Martin Winter appointed ZC Rubber technical director EMEA & Americas

Zhongce Rubber (ZC Rubber) has appointed Martin Winter technical director tire development EMEA & Americas. Winter took up the position on 1 August 2022. He brings with him more than 20 years’ experience of working in original equipment tyre development with Continental, Goodyear, Hankook, and most recently Sentury Tire, where he was global technical director OE. ZC Rubber opened its Europe Technical Center (ETC) in Hannover Germany in 2021. It will use the ETC to support the global development of its original equipment business and to work with key OE accounts in the region. In his new role, Winter will report to Martin Wells, vice president ZC Technical Center & global OE.

Winter told Tyres & Accessories that he will maintain “a very close relationship” with ZC Rubber’s global Research & Development and headquarter activities in Hangzhou, China as well as its manufacturing bases in China and Thailand. He adds that the team of Wells and key account manager OE, Jörn Tietjens demonstrate a strong level of OE experience, which he will also support, given his “knowledge and experience working together with famous vehicle makers worldwide.”

In his new position, Winter says he will “lead tyre development, testing and corresponding activities” for the OE and replacement markets. He will work across ZC Rubber’s brands, Westlake, Goodride, Arisun, Chao Yang, and Trazano. Winter will also “advise all departments with technical information about tyres, regulations and standards, the latest changes in aspects of sustainability, and so on.”

Furthermore, Winter will provide support for the necessary processes within ZC Rubber to establish itself as a “sustainable partner for the vehicle industry in Europe and USA.” He says that car makers’ changing strategy to supply cars from one location to a worldwide customer base mean that fusing the tyre-maker’s strategy around the world will be a key challenge. Developing the company’s partnerships with OEMs will be a large factor in achieving this, and Winter adds that he has worked on tyres with these OEMs for 20 years “closely and successfully… to supply good tyres for their cars.”

“It’s great to have Martin Winter on board as he has profound knowledge for OE developments with leading OEMs and he can be of great support to the essential processes to establish ZC Rubber as a sustainable partner for the automotive industry in Europe and USA,” said Martin Wells.

“With our technical team growing, we are confident to expand our global OE business at a faster pace. We look forward to collaborating with the world’s leading automakers and creating more value for global customers in the future,” a ZC Rubber statement added.