Michelin exec´s remarks may have sparked govt. tire probe, documents show

WASHINGTON (July 18)—Remarks that a Michelin Americas Small Tires executive made in an "Akron Beacon-Journal" article in May 1992 apparently excited the U.S. Justice Department´s interest in possible price fixing within the tire industry, according to documents the agency released to Rubber & Plastics News. "We all know the tire industry is going through another round of price increases," David Schaub, then chief operating officer of MAST, told the "ABJ." "Will they stick? They have to." The article also said that Michelin "racked up about $1 billion in losses over the past two years from a price war in both Europe and the United States." Sending copies of the article to his superiors, Edmund Round, an attorney in the Justice Department´s Cleveland office, said in a memo that "this seems an appropriate matter to investigate." The agency closed the investigation, with no charges or fanfare, last Feb. 18.