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.
Since March 2022, China’s government has imposed strict lockdown policies on several cities in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19. Shanghai, the economic centre of China, is one of the core lockdown areas. According to information available to Tyrepress, it appears the entire industry is feeling the restrictions hitting production, logistics and retail in Shanghai and surrounding cities.
The results of the 2022 China Brand Power Index (C-BPI) are out, and leading brand rating and consulting agency Chnbrand has once again ranked Michelin as the clear favourite in its automotive tyre brand ranking. Michelin has occupied the top spot every year since the inaugural rating was published in 2011.
An environmental impact assessment has commenced for the all-steel radial tyre plant that Zhongce Rubber Group (ZC Rubber) intends to build in Hangzhou, China. Subsidiary Hangzhou Zhongce Qiantang Industrial intends to set up the 6.5 million tyre a year greenfield facility in the Xiaoshan Linjiang High-tech Industrial Park; stakeholders now have an opportunity to comment on the project’s potential ramifications.
In October 2021, Linglong Tire established a strategic cooperation with China-based renewable resources company Cleantire. The tyre maker declares that it was thus the “first tyre company in the world to achieve a strategic alliance with a waste tyre recycling company,” and although others may contest this title, the partnership is nonetheless significant. Linglong chairman and president, Wang Feng, signed a further comprehensive strategic cooperative agreement with Jiang Young, president of Cleantire, during an online ceremony at the start of April 2022.
After passing an evaluation conducted by the executive committee of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., Ltd. recently joined the platform. It is the first tyre industry member headquartered in China.
Following the news that China vehicle sales fell by 11.7 per cent in March after two months of increase, Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view: “In contrast to a positive jump of 18.7 per cent in February, vehicle sales in China fell by 11.7 per cent to 2.2 million units in March 2022, following the production and supply disruptions caused by the new wave of the COVID-19 which led to strict lockdowns across regions in the country.”
Another original equipment approval for Continental, this time in China. Electric vehicle manufacturer Nio is equipping its new ET7 saloon for the Chinese market with 19- and 20-inch Continental EcoContact 6 tyres. Continental is exclusive supplier for 19-inch rim fitments.
The difficulties that tyre makers are facing at present were reflected in Prinx Chengshan Holdings Limited’s financial results for 2021. Although company revenue increased 20 per cent year-on-year, a “significant increase in raw material prices and ocean freight rates” dragged gross profit down by approximately 24.7 per cent.
When sharing the results of both its main summer 2022 test of 50 tyres and the performance-oriented Auto Bild Sportscars tyre test, esteemed European publication Auto Bild commented that the days of Chinese-made tyres failing these tests due to outdated technology are well and truly behind us. Auto Bild spoke about one product from China in particularly favourable tones.
Zhongce Rubber Group (Zhongce) has acquired Tianjin United Tire & Rubber International Co, Ltd (TUTRIC), the manufacturer of the Tianli off-the-road tyre brand. The acquisition means Zhongce will expand its business into the agricultural and giant OTR tyre segments, while bolstering its already strong offering to OTR and industrial tyre markets. Established in 1985 in the coastal city of Tianjin, near Beijing, TUTRIC manufactures 35,000 tonnes of OTR and agricultural tyres per year. The TUTRIC factory at Tianjin covers an area of 480,000sqm, employing more than 1,000 people. Zhongce says the acquisition is the next step in its continued global expansion. The manufacturer is China’s largest tyre-maker, and the world’s ninth biggest in Tyres & Accessories’ 2021 ranking.
Prinx Chengshan has unveiled a new flagship passenger car tyre range in the company’s home market. Called “华” (Hua), the Chengshan tyre is crammed with innovations that the manufacturer claims elevate it to the standards of international first-line brands. In addition to offering high durability, wear resistance and mileage potential, as well as low rolling resistance, Prinx Chengshan points out aesthetic highlights – Hua is the first domestic tyre line in China to feature velvet textured sidewalls.
Twenty years is a long time in the tyre business. Back in 2002, products from China were still a relatively unknown quantity and European wholesalers were taking their first, tentative steps towards getting to know Chinese manufacturers a little better. It was a steep learning curve on both sides, but some relationships have endured and thrived over the past two decades. The partnership between wholesaler European Tyre Distributors B.V. (ETD) and Shandong-headquartered Linglong Tire is one such success story.
On 11 January 2021 Jiangsu Province Department of Commerce approved Jiangsu General Science Technology Co. Ltd’s (GS Tire) US$300 million investment in a new tyre factory in Cambodia. Company stock market filings had previously described that factory as a $204 million investment, which suggests the scope of the project has increased significantly.
During January 2021, Jiangsu Seyoun Tire Co. Ltd.’s phase 2 Suqian City, China factory construction project got underway. According to industry association CRIA, the new tyre production base is expected to manufacture 3.2 million sets of “high-performance all-steel radial tyres” and become an “all-steel radial tyre production base for heavy trucks”.
More than two years after the company first announced it was renewing its efforts to grow its tyre retail business in China, Point S is celebrating the opening of two more centres in the People’s Republic.
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Zhongce
GS Tire
Seyoun Tire
Point S