Now one of the largest tyre-producing countries in the world, China has an indisputable influence on the direction of global tyre trade. The home of both fast-growing up-and-coming brands as well as a burgeoning domestic market, this tag chronicles China’s involvement with the tyre business.
It’s always refreshing to speak with Jamie Ma. The CEO and president of Federal Corporation abounds with enthusiasm for his company’s products and the tyre industry in general, and this certainly proved the case when he was on hand at Reifen 2012 to launch Federal’s latest winter tyre, the Himalaya Iceo. “This year the Himalaya Iceo will be a big hit,” he declared before explaining the tyre’s pertinent features.
Label results, especially good ones, were a conversation topic throughout Reifen 2012. One company at the centre of this label attention was Inter-Sprint, who displayed the Sentaida Group-produced Landsail brand – including the labelled LS988 range. One particular LS988 size, 225/45ZR18 95WXL, featured a ‘B/B/70dB’ label result.
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Hangzhou ZhongCe Rubber has reported the tragic death of Werner Portugal, founder and managing director of Qingdao Diamond Tire Ltd. Details are still unclear, however it appears that Mr. Portugal was killed in an accident in China on 22 June. The tyre maker expresses its sympathies at the painful loss experienced by Mr. Portugal’s family, friends and colleagues.
While falling demand for truck and bus radials is putting pressure on sales of premium and import brands alike, the number of factories and the amounts of tyres each are producing continue to proliferate. Tyres & Accessories recently met with several companies in the same boat at the recent Reifen Show in Essen Germany in June. While the consensus agreed in general terms about the decline in truck tyre demand across Europe as a whole, clearly not everyone’s experience is the same and there could be key strategic reasons why production output seems to carry on regardless.
During the recent Reifen 2012 show in Essen Maxxis shared details of how the company is preparing for the rolling out of tyre labelling in Europe, including the launch of its own label finder software.
Taiwan-based news service CENS reports that Kenda Rubber intends to invest approximately NT$10 billion (£212 million) to set up a plant in China’s Guangdong Province. At the company’s recent shareholders meeting, chairman Yang Ying Ming stated the tyre maker is acquiring 700 acres in Huizhou, and intends to relocate its existing Shenzhen factory there. The plant will produce motorcycle and bicycle tyres and daily output is expected to reach 83,000 pieces by 2016. Industry sources also say the new Huizhou factory will be much bigger than the Shenzhen plant as it will contain passenger car radial production lines intended to serve the European and US markets.
At the end of May, Kumho Tire China and the Qingdao University of Science and Technology signed a strategic cooperation agreement. According to the university, under the new agreement the two entities will increase their joint work in a number of areas. Graduate students will be trained at a Kumho-established research and development centre, which is described as being a world class facility, and both parties will cooperate on developing tyre industry solutions, such as the development of environmentally-friendly materials.
Korea’s longest-established tyre maker, Nexen Tire, recently opened its latest factory, a highly automated plant that will help the tyre maker reach its goal of almost tripling output by the end of the decade. The Changnyeong plant entered production in April and this year it will turn out some three million passenger car, 4×4 and light commercial vehicle tyres. This figure will then rise significantly over the next few years, reaching 21 million – 60,000 tyres a day – by 2018. By that date, Nexen says it will have invested a total of 1,200 billion won (£650 million) in the plant.
According to Taiwan’s national news agency, local tyre maker Cheng Shin Rubber has voiced interest in establishing a factory in India. The Central News Agency reported Cheng Shin president Chen Yun-hwa as saying demand from emerging economies, including India, remains strong despite escalating debt problems in the eurozone, and therefore the company may set up a plant in order to tap into the fast-growing Indian market.
The 27th Reifen show in Essen was the best yet with 19,000 trade visitors in attendance, according to show organisers Messe Essen. While the company announced that it had the largest number of exhibitors in the event’s history and the strongest international participation before the show, increased footfall was confirmed at the end of the event. Talk of tyre labelling and the new products linked to this legislation dominated the trade fair.
Techking Tires Ltd has opened its first OTR Techking Service Centre in Canada. The China-based tyre manufacturer has chosen Pneus Lanoraie Inc as its partner in the area and will now offer what it calls a “one-stop repairing and retreading service” to its Canadian customers in Quebec Province and neighbouring territories.
The UK’s major centre of excellence for vehicle research and development also houses the world’s ninth biggest tyre company, GITI Tire’s European Technical Centre; in May Tyres & Accessories joined representatives of the company and its UK dealers in visiting the site for a demonstration of its current high performance passenger tyre range. With an eye for the spectacular, the company’s test drivers at MIRA demonstrated the performance characteristics of current products such as the Champiro HPY, fitted to a BMW M3, and the Champiro HPX on an Ariel Atom for fast laps showing the tyres’ dry handling ability. Attendees at the event, which included representatives from the company’s exclusive UK distributor Micheldever, also tried for themselves the Champiro 228 on the wet circles track, and the Adventuro M/T off-road tyre in Mira’s 4×4 testing track. Contrasting with the high performance demonstrations was an amusing competitive element featuring a Fiat Panda, a parking cage and the unmistakable smell of burning clutch.
Well known retail chain and buying cooperative Point S has partnered with Däckarna in Sweden to complete its collection of Scandinavian tyre operations. Founded in the 1970s Däckarna is believed to be the first purchasing group aimed at unifying the strength of independent dealers. More than 40 years later the group has 39 branches in its partnership, collectively occupying a 5 per cent market share.
Europe’s largest tyre exhibition, Reifen 2012 has opened today with the show’s organiser, Messe Essen, claiming record numbers of exhibitors – 653 to be precise. Messe Essen also said that the show represents a new level of internationality, with two-thirds of exhibitors attending the show from 44 countries outside Germany. The show, situated in the West German city of Essen, runs until Friday 8 June.
At the end of May, eight years after it began hosting such events, the Tyre Recovery Association held its annual Forum day in Warwickshire. This year’s was entitled “a commitment to excellence” and saw speakers representing everyone from Michelin Tyre Plc to the Environment Agency and ATS Euromaster share their perspectives of how excellence can be achieved.
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