Prinx flagship car tyre brand launched in Milan

Prinx Chengshan has set ambitious goals for its global flagship brand, and its three-day event in the European design capital aims to demonstrate its ability to deliver on its promise to distribution partners

Prinx gathered tyre dealers from across Europe in Milan (Photo: Prinx)

Prinx Chengshan’s flagship tyre brand has entered the European market in style at a lavish event in Milan, Italy. Hosting tyre distributors and dealers from all around Europe the brand chose the European fashion capital as its launchpad to signify its bullish expectations for the new range, which arrives offering fitments for a comprehensive range of applications, premiumised technologies, and a European marketing strategy openly setting mid-range-plus targets from the off. During a day of driving workshops at Alfa Romeo’s historic La Pista circuit, Tyres & Accessories was able to trial two Prinx tyres fitted to Tesla Models 3 and Y, and Mercedes AMG A Class hatchback and SUV models: the Xnex Sport EV UHP tyre designed for electric vehicle compatibility, and the Quattura 4S all-season tyre. T&A also spoke to several representatives from the brand’s European team, including the manufacturer’s European CEO Thomas Wohlgemuth who is heading up the rollout of the brand around the continent, about its new products and aspiration to make its mark on the European tyre segment.

The arrival of the Prinx brand in the European car tyre market, with a range and marketing calibrated for the mid-range brand tier the company aspires to occupy, has clearly been plotted meticulously to communicate this goal. With a team based in Darmstadt, near Frankfurt, Germany experienced in supplying tyres for Europe in place – Wohlgemuth’s background contains many years with Pirelli and Groupe Michelin in the DACH region – the Prinx product range has been assembled to match well-established players’ current portfolios. This includes two tyres designed for electric and hybrid cars which will comprise 69 SKUs; an all-season model that will target another growth market, and summer and winter tyres that offer suitable sizes and performance for SUVs and performance vehicles. Getting up-close to the tyres themselves, T&A also notes the attention to detail in the sidewall design technologies that allow the Prinx branding to stand out. This brand-forward approach is becoming more common in the leading sub-premium, far Eastern manufacturers’ approach to Europe, but it is rare to see it so well realised.

Thomas Wohlgemuth, Prinx Changshan’s European CEO wants to communicate brand value commensurate with the Prinx product quality (Photo: Prinx)

The premiumised marketing approach for the Prinx brand will have been noted by regular readers of T&A and Tyrepress, but is this brand positioning borne out by the performance of the tyres on the road? Wohlgemuth tells T&A that the target for the brand is to offer premium performance levels while maintaining a price positioning consummate with mid-range players, a formula with which the manufacturer hopes to cultivate both an engaged end-user base and a network of distributors across the continent buying into the brand. Initial impressions of the tyres themselves are good on track, and Prinx is convinced by its internal testing that it is able to achieve its performance goals.

The background of Prinx Chengshan, which dates back to the 1970s as Rongcheng Rubber Factory but took its current form in 2014, offers good reasons for confidence in its products. T&A witnessed the public bow of Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Company at the late-2014 edition of the erstwhile Reifen China show, just after American manufacturer Cooper exited its decade-long joint-venture with the Chengshan Group company. Backed by new private investment, Prinx Changshan announced its intentions at that show to “integrate with the global tyre market” as a foundational principle. It added that it would “strive to build a world-famous brand coming out of China.”

Building on the solid foundations in China implied by its previous association with an established global tyre manufacturer and strong domestic supply business and keen to match globalisation moves made by major Chinese tyre manufacturers, Prinx Chengshan quickly planned to internationalise its footprint with a state-of-the-art production facility in Thailand, and construction began in 2019. Its passenger car tyre production line produced its first tyre in mid-April 2020 – by 2022, the factory had completed its second expansion phase, extending its capacity to 8 million (in addition to a 2 million truck tyre production line). Throughout, Prinx Chengshan has pursued its expansion with an eye on corporate expectations for professional global tyre manufacturers, publishing its emissions-reduction programme in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reports. The most recent edition of its report revealed its plan to ensure 50 per cent of its car tyres are low rolling resistance products, while it wants to reduce carbon emissions and employ increased solar power generation. While this relatively open approach has also shown areas the company will wish to improve, for example relatively high energy consumption and staff turnover in Thailand, the overall impression is of a company backing up its international targets.

Across its two production facilities in China and Thailand, Prinx now ships 20 million car tyres (and 10 million commercial vehicle tyres) around the world. It is present in 169 countries, with its goal of producing a range tailored for Europe now in the home straight. T&A wondered whether the company’s focus on Europe is leading it to follow the largest Chinese manufacturers in considering the construction of a plant in the continent. Though non-committal about the immediate prospects of this idea coming to fruition, citing how recently its Thailand plant began producing tyres destined for Europe, Wohlgemuth suggests the company would be open to the possibility in the future.

The company has recently given reason for observers to believe a European factory may be in its long-term plans, with expansion plans discussed in its 2022 annual report. While capacity growth at its existing plants continues, Prinx Chengshan suspended investment into its Anhui, China tyre factory, citing the domestic and foreign economic situation and the company’s forecast analysis of capacity utilisation. Considering its prospects for growth, Prinx Chengshan particularly emphasised the European market, and said it was preparing for increased activity in the continent with a strengthened sales team. But talk of a European factory does seem a little premature with the initial rollout of its range just underway.

Prinx product range led by EV-specified tyres

Prinx EV tyres fitted to a Tesla at La Pista, Alfa Romeo’s former facility (Photo: Andrew Bogie/Tyres & Accessories)

The European product range unveiled by Prinx at the La Pista facility in Milan laid out the brand’s extensive size range to be rolled out in 2023 and 2024. The initial Prinx range is made up of six products, with the brand planning a very extensive range of sizes and variations for each.

Possibly the most eye-catching products in this range are the pair of electric car tyres, the XNEX Sport and XLAB Comfort, which together will be available in 69 SKUs covering 45 sizes. The XNEX Sport, one of the tyres available for guests to test drive at the launch, is the larger, more performance-oriented tyre of the pair, an EV summer tyre for full-electric and hybrid cars and SUVs, available in 35 variations and 18 sizes. As the name suggests, the XLAB Comfort focuses on touring applications in 34 variations and 27 sizes.

The tyres are an important market for Prinx, as it positions itself as a “sustainability-oriented” brand. Introducing the two EV tyres, Wohlgemuth states that “both summer tyres have been developed from scratch specifically with the European market in mind.” The fact that these are brand new lines to the market is interpreted as a strength; without a predecessor, Wohlgemuth stresses that they have been designed from the ground up to target European EVs. This is not to say that Prinx is not drawing on a well of experience in supplying EV tyres, as Wohlgemuth states: “The fact that the Chinese market has a big head start in the field of e-mobility is a real advantage for us in this case.”

The tyres’ construction and tread pattern are made to take the increased vehicle weight associated with battery-powered cars and this extra weight’s effects on braking behaviour, wear pattern and rolling resistance. High acceleration speeds of EVs demand more from tyres, while Prinx adds that there was no compromise on steering response and safety, as the “essentials” of tyre design. The tyres also focus on noise reduction to increase comfort and low rolling resistance to maximise range, both very important considerations for the European EV driver. The XLAB Comfort has an EU label A rating and XNEX Sport a B rating for energy consumption, indication low rolling resistance, while both tyres are B-rated for wet grip.

The tyres are already award winners too. The XNEX Sport has “won several international awards for its look,” including the Muse Design Award in the USA, Prinx said. The tyre gained a silver accolade at the Italian A’Design Award & Competition and was a product design category winner at the Paris Design Awards. These design awards were in part down to a striking visual feature of Prinx’s tyre range on the sidewall. At their launch the manufacturer demonstrated the benefits of its proprietary technology, Inktech. This rubber texturing process allows the company to make sidewall panels a significantly darker and deeper shade of black. This is due to the way the textured compound reflects and absorbs light. Jet Li, the Group’s global R&D director, who leads a department of more than 200 staff, defines this as a “velvet touch” effect, emphasising its importance in the tyres’ perception; certainly, the effect communicates a premium feel for the product, both through an iconoclastic look designed to appeal to young, style-conscious citizens of European cities such as Milan, and by ensuring the Prinx branding is highly legible, thanks to the 3D effect the very dark black panels enable.

The EV tyres also employ other Prinx technologies designed to increase their performance and perception. Silenteck is a foam material that reduces cavity noise by up to 12.6 dB in the passenger area and up to 2 dB in overall noise. Healteck is a silicone tyre sealant that permanently closes holes of up to 6mm in diameter within seconds should a puncture occur, enabling the tyre’s continued use without compromising the car’s handling characteristics.

Presenting the products and its proprietary technologies Kai You, the company’s global marketing manager, describes how the Prinx range is tackling the newest “frontier” of tyre development, which he defines as Ground Contact Efficiency (GCE). Through this methodological prism, Prinx takes into account “wet braking, aquaplaning prevention, mileage, wear, steering response, handling, comfort, vibration absorption and low noise” in order to achieve high performance levels.

Prinx EV tyres were featured at the launch event (Photo: Andrew Bogie/Tyres & Accessories)

4 Prinx tyres target value for premium segments

The four tyres that make up the rest of Prinx’s range are assembled to cover the vast majority of applications currently found in the European car parc, with an emphasis on the growth segments of all-season and SUV appropriate fitments.

The all-season tyre, the Quattura 4S, was the second tyre available for dealers to try out at La Pista. The all-season tyre for cars and SUVs in the high-performance segment will be available in 31 variations and 29 dimensions suitable for 14-20” rims, all carrying the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake. The Prinx Quattura 4S offers “extremely impressive” performance according to Prinx’s internal testing. Wohlgemuth claims that the tyre performs on par with some models from market-leaders and “even beats high-class tier 2 tyres in some cases.”

The tyre emphasises comfort and year-round safety. In summer, the Quattura gains traction from V-shaped tread blocks. Its bevelled tread pattern and 3D interlocking sipes also boost handling characteristics on dry roads, while specially developed polymers in the tread compound combine with the increased water drainage from the contact patch promoted by the V-shaped pattern to offer better wet­-braking performance and aquaplaning resistance. In winter, the Quattura 4S benefits from a low-temperature rubber compound. Along with V-grooves and 3D Interlock sipes, this enables the tyre to tackle icy roads.

A specialist winter product for cars and SUVs between 14” and 19”, the Winter Excelia, will follow to offer cold weather season-specific performance characteristics for European drivers whose needs extend beyond all-season performance.

Finally, Prinx will offer an ultra-high performance pattern, the Aquila Rev in 17-22” sizes for performance cars and SUVs, and a summer tyre for cars and SUVs on 14-19” rim diameters, the Aquila Pro.

‘A charismatic leader’ – Wohlgemuth outlines marketing strategy

Building a new brand in Europe requires significant marketing, and throughout the launch Thomas Wohlgemuth places great importance on the strategy and “brand DNA” underpinning the Prinx product range. He calls the “intangible, passionate, subjective and emotional elements… “as important” as the technical, data-driven product information. Prinx is communicating this “character and personality,” as well as its desire to make an impact. Wohlgemuth’s belief in the quality of the products needs to be matched by its marketing approach. “We are sure of the quality of our products, we have developed and tested them in Europe, the objective proximity to the performance of premium products. If the quality is so high, why be shy about positioning the product?” he says.

“The campaign has already started throughout Europe to make the brand known and popular. Coverage is comprehensive offline and online, in traditional channels and on social media. We want to be visible, create attention, talk to families, with children, with the new generations, who are our customers,” concludes Wohlgemuth.

(Photo: Andrew Bogie/Tyres & Accessories)