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.
Bridgestone Taiwan has announced the establishment of its first Bandag retreading facility in the country. The new truck and bus radial retreading plant in the city of Taichung was officially opened on 15 February. According to an article published by the China Economic News Service the facility has been set up with an investment of NT$110 million (£2.3 million).
Pirelli has accumulated several thousand kilometres on Spain’s Jerez circuit in private and official Formula One testing, but the Italian tyre supplier will be hoping for better weather as it moves north to the Circuit de Catalunya. A fortnight ago, varied conditions made testing a challenge, as teams try to simulate the conditions they will face when the F1 season commences in Australia on 16 March. Pirelli has announced that the P Zero White medium compound will be available alongside the P Zero Yellow soft compound, and with the weather colder than expected in Jerez, the former has proved the most popular tyre for testing. Pirelli has also nominated the P Zero White for China and Malaysia, the second and third Grands Prix respectively.
John Leech, partner in KPMG’s automotive practice has suggested the recent upturn in UK car manufacturing could suggest that the sector will lead the country’s economy back to pre-financial crisis growth. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed car production rising in January 2012, with 15.6 per cent more manufactured cars on January 2011. The figure comes on the back of increased demand for British-made cars in growth export markets.
Pirelli has announced the first three P Zero slick compound allocations to be taken to the opening Grands Prix of the 2012 Formula One World Championship season. In Australia and China teams will receive the P Zero White medium and the P Zero Yellow soft compounds. The P Zero Silver hard and the P Zero White medium tyre have been nominated for Malaysia.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has reported increased sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the full year. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region the company improved on its 2010 figures, with segment operating income up to $627 million, compared to $319 million in the previous year. The company’s fourth quarter represented a slowdown in the region, shipping fewer tyre units than in 2010 – 16.9 million vs. 17.7 million – and it predicted that 2012 would be down by up to nine per cent in European consumer business, with worse predicted for the commercial original equipment market. Chairman and chief executive officer, Richard J Kramer commented on the company’s overall sales and segment operating income records by saying the company had “successfully managed a challenging economic environment.”
Supporting truck fleet operators who are already under pressure from high fuel prices and increased competition is crucial over the next 18 months, delegates at Bridgestone’s recent Truck Point conference heard.
Just as Bridgestone is coming under greater pressure to supply tyres which help truck OE manufacturers meet their stringent European legislation on emissions, the network has a responsibility to support operators as they fight to preserve already tight margins in a tough market, according to Greg Ward, commercial sales director, Bridgestone.
China tyre manufacturer Techking reports that it is successfully supplying a customer in Japan in conjunction with a local partner. Together the two companies have reportedly supplied the unnamed Japanese customer with Techking 16.00 R25 ETADT tyres, complete with service support.
Ugo Forner, senior vice president of Pirelli’s truck business unit, shares an insight into a sector of the world’s fifth largest tyre maker that is sometimes concealed in the shadow of the company’s sporting ambitions (such as Formula 1) and its positioning as a leading high performance passenger car tyre brand. This sector is of course commercial vehicle tyres, a business in which Pirelli has a presence in many markets around the world, including South America, where it is market leader; indeed, the region is considered the company’s “cash cow”.
The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) reports that Q1 2012 Production Growth is expected to marginally increase by 0.3 per cent. During 2011ANRPC's total production rose 6.7 per cent to 10.127 million tons, faster than the 6.4 per cent rate expected until a month ago. The upward revision results from a better-than-expected output from Vietnam for the year. The country produced 811,600 tons of NR in 2011 as against 780,000 tons as anticipated earlier and 751,700 tons produced in the year before.
The third China (Guangrao) International Rubber Tire & Auto Accessory Exhibition will be held in Guangrao International Exhibition Center in Shandong Province in China on between 15 and 17 May 2012. According to the show’s organisers, preparations related to investment and promotional work are currently in progress.
In 2012 Aeolus Tyres will enter the European passenger car tyre market in partnership with Netherlands-based Heuver Tyrewholesale. Although Aeolus will be entering the passenger car market for the first time, the company reports that it was certainly not an overnight decision to do so. A whole new factory has been built in China and an international team of experienced tyre specialists is being used to develop the tyres. In addition Heuver reports that it is providing “frequent technical input,” to enable it to fulfil the requirements of the European market as well as possible.
Going against a trend witnessed in the tyre industry over recent years, Carlisle Companies says it will transfer tyre production from China over to the United States – for cost reasons. At the company’s forth quarter 2011 conference call on 2 February, Carlisle Companies chairman, president and CEO David Roberts reported positive developments regarding efficiency levels at the company’s Jackson, Tennessee tyre making facility and then shared plans to make US production a greater priority.
Increasing numbers of vehicles on Indian roads will drive the Indian replacement tyre market past the 305 billion rupee (£4 billion, 4.8 billion, US$6 billion) value level, according to research conducted by TechSci research.
Federal and Goodride tyre brands are available exclusively through independent tyre wholesaler, Grouptyre in the UK, and the distributor provides full ranges of both to light commercial vehicle operators. Taiwan-manufactured Federal tyres offer three major models designed to cover the everyday workload of most light commercial drivers.
China’s Keyuan Petrochemicals has announced that one of the production lines for Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) at its new plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, has commenced commercial production. Keyuan conducted tests on the line in the final quarter of last year following completion of its new 70,000 tonne SBS production facility in September 2011. The first line entered commercial production in December and the company says that during the quarter it produced 2,733 tonnes and sold 2,623 tonnes of the substance used by tyre makers.
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