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.
On 18 October, Chinese tyre manufacturer Sailun announced its primary financial data for the first three quarters 2023. Data disclosed by the tyre company showed that revenue in the first nine months was close to 20 billion yuan, reaching 19.01 billion yuan (approximately £2.13 billion; €2.45 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.72 per cent.
With the opening of its new headquarters, KraussMaffei has completed the last and largest of four relocation projects. Since 2018, the company – whose production portfolio includes tyre production systems and extruders – has invested approximately 200 million euros in four new plants in Germany and China.
In September 2023, China’s tyre export data increased significantly year-on-year. However, as in the previous year, the absolute volume of exports fell back after experiencing a peak in July and August. Nevertheless, the decline in data in September this year was smaller than last year.
Mercedes-Benz has awarded Continental preferred tyre partner status in China, Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. This takes effect immediately and is valid until August 2025. Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz has extended its existing partnership with Continental in the Indian market until August 2024.
Nokian Tyres has unveiled a new all-season tyre for European markets and launch images of the Seasonproof 1 don’t only provide a view of what the tyre looks like – the DOT code on the sidewall tells us where Nokian Tyres Seasonproof 1 is made, and who the manufacturer is. What we can see from the 205/55 R16 and 235/60 R18 tyres in publicity photos is that both were produced by Sailun Group in Qingdao, China.
On 6 October, fire broke out at Xintu Tyre in Guangrao County, Dongying City, Shandong Province. Tyrepress China learned that the location of the fire was in the warehouse in the company’s finished product testing area, and the fire area of the warehouse was about 600 square metres. A person familiar with the matter revealed that the tyre company stored many tyres in the warehouse where the fire broke out.
At next month’s Agritechnica fair in Germany, ZC Rubber will present the latest additions to the Tianli agricultural tyre range, the Agri King VF agricultural radial for high horsepower tractors and Land Care cross-ply tyre for wheeled excavators and backhoe loaders.
On 27 September, Jiangsu General’s Thailand factory held a groundbreaking ceremony for the second phase. The new production capacity project involves an investment of 1.884 billion yuan (approximately £210 million; €240 million) and plans to add 6 million semi-steel radial tyres and 500,000 all-steel radial tyres yearly.
Recently, Sentury appointed Philippe Oberti as deputy general manager and director of its R&D centre.
Recently, Bridgestone stated that it will withdraw from the Chinese truck and bus radial (TBR) on 31 December 2023. Tyrepress China has learned that the tyre manufacturer’s TBR business in China’s replacement market will operate normally.
China-based manufacturers exported 54.66 million new pneumatic tyres in August 2023, a 13.6 per cent higher volume than in August 2022. The value of these tyres rose 19.7 per cent year-on-year, to RMB 13.63 billion (£1.55 billion, US$1.89 billion). These figures for August mark a return to double-digit growth for China’s tyre exports after a drop in growth during July.
Wang Lin was recently elected as vice chairman of Linglong Tire. According to the Linglong’s announcement of the news, Wang Lin’s appointment is intented to “meet Linglong Tire’s future development needs, further improve the corporate governance structure, and improve the operating level and work efficiency of the company’s board of directors.” His responsibilities are to “assist the chairman in carrying out his work.”
In early September 2023, Jiangsu General appeared at The 18th China International Tire Expo (CITExpo 2023) at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre. At the exhibition site, the staff of the tyre manufacturer told Tyrepress China that most of the customers they received this time were from Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Russia and South America.
In early September, the 18th China International Tire Expo (CITExpo 2023) was held in Shanghai. After three years of waiting, this year’s show attracted many dealers from overseas. An exhibitor from Jiangsu General told Tyrepress China: “The results of this year’s China International Tire Expo are quite good. We made appointments with 60 customers before the exhibition. Basically, all of them came. At the same time, we also met many new customers at the exhibition today.” At the popular CITExpo 2023, Tyrepress China noticed that China’s tyre industry is showing two new trends: recovery and transformation.
Giti Tire held a groundbreaking ceremony on 20 September to officially inaugurate the start of work on its latest facility, an event the tyre maker says holds a “particular significance” as it also marks the group’s 30th anniversary of manufacturing in China. Executive chairman Enki Tan reinforced this during proceedings by stating that “the upcoming modernised Hefei plant not only celebrates our legacy but also sets the stage for Giti’s next chapter.”
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Linglong Tire