US-based waste-to-energy firm Global Clean Energy, Inc. (GCEI) reports that its Pyrolysis division has selected three European and ten domestic locations where pyrolysis facilities for processing end-of-life tyres into oil, recovered carbon black and steel can be built on a profitable basis. News of these proposed facilities follows the company’s decision not to initiate operations at another pyrolysis plant.
On 13 June, JK Tyre & Industry announced the opening of its European Technology Centre in Milan, Italy. The team in Milan will work closely with the team at JK Tyre’s Global Technology Centre in India and the company’s satellite R&D Centre in Mexico, according to company representatives. JK Tyre reports that it exports tyres to more than 100 countries so the task of the technology centre will be to “support product development for worldwide sites in OEM and replacement markets”.
GRI’s recently launched Green XLR Earth Series has been undergoing field testing in Germany for the last 6 months. The manufacturer also refers to testing in “other European countries”. According to the company, the tyres contain 78.6 per cent sustainable material, including pure natural rubber sustainably sourced from Sri Lankan rubber farmers. Other input materials include: recycled carbon black, reclaimed rubber, highly dispersible silica, soybean oil and bio-sourced cellulose fibres. The use of bio-sourced soybean oil, combined with next-generation HD Silica, reportedly improves fuel economy and extends tyre life.
Tyrepress China learned that China’s Shandong Province exported 75.419 million new pneumatic rubber tyres in the first quarter, an increase of 11.1% over the same period last year. The total export value was 19.45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%; the average export price was 257.9 yuan per tyre, a rise of 5.8%.
Kumho Tire shares that its performance in the all-important European market has recently shown strong growth. First-quarter sales for 2023 were up 92% on those of the same period last year at €165 million, while the quarter-on-quarter figures rose by a solid 15%. Impressive as these results are, the company views them as “just the first stage” in a period of sustained investment which it anticipates will result in ongoing growth within the region.
Following the news that the EU introduced new definitive duties against Chinese-produced truck tyres, and the suggestion that a UK investigation is imminent, the UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has initiated “two transition reviews into anti-dumping and countervailing measures on lorry and bus tyres imported from China”.
On 2 May, Continental will drive the first mile of a two-year journey that will bring its portfolio of truck tyres and services to fleet customers throughout Europe. By the time the Continental European Roadshow draws to a close in 2025, it will have covered more than 9,000 miles and visited 35 countries.
On 4 May 2022 the General Court of the European Union annulled Regulation (EU) 2018/683, overturning the regimen of anti-dumping duties imposed upon truck & bus tyres imported from China. The European Commission subsequently partially re-opened its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation, disclosing its findings on 10 January 2023. The Commission has now published details of definitive measures.
Recently, Prinx Chengshan revealed in its 2022 annual report that it has decided to suspend its Anhui tyre factory project. The tyre maker said that the suspension of investment was due to the domestic and foreign economic situation and the company’s forecast analysis of capacity utilisation. According to the original plan of Prinx Chengshan, the Anhui factory is its second tyre factory in China.
Targeting Generation Z and Millennial drivers, Prinx Chengshan has officially launched its flagship Prinx brand in European markets. The range was specifically developed for our region and includes a launch line-up of six tyre models that, according to the manufacturer, “cover all requirement types in the passenger car and SUV segment” and are suitable for both ICE and electric vehicles. Prinx tyres are available for wholesale from spring 2023.
Goodyear reported that fourth-quarter 2022 tyre production levels were 3.5 million units below 2021 when executives published the firm’s full-year 2022 figures in February. That move was enacted in order to “control working capital given the weaker volume environment.” Now officials have confirmed that they decided to extend the pre-planned winter production shutdown into the first quarter of 2023 in the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in order to rebalance inventories.
Nexen Tire has increased the price of its winter tyres across all the company’s own brands in the replacement market. The new price list for winter tyres will be valid for the whole European market, including the United Kingdom and Turkey.
Sentury’s revenue and net profit in 2022 increased year-on-year. The tyre manufacturer’s annual report shows that last year’s revenue was 6.29 billion yuan (about £760 million; €860 million), an increase of 21.53 per cent. Net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 800 million yuan (approximately £97 million; €1.1 billion), an increase of 6.3 per cent.
“Sustainability” is not new, but it has really stepped into the foreground in the last couple of years. Furthermore, while “sustainability” is often used synonymously with terms like “green” and “ecological”. It is increasingly used in a much more strategic and philosophical manner to refer to areas across the gamut of environmental as well as corporate and social responsibility domains. At the same time, others have accused businesses of using such language as a means of jumping on the bandwagon and even “greenwashing” their companies to make them appear more sustainable than they are. March’s Tyres & Accessories takes a look at all these points and asks how they relate to the tyre business, beginning with this preview of an interview with Xavier Fraipont, Goodyear VP product development EMEA that will be published in the March edition of Tyres & Accessories magazine.
This article is a preview of the full interview that will be published in the March edition of Tyres & Accessories magazine. Not a subscriber? No problem, click here to become one.
The news that Goodyear lost $104 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 won’t be welcome in the company’s Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The official figures also confirmed projections a fortnight earlier that EMEA’s own fourth-quarter 2022 loss of $80 million would make up the lion’s share of the red numbers. Back then, Goodyear’s Ohio-based global executives announced plans to cut 5 per cent of the firm’s global salaried workforce and official statements featured implicit references to the underperformance of the EMEA region, raising questions about how many jobs would be cut in Europe.
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