Pirelli CEO Tronchetti on Surviving Euro Zone Turmoil

In the boardrooms of Italian industry, few have had as long and colorful a career as Marco Tronchetti Provera. In his two decades at the helm of Pirelli & C., the 64-year-old executive transformed the Italian manufacturer from a tire maker to a diversified conglomerate that controlled the national telephone company before reverting to its core business over the past five years. Pirelli now generates 99 percent of its revenue from tires, having sold off its interests in real estate and broadband last year.

除了提高集团的重点外，Tronchetti还揭示了一个更令人印象深刻的壮举：他制造了一个意大利行业的图标，对抓住意大利和欧元区的金融动荡相对免疫。在过去的一半左右，Pirelli批量投入庞大地在北美和亚洲，中东和拉丁美洲的快速增长市场的存在。今天，该公司在世界各地的13个国家运营了22家工厂，包括今年在墨西哥开始生产的设施，供应北美市场，并在俄罗斯提供，Pirelli推出了当地合作伙伴的合资企业。该公司还进入印度尼西亚，计划制作摩托车轮胎。

Pirelli可以体现意大利风格和工程风险，但它在其国内市场的收入中不到10％，占欧洲所有的40％以上。北美，亚太地区和中东和非洲贡献了约30％的收入，并在今年第一季度走上两位数的速度。南美洲，占业务的30％，这一季度的收入增长了7％的剪辑，而欧洲的增长仅为3％。

The company is also going determinedly upmarket — appropriately for a business that returned as the sole supplier to the Formula 1 racing circuit last year after a 20-year absence. Milan-based Pirelli is putting most of its resources into premium-performance tires for luxury vehicles and sports cars, which command roughly twice the price and offer triple the profit margins as standard tires, which the group is deemphasizing or phasing out. Thanks to that high-end accent, the company expects to boost revenue by 14 percent this year, to €6.45 billion ($8.17 billion), even as tire shipments drop by 1 to 2 percent in volume. Pirelli posted a 54 percent gain in net income in the first quarter, to €125.3 million; revenue rose 11.1 percent, to €1.56 billion.

Tronchetti may be making Pirelli more global, but even he can’t divorce the company’s fate from that of Europe and the euro. With much of Europe back in recession and yields climbing on Italian debt, Pirelli is feeling the squeeze. In May the company trimmed its revenue forecast by 3 percentage points. Europe’s political leaders need to take urgent action to save the euro and the European economy, Tronchetti warns. He met recently with亚博赞助欧冠International Editor Tom Buerkle to discuss the outlook for Pirelli and the euro.

亚博赞助欧冠: Pirelli is now as pure a play, on tires, as it’s ever been. Why is that a strength?

Tronchetti：在今天的世界中，它必须集中注意力。Pirelli专注的业务，Premium轮胎部分，非常令人兴奋，因为它在世界的所有地区都在增长。它是越来越多的技术驱动。今天，今天的轮胎与20年前的轮胎很少，除了他们是圆形和黑色。该技术从化合物开始，将轮胎的结构以及我们提供的服务 - 这是一个不同的业务。这是一项不如汽车行业的循环，因为只有25％的Pirelli销售与原始设备有关;75％与消费者有关。如果你不买新车，就有任何情况都必须改变你的轮胎。

How hard is it to run a business in Italy these days?

让我们说我们需要在意大利重塑业务。我们关闭了一个生产标准轮胎的旧工厂，我们在全球轮胎业务中设置了最先进的工厂。我们与大学达成协议以发展该技术。但意大利今天只占了我们生产和营业额的7％。在过去的几年里，我们减少了欧洲的重量。

What’s driving your growth strategy in rapidly developing economies?

在过去的五到六年里，我们去了中国和罗马尼亚。一年前，我们去了墨西哥。今年我们去了俄罗斯。这是公司的演变。所有这一切的司机是在有机会的地区，有技术先进的产品，专注于要求技术的汽车制造商。这就是我们建立了这些新工厂的原因。墨西哥是供应NAFTA [北美自由贸易协定国家];罗马尼亚和意大利是为了提供欧洲，与德国和U.K.土耳其是供应中东和北非;俄罗斯为俄罗斯和独联体国家和斯堪的纳维亚国家;和中国为中国和亚洲地区。

Do all Italian companies have to become more global to survive?

I think the key issue is technology. Any industry that is based in the Western world has to focus on technology and the education of the management. When you have technology, you have to go around the world. You cannot stay and develop your market only locally.

Why are you confident that the premium tire segment will continue to gain market share?

我们不是目标份额。我们有5％的全球轮胎市场，但优质部门的12％。溢价比标准部分更快地增长。我们也是Prestige Segment [Superluxury Models的领导者，如Ferraris和Lamborghinis]，我们有50％的市场。

We’re going to launch 18 new product platforms — winter tires, SUV tires, high-speed tires, green tires — in the next five years. In the past decade we launched 16, so we are doubling our speed of evolution.

您在市场和通货膨胀之前提高了价格。那是多么可持续的？

When you sell technology, price is not such a huge issue. The value of the tires is between 1 and 2 percent of the value of the car. Safety, environment, consumption are very much related to the tires. With a standard tire, it’s much more price that is the driver of the willingness to buy.

What makes your position so immune to competitive pressures?

我们的竞争对手具有我们的问题。我们继续增长。我们需要进行投资。他们正在玩同样的游戏。他们必须保护他们的现金流量，保护他们的投资。这些公司是使巨额投资成为全球的公司，他们无法承担任何尝试在价格上占据市场份额。如果您在价格上争取，您无法在高端获得1点市场份额。任何人都准备打击你。这就是在90年代发生的事情，当时价格战。结果是，没有人赢得1个市场份额，而且该行业非常强调和损失。 And then suddenly prices went up 30 percent. That’s nonsense. We want the value of our technology, and that’s it.

您对巴西的前景是什么，在那里您拥有更多的植物，而不是在任何其他国家？

是的，我们有五个植物。我们在拉丁美洲的第1名，拥有25％的市场。巴西的增长率下降，但该国年轻，我们相信它将继续发展。今天，它比曾经是20年前的稳定性。

您充分利用中国市场的策略是什么？

我们有一个大型化合物，我们拥有乘用车轮胎和卡车轮胎生产。我们直接适合市场的高级部分。我们有一家提供宝马，奥迪，梅赛德斯和沃尔沃的工厂;他们正在在中国开始生产。然后我们在澳大利亚，日本，新加坡和香港供应中国市场。他们快速增长。在亚洲，我们每年出售450万轮胎。我们将在未来四年的能力增加一倍 - 双倍等等。

You have talked about a rise in protectionism. How does this affect Pirelli?

There are two effects. One is protectionism, and the other one is the volatility of currencies. So we will be more local-for-local regionally. That means for the Nafta market we will produce local-for-local in Mexico and in Rome, Georgia. Globally, we will be 82 percent local-for-local production by 2015, up from 71 percent today.

面对大多数人了解全球化的苍蝇。是否有意义？

That is one of the facts of globalization. The different regions of the world are larger, but within these larger regions the economic cycles are faster, and so any region tries to protect its own employment, its own economy. And currency volatility creates a danger for the industry if you are not local-for-local. When we invest in a factory, we invest for the next decade. We cannot take the exchange rate risk for our people, for our products. So the more we are local, the more we reduce the risk.

让我们回到欧洲。欧洲创造了一种单一的货币来摆脱波动;现在有人说，我们可能不会在十年内看到欧元。你的观点是什么？

我认为欧元是创始人的一个非常严重的直觉。创始人遭受了两次世界大战的经验。他们理解只有一个统一的欧洲可以实现这些悲剧的结尾。他们首先根据战争前提的两种材料设置CECA，煤炭和钢铁界。然后他们创造了一个市场。然后欧洲忘记了联盟的起源。我们在没有政治联盟的情况下创建了一种货币，这是一种不能永远持续的东西。没有共同政策，您有一个通用的货币。这不是可持续的。

你有信心欧洲领导人会解决这个问题吗？

必须的。否则这将是一个悲剧。我认为六月底达成的协议是迈向真正欧洲统一的第一步，这是政治和经济。我们希望欧洲其他地区（包括德国）即将意识到，一个能够欧元生存的解决方案是每个人的兴趣。

How much time do you think they have?

几个月。我认为他们不能面对德国的选举[2013年]没有解决这个问题。确实，许多欧洲国家都超越了他们的手段。这也是如此，这有助于为德国人和每个人提供大型市场。现在是时候告诉人们我们试图把一些东西放在一起积极。我们有一个共同的目标，一个共同的目标。这是'50s的精神。我们必须明白，我们必须避免悲剧。•