China Archives - Page 236 of 241 - Tyrepress

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.

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Kumho builds second plant in China

Kumho Tire Co. Inc. is building a second tyre plant in China, next to an existing plant in Nanjing, that will double annual production capacity in China to 10 million units by 2008. The 130 million US dollar project will provide Nanjing Kumho Tire Co. Ltd. with additional capacity aiming to increase its share of the passenger radial market in China to 25 per cent, according to Kumho. In conjunction with the expansion project, Nanjing Kumho is setting up distribution hubs in northern China. The project is separate from a new plant Kumho opened recently in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, using proprietary automated technology.

14th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

India reduces duty on Chinese tyres

Indian tyre manufacturers will have to compete with tyre imports from China at much lower protection levels in 2005. The Indian Finance Ministry has formally included China in the list of countries that can avail themselves of preferential rates of Customs duty on specified products under the Bangkok Agreement. Mr D. Ravindran, Director-General of the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA), said that the five per cent concession in Customs duty would definitely result in more imports of truck and bus tyres into India from China.

5th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper and Kenda in joint venture

Cooper has expanded its Far Eastern presence with a joint venture with Taiwanese tyre manufacturer Kenda. The two companies will build a plant to make radial passenger and light truck tyres, which will be situated in the Jiangsu Province of the People’s Republic of China and jointly owned by the two manufacturers. Construction will begin in the middle of next year, with tyre production starting late 2005. The tyres will be aimed at markets outside China. Speaking of the deal, Cooper’s Thomas A. Dattilo said: “It will allow us to add capacity and lower costs in our tyre business. It also gives us a base for sales in China down the road as the Chinese market increases significantly over the next decade.”

18th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Sumitomo rubber to build 400-store network in China

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. intends to establish a sales network of more than 400 stores in China within two years in and plans to take a 10 per cent share of the Chinese tyre market by 2010. The company, whose first tire factory in China will go onstream in April, aims to develop a customer base in China, where it currently has almost no sales. Sumitomo Rubber teamed up with Tyre Pacific (HK) Ltd. of Hong Kong to create a joint venture to oversee sales in China. The joint venture, SRI-TP JV Co., is capitalized at 6 million US dollars.

16th December 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Tenneco announce two Chinese deals

Tenneco Automotive announced that the company has signed a jointventure agreement with China-based Chengdu Lingchuan Mechanical Plant to establish Chongqing Walker Exhaust System Co., Ltd. The new jointventure will supply emission control products and systems to Changan Ford Co. Ltd., the joint venture between Changan Automobile Group Company and Ford Motor Company. Tenneco Automotive will have 60 per cent ownership of the joint venture expected to be formally established by the end of this year and to begin production in 2004. Tenneco also announced an agreement with Eberspacher International GmbH to establish Walker-Eberspacher Automotive Exhaust System Co., Ltd, a jointventure in China. The jointventure will manufacture and distribute emission control products and systems for BMW and Audi vehicles produced in China. The joint venture will operate just-in-time (JIT) final assembly manufacturing operations in Dalian and Changchun, China at Tenneco Automotive’s existing joint venture facilities in those cities. The jointventure will be owned 30 per cent by Tenneco Automotive directly, 25 per cent by one of Tenneco Automotive’s existing majority-owned joint ventures in China and 45 percent by Eberspacher.

25th November 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin in JV with Apollo

Apollo Tyres has joined with Michelin in a joint venture company called Michelin Apollo Tyre to manufacture, market and sell truck and bus radial tyres. “We are scouting for an appropriate location in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The commercial operations will begin by September 2005,” said Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres Ltd. Michelin will have 51 per cent shareholding and Apollo 49 per cent in the new Michelin Apollo Tyre Ltd. The Apollo board of Directors has also approved Michelin’s purchase of 14.9 per cent of equity share capital by means of a preferential allotment from Apollo Tyre Ltd for about 28 million US dollars. The joint venture comes in the wake of ongoing road improvements and highway building projects being currently undertaken in India. While the Radialisation level in the passenger car segment is around 75 per cent, in bus and truck, it’s less than 2 per cent. “We plan to increase this to 5 per cent in next three years,” added Kanwar. Edouard Michelin, President Michelin said, ” We want to become Indian in India, French in France and Chinese in China and we believe that we have just the right tyres to match the Indian conditions.”

17th November 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

BSA still expanding

Malaysian entrepreneur and BSA International Bhd group Executive Chairman Datuk Dr Cam Soh Thiam Hong, says the world is one huge market that is too lucrative to ignore. Soh Thiam Hong, who was the largest importer of alloy rims into Malaysia in the 1990s, turned the tables around and is now Malaysia’s largest exporter of alloy rims under his own BSA brand. For the year ended Dec 31, 2002, it posted revenue of RM113.7mil, of which 85% came from overseas sales. For the six months ended June 30, BSA posted a pre-tax profit of RM9.2mil on revenue of RM75.7mil. BSA is considering setting up two new factories – one each in Malaysia and China – which could produce an additional two million rims a year, for a total three million rims, over the next few years.

13th November 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to increase spend in China

Michelin’s Asia-Pacific president Jean-Marc Francois is quoted in the press as saying that the company will invest heavily in the Chinese market, to the tune of several hundred million Dollars over the next ten years. Michelin already has joint ventures in Shenyang and Shanghai, which would benefit from the cash injection, although some may go towards establishing new factories and in marketing the brand.

10th November 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Honda net profit up 58 per cent

Honda’s net profit for the third quarter was up 58 per cent to 137.36 billion Yen (1.08 bn Euro). The main reasons were strong sales of the Accord in China and the USA, plus good US sales of the Pilot and Element SUVs. Operating profit was down slightly at 151.69 billion Yen (1.2 bn Euro), compared with 153.05 billion Yen for the same period last year. Despite the good figures, Honda says that full year revenue will probably be lower than forecast, due to unfavourable currency movements and continued low sales in Japan.

30th October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

SmarTire appoints Chinese distributor

SmarTire has appointed Beijing Boom Technology Co. Ltd. as the master distributor for its tyre pressure monitoring systems in China. Under the agreement, the Chinese company will purchase $1.5 million worth of aftermarket TPMS over the next twelve months and $3.9 million worth in the twelve months commencing 1st September 2004.

23rd October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Thai rubber price hits record high

The price of rubber in Thailand has risen to a record high of 50 Baht per kilo (1.07 Euro), which is good news for growers and not so god for producers of products such as tyres. Last year Thailand exported 2.35 million tonnes of rubber to 60 countries, with China and Japan each taking just under half a million tonnes. This year China is expected to be the largest customer, taking around 550,000 tonnes, valued at 30 billion Baht (642.6 million Euro).

23rd October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

JV between Stamford Tyres and Sumitomo in China

Singapore-based Stamford Tyres is entering into a joint venture with Sumitomo Rubber Industries to produce passenger car radials in a new factory in China, being built by SRI. SRI will hold 60 per cent of the JV. The factory should begin production in the first quarter of next year and will eventually have an annual capacity of three million units, destined for both domestic and export markets.

17th October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental buys wheel sensor business

Continental has bought a wheel sensor business with operations in Japan and China. Continental and its Japanese partner Nisshinbo Industries bought Nagano Japan Radio Co.’s wheel sensor unit as well as its Chinese subsidiary. Nagano Japan Radio Co. produces sensors used in anti-lock braking systems, with much of its production at its Chinese plant. The unit employs around 1,350 people and had sales of around 65 million US Dollars in 2002.

15th October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Hangzhou Zhongce to make tyres for Cooper

Cooper Tire & Rubber has signed an agreement with Hangzhou Zhongce, whereby the Chinese manufacturer will produce 250,000 – 350,000 radial medium truck tyres (RMTs) a year. Moulds and other equipment are being transferred to China from Cooper’s plant at Albany, Georgia, where all of Cooper’s RMTs are currently manufactured. Albany makes 25,000 tyres daily, of which 1,200 are RMTs and the plant employs 1,500 workers. The Chinese-made tyres will be produced under Cooper’s brand names and will be manufactured according to Cooper’s technical specifications.

8th October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Hyosung to invest 110 million US dollars in China

The Hyosung Corporation has announced that it plans to invest 110 million US dollars in building a steel cord plant with annual production capacity of 33,600 tons in Qingdao, China. The joint venture with the Qingdao administration will be named Hyosung Steel Cord Qingdao.

The company is planning to inject an initial 50 million US dollars by September next year to produce 16,800 tons of steel cord annually. The investment is being driven by the growing demand by Chinese tyre manufacturers and the country’s expanding auto market.
“When the new plant is completed, Hyosung’s steel cord business will expand to make up 7 percent of the global market and 10 percent of the mainland Chinese market,” the company explained.

17th September 2003/by Tyrepress Editors