Guizhou Tyre’s board of directors has approved a plan to build a semi-steel radial tyre production line with an annual output of 6 million units at its Vietnam factory. This move means that the tyre manufacturer, which focuses on the production of TBR and OTR, is beginning to enter the PCR market.
Fast-growing wholesaler, Bond International has launched the Admiral tyre brand. The trademark for Admiral was gained back in 1996 by the late Reg Bond and has since been registered in countries around the world.
Vredestein will launch a new ultra-ultra-high performance summer tyre, the Ultrac Pro, this spring. Featuring innovations in the structure and tread compound, Vredestein has engineered the tyre for “superior handling and class-leading comfort.” It will be presented for a wide range of performance vehicles and supercars with 18-24 inch wheels.
Kumho entered the replacement electric vehicle tyre market in 2016 with its Wattrun VS31, a tyre that was an early forerunner of the current wave of products designed to meet the particular needs of battery-powered cars. The tyre garnered both the prestigious German Red Dot Design Award and American Green Good Design accolades, demonstrating the Korean manufacturer’s innovation in that field. The Wattrun VS31 has now been superseded by the Ecsta PS71 EV, the company’s next generation electric vehicle tyre.
Hankook’s comprehensive range of summer, all-season and winter car tyres has received excellent reviews from testers and tyre review platforms over the past year. This acclaim extends to the iON tyre family specially developed to meet the demanding requirements of electric vehicles. The core summer collection comprises Ventus S1 evo Z, Ventus S1 evo 3, Ventus S1 evo 3 SUV, Ventus Prime 4, Kinergy ECO 2, iON evo and iON ST AS both for cars and SUVs. The all-season range includes, the Kinergy 4S2, Kinergy 4S2 X for SUV’s and the iON FlexClimate for cars and SUVs. The core winter collection comprises the Winter i*cept evo 3, Winter i*cept evo 3 X, Winter i*cept RS 3 and the iON i*cept for cars and SUVs.
With the recent launch of the Bridgestone Turanza 6, the manufacturer presented a touring summer tyre built on its Enliten technology platform that offered maximum applicability to the general motorist market. Succeeding the award winning Turanza T005 and the T001 Evo before it, the Turanza 6 incorporates electric vehicle-readiness and is presented in a wide range of sizes for both passenger cars and on-road SUVs, whether they are internal combustion engine, hybrids, or EVs. The tyre meets the demands of both general driving and the specific requirements of electric vehicles such as improving energy efficiency, maximising battery range, and accommodating the increased weight and torque of EVs.
The UK is nearing half a decade removed from general economic conditions resembling normality, four years since Brexit was (arguably) completed, nearly the same amount of time since the start of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, heralding the world’s descent into an age of militarisation, and the continual flux of UK politics. Tyres & Accessories’ regular February Car Tyre feature has presented an overview charting the progress of the car tyre market over these years – readers can now access the preceding years’ issues in the T&A digital archive, hosted by Tyrepress. While change has remained reassuringly slow compared to the economic and political context, the latest panelmarket data from market analyst GfK – which uses point of sales tracking of sell-out tyres to produce an overall picture of the whole replacement market in the calendar year 2023 – demonstrates the ship-like progress of various trends since the relatively major disruption of 2020.
The United States Department of Commerce has released the results of its anti-dumping review of imported passenger car and light truck tyres (PCR) made in Thailand. The result of the re-examination investigation is consistent with the preliminary one and its good news for Thai tyre manufacturing plants. The release of the result also means PCR products produced in Thailand are expected to enter the United States market in large quantities soon.
Following on from an October 2023 announcement that it will extend annual passenger and light commercial vehicle tyre capacity in Cambodia by 6 million pieces, Sailun Group has approved additional investment in its plant. It will invest a further RMB 773.69 million (£85.05 million) to expand the capacity expansion project from 6 million to 12 million tyres a year. In total, Sailun is investing RMB 2.25 billion (£247.33 million) in its Cart Tire Co. Ltd. project, which will result in a facility capable of making 21 million semi-steel radial tyres a year.
Yokohama will expand the production capacity of Yokohama Tire Philippines, Inc. (YTPI), by 1,800 tyres per day with an investment of 8.4 billion yen (around £45 million). As a result, the annual production capacity for the plant will reach nearly 12 million – YTPI states the daily capacity will be 32,500. The capacity increases will also be joined by an expanded size lineup at the top end of its size range. 21 and 22-inch tyres, sizes associated with performance cars and SUVs, will be added to the 13-20 inch range already produced at YTPI. Established in April 1996, YTPI manufactures Yokohama tyres primarily for export to the global market.
UK compounder SPC Rubber Group has formed a new tyre brand targeting the global motorsport market. Nova Motorsport founder and SPC Rubber managing director Paul Hallas said the company will focus “solely on low-volume racing and specialist tyres,” looking forward to announcing its first products and international partnerships in 2024. With a website and social media channels already in place, Nova will take its public bow at Retromobile – The Classic Car Show in Paris (31 January to 4 February 2024, Hall 1, Stand M-002). Nova has also recruited strong segment experience in its leadership team, including former Avon Motorsport head Paul Coates. Nova launches shortly after Goodyear’s closure of the Cooper Tire manufacturing facility in Melksham, the historical home of Avon and its motorsport operations. Nova is headquartered in Wiltshire, the same UK county as Melksham. “Nova”, as will already be apparent to those in the tyre industry, is Avon in reverse, perhaps a nod to a UK brand with a long motorsport heritage, whose future is being reconfigured under its new owner.
More and more tyre manufacturers are adding individual EV logos to their product sidewalls, regardless of their decision to develop specialist tyres for the burgeoning market or make tyres they consider compatible with the needs of electric cars. Goodyear recently presented a corresponding label, products from Continental are “EV Compatible”, Pirelli tyres contain “Elect”, and “E+”. can be found on relevant Yokohama tyres. While Nokian Tyres introduced a so-called “Electric Fit” symbol, intended to indicate its tyres’ suitability for electric vehicles, last summer, the marking remains absent from its most recent products’ sidewalls. Surprisingly, even the supplier’s very latest products, the Powerproof 1 and Wetproof 1 summer car tyres, the “Electric Fit” designation cannot be seen on the sidewall or anywhere else. With Nokian Tyres claiming that all of its consumer tyres are suitable for electric vehicles, Tyrepress sister website Reifenpresse asked what this was all about.
UK fleet transactions through epyx’s 1link Service Network service, maintenance and repair (SMR) platform rose by 6 per cent during 2023. It was also strong year internationally, with the quantity of invoices raised by users in Denmark rising by 22 per cent in Ireland by 12 per cent, in France by 8 per cent and in Portugal by 7 per cent.
On 12 December 2023, Jinyu Tire Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new passenger car and light truck tyre production project in Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam. The project is designed to provide tyre production capacity in three phases. The first phase is expected to reach production by early 2025. This project is an expansion of Jinyu (Vietnam) Tire Co., Ltd., which started in Vietnam in 2020 and produces truck and bus radial tyres (TBR).
Goodyear has placed Frank Titz in charge of its passenger car tyre replacement sales in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Titz took over from Dr André Weisz, who is to take on global responsibilities at the manufacturer, in the new year, according to Tyrepress’s German sister site. Weisz will continue to act as managing director of the Goodyear companies in the DACH market, such as Goodyear Germany GmbH (Hanau).
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