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.
Rubber, plastics and composites testing company Smithers Rapra recently held its first Tire Technology Symposium in China. According to the research and testing firm, the event brought together about 70 members of the Chinese tyre industry to share technical knowledge, regulatory expertise and business insight. The symposium covered the industry supply chain, including automotive OEMs, tyre manufacturers and retailers.
Coventry-based car panel OE supplier Covpress entered administration at the end of September, with administrators stressing there are no current plans for redundancies amongst the 800 staff. Rather there is a good chance the business will be sold as a going concern. So far around 50 companies are said to have expressed an interest. But with business on the up at Covpress, could a deflated Chinese tyre business be behind the news?
Following VMI’s statement saying it had won the latest round of legal wrangling related to a patent dispute with Safe-Run, the Chinese firm, which describes itself as “one of VMI’s biggest competitors in China” put out a counter statement questioning VMI’s perspective.
When Goodyear Tire & Rubber announced plans last month to close its Philippsburg tyre plant in Germany, the company gave increasing demand for larger rim diameter tyre sizes – and a lack of infrastructure for producing these in Philippsburg – as a justification for the decision. Rather than invest in new equipment for the factory, Goodyear has decided to increase capacity for larger tyre sizes elsewhere in the world. Today, the tyre maker announced it has broken ground on a US$485 million expansion of its facility in China’s Pulandian district. Goodyear chairman, chief executive officer and president Richard J. Kramer took part in a ceremony with Lu Lin, deputy mayor of the city of Dalian.
Netherlands-based leading tyre manufacturing machinery maker VMI reports that it has won its first patent invalidation case against Chinese firm Safe-Run. As part of ongoing legal action commenced by VMI against Safe-Run, VMI filed for invalidation of a number of Safe-Run patents. Recently, the Chinese Patent Review Board has ruled in this case and invalidated the first Safe-Run patent in its entirety as the patent “was based on prior art”.
On 22 September 2016 Doublestar Europe Ltd was registered as a UK company based in London. Tyres & Accessories understands that the company is a joint venture between Zenises and growing Chinese tyremaker Qingdao Doublestar designed to bring Chinese products into European markets.
Now in its 14th year, the China International Tire Expo, or CITExpo, returned to Shanghai in September – but not to the venue where it was held over the past decade, as 2016 was the tyre trade show’s first year in a larger, more modern and attractive location – a site that offers CITExpo the room to grow in future. Tyres & Accessories attended the exhibition between 26 and 28 September, and on the final day caught up with the organiser to find out how the first CITExpo at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center (SWEECC) went.
ChemChina is said to have expressed interest in Kumho Tire Co., according to Korean news source. Citing “industry sources” Pulse News said ChemChina “signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with creditors of Kumho Tire last month and began preparing for an official bid. The Chinese company selected Boston Consulting Group to advice on the deal.”
Sentury and Huagao launched their first electrostatic conducting graphene tyre at the 2016 China International Graphene Innovation Conference (GrapChina) on 22 September. The launch comes less than a month after Sentury and Huagao officially announced their cooperation on the product.
Shangdong Hengyu Technology has become the latest tyre manufacturer to announce that it is making tyres based on the Nobel Prize-winning material graphene. Other firms using graphene in tyres include bicycle tyremaker Vitorria and fast-growing Chinese manufacturer Sentury Tire.
According to the company supplying Hengyu with Graphene (The Sixth Element Materials Technology), Shangdong Hengyu has developed “tyre formulations” that the companies say demonstrates the positive impact of graphene on the performance of tyres.
Between 28 and 30 September Linglong Tire held its 2016 Middle East and Africa dealer conference in Ethiopia. Company president Wang Feng and “almost hundreds” of dealers from Middle East and Africa gathered to learn about the development Linglong achieved in 2016 as well as the firm’s 2017 plan especially for marketing strategy and branded shops.
On 10 and 11 October, a team from Volkswagen Group evaluated Shandong Linglong Tire co. Ltd.’s suitability as an original equipment supplier. The Chinese tyre maker reports that it has passed this audit, and in doing so comes one step closer to having its tyres fitted on Volkswagen vehicles manufactured in China. At present, no tyres produced by domestic Chinese tyre makers come with Volkswagen cars as original equipment.
ZC Rubber has hosted its 2016 dealer meeting in Brazil. The Hangzhou based manufacturer outlined its new strategic plan focusing on business development. According to Ge Guorong, vice president of ZC Rubber, the company has continued steady development with output reaching more than 7 million truck and bus tyres and more than 14 million car and light truck tyres in the first half of 2016, accounting for 17.57 per cent and 13.21 per cent respectively within the Chinese tyre industry.
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Ltd (DATL) has confirmed that the company is looking for new investors. And this means that “initial discussions” with “a number of interested parties” are already underway.
According to the company’s executive chairman Ian Edmondson, the goal is to find a suitable partner to help the company continue to move forward at its current rate of positive growth: “Our shareholders are now seeking to find a new investor who is in a position to help the business maintain the outstanding growth record that it has delivered in recent years.”
While the vast majority of the UK’s tyre production and retreading capacity refers to trucks and a relatively small amount of car tyre retreading still takes place as well as some specialist earthmover retreading, one of the nation’s largest retreaders makes aircraft tyres. Dunlop Aircraft Tyre Ltd or DATL as it is known has demonstrated strong growth in recent years and is majority-owned by private equity. Put the two together and it begs the question – is Dunlop Aircraft Tyre Ltd (DATL) up for sale?
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