necessary course of action, leading to their formal resignations.

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MESNAC played a central role at the 2026 China Rubber Annual Conference, held in Qingdao from 24 to 27 March by the China Rubber Industry Association. On March 24, the Enlarged Meeting of the Rubber Machinery and Molds Branch took place, gathering key figures such as Deputy Secretary-General Zhu Hong, Branch Secretary-General Jiang Xin and Branch Chairman Guan Bingzheng, who also serves as MESNAC’s Chairman and President. Representatives from leading enterprises and governing units discussed the industry’s 2025 performance, ongoing difficulties and 2026 trends. The session was hosted by Zhou Chuanhai, General Manager of MESNAC Union Technology Co., Ltd.

Bingzheng pointed out that the rubber machinery and moulds industry managed to achieve positive overall growth in 2025 despite facing numerous difficulties. Rubber machinery exports rose notably even under adverse conditions, while the mould sector continued its gradual upward climb. He also noted that the industry has moved away from simply pursuing larger scale and is now prioritising higher quality and better performance.

With 2026 marking the start of the 15th Five Year Plan period, which is crucial for turning China from a large rubber producer into a powerful rubber nation, he laid out three main directions. One is embracing green practices, smart technology and global market expansion. Another is keeping pace with tyre manufacturers moving overseas to enable shared global growth. The third is focusing on new energy tire needs and artificial intelligence upgrades to push the industry towards high end transformation.

On March 26, at a forum themed Digital Empowerment and Green Development, MESNAC Vice President Yang Huili demonstrated how artificial intelligence is deeply applied in rubber tyre making. She described an intelligent system that forms a continuous loop from sensing in real time and learning on its own to making smart decisions and carrying out closed loop actions. It applies industrial vision for accurate measurement with very few missed defects, uses MCC software to merge process data and correct within milliseconds and employs large models for maintenance that quickly locate faults with high precision to enable predictive repairs. Through both strategic leadership and hands on technical demonstration, MESNAC showed its dedication to advancing the industry under changing conditions.

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