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.
A launch was held in Shanghai last month for a new truck tyre brand that Bridgestone has developed specifically for the Chinese market. Zonecross is the name these products carry, and the brand is available in a launch portfolio of eight products for both high-speed motorway and short-distance mixed road use. Bridgestone (China) Investment Co., Ltd. will bring the new tyres to market in August.
An agreement was reached last week on the fourth phase of expansion at the Continental passenger car tyre factory in Hefei, China. In a Chinese-language statement, the Hefei Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone reports that a signing ceremony was held on 5 July to mark the start of a project that will see capacity at the Hefei plant rise by 2 million tyres a year over the next half-decade, from a current capacity of 8 million tyres per annum to 20 million passenger car tyres a year by 2022.
The China International Tire Expo is celebrating its 15th edition in 2017, and after transferring to the new environs of the recently constructed Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center last year, the show is undergoing another logistical change. The show has moved back a month into August (on the 21-23 of the month) in a change that the exhibition organiser, Reliable International Exhibition Services, describes as a positive change that will allow exhibitors to pursue leads from the show more effectively. Ahead of Tyres & Accessories’ visit to the show, we spoke to Reliable’s managing director, Wilko Fong about the show, and what visitors to the Pudong space can expect.
On June 22 the 14th World Brand Summit sponsored by World Brand Lab published its China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands 2017 ranking. Shandong-based Linglong Tire came in at 119 on the list with the brand value reaching 30.563 billion yuan. It was Linglong’s 13th time on the list.
From June 10 to June 11, Linglong Tire 2017 China Truck Racing Championship was successfully held in Goldenport Circuit, Beijing, attracting 19 racing drivers from Europe and China. After two rounds of fierce competition, the team of Linglong Tire won the Team Championship and 12L Group Championship. Wang Li, No. 41 racer from Linglong racing […]
New website launched at Autopromotec Established during the second quarter of 2016, Prinx Chengshan Europe was born following Chengshan’s move away from Cooper Tire in 2014. First came the establishment of Prinx Chengshan itself in December 2014. Then, roughly 18 months later, the company began appointing a number of staff in Puchov, Slovakia to run […]
A new report based on International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and a ReportLinker algorithm and analysts forecasts that new passenger car sales in China should reach 29.7 million units a year by 2020.
This means that between 2017 and 2020, new car sales in that nation will maintain an annualized growth rate (CAGR) of 7.06 per cent. That rate of growth is slower than it has been in recent years up until now, but it remains a sustainable one.
ZC Rubber has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Bekaert, the global top steel cord supplier. The new arrangement will focus on the development of steel cord on green tyre.
Linglong recently came out as the leading Chinese brand in a respected tyre test. The recent 2017 Test World summer tyre test, which was conducted by the Finnish Test World team in France, tested 17 tyre products against each other. Linglong Tire won a total score of 8.3 points in the test, ranking in first place among the five Chinese brands involved.
Shandong province, China-based Linglong Tires is considering a European factory. In the wake of media reports, Tyres & Accessories spoke with company representatives and learnt that a number of locations in both Eastern and Western Europe are being considered.
Landsail claims to be leading its particular market segment in ultra high performance tyres with its LS588 pattern.
Designed and manufactured in an Industry 4.0 production facility, smart manufacturing means Landsail can deliver quality and performance at a price that’s never been possible before.
ZC Rubber and Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences have announced their new Research & Development centre for rubber and novel environmental-friendly green materials. According to China’s largest tyre manufacturer, the centre will focus on the development on the rubber and materials for smart production, new energy and green material.
In the last few weeks, Apollo has initiated production at its new Hungary tyre factory and launched a brand new European truck tyre range (see Company News section pages 32 – 24); Doublestar has confirmed that it is the only remaining bidder in the race for 42 per cent of Kumho Tire (see pages 36 – 37); and as we went to press, Finnish tyre maker Nokian announced that it will build its third production plant, this time in the USA. All this points to what we might call a re-globalisation trend. Rather than businesses from the large so-called developed nations expanding around the globe, this second wave of international expansion sees the roles reversing to some extent. While before the Western nations were looking to invest in fast-growing “emerging” economies, now the proverbial shoe is on the other foot and large companies in what used to be called the BRIC nations are investing in more developed tyre markets.
Speaking off the record, Chinese executives within Qingdao Doublestar have confirmed the company’s intentions to purchase well-known South Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho Tyre and that it is “now only Doublestar left to buy Kumho”. However, at roughly the same time, Korean newspapers have been reporting that Doublestar probably won’t have the right to use the Kumho brand name post-acquisition. With all this in mind, Tyres & Accessories summaries the story so far.
The bottom line at China’s Sailun Jinyu Group Co Ltd took a hit in the first quarter of 2017. According to preliminary statistics provided by its financial department, the tyre maker anticipates a net loss attributable to shareholders in the vicinity of RMB 50 million (-£5.65 million). In the same three-month period a year earlier, the company reported a net profit of RMB 95.16 million (£10.76 million).
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