Nankang shows new ECO 2 at CITExpo

When Tyres & Accessories visited Nankang’s stand at CITExpo, Caysha Mai from the company’s export department was able to report that Nankang’s changeover to a new corporate identity, which began in 2010, is almost complete. “The new identity includes a modified logo and a new slogan – free your way,” she shared. “This means have a smooth ride.”

Alongside this new corporate identity, Nankang showed a number of recently introduced products at the Shanghai show, including the ECO 2. “The new tyre offers advances over ECO 1,” commented Mai. “It uses a different compound which provides for better grip and handling.” She added that tests done by RDW in The Netherlands resulted in an A label rating for wet grip, although she said Nankang chose to adopt a cautious approach and labelled the ECO 2 as B and C for this criterion. The range received a C rating for fuel consumption.

Mai said that Nankang’s turnover reached 490 million euros in 2011, with Europe accounting for 40 per cent of the Taiwanese manufacturer’s total market share. North American market share is 18 per cent, Asia (mostly Japan) accounts for 15 per cent, the Middle East nine per cent, Oceania seven per cent and Africa five per cent. “We’ve just launched our full range in the CIS,” she added. All markets are serviced by either Nankang’s factory in Taiwan, which has a daily capacity of 14,000 tyres, or its China plant, which is able to produce 25,000 tyres a day. “The US market was served from Taiwan,” Mai commented. “This may change now the consumer tyre tariffs are ending. We usually ship from either factory unless a market specifically asks for production from Taiwan.”