On 24 June 2022 Sailun decided to invest 15.18 billion yuan in building a new tyre factory in Dongjiakou, West Coast New District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province. The planned annual production capacity is 20 million sets of semi-steel radial tyres, 10 million sets of all-steel radial tyres and 150,000 tons of OTR tyres. At present, the Sailun board of directors has passed this investment proposal.
In October, Yokohama announced that the company had appointed ex-Pirelli and ex-Prometeon executive Gregorio Borgo as its European president. Roughly nine months later, there are a number of indications that the European business is entering a new chapter, which includes plans to invest in the construction of a factory “in the heart of Europe”.
Back in August 2020, we reported on the joint venture (Hella Minth Jiaxing Automotive Parts Co. Ltd) established between Hella and the Minth Group to develop and market radomes (absorbent covers for radar systems) and illuminated logos. We learned recently that the JV has put a second production plant into operation in the Chinese city of Jiaxing, to meet growing demand. The permeable covers for radar systems can be manufactured in special designs according to customer requirements and embedded in the radiator grille or in a customer logo, for example.
Triangle Tire has scrapped its plans to a build roughly half-a-billion dollar tyre factory in North Carolina, USA. According to the company, the project which had been strongly supported by local government officials in North Carolina was ended amicably with mutual consent.
Shandong Haohua Tire has broken ground on its previously-announced Sri Lanka tyre production base. Senior managers report that the US$300 million-dollar project’s workshop will be ready in mid-2022 and that the plant will go into production in late 2022.
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”.
Kumho Tire representatives have confirmed reports that the South Korean tyremaker has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Saudi tyre business Black Arrow Tire Co (Blatco). However, the two parties differ on the degree of progress made with the talks.
Cabot Corporation has agreed to buy Tokai Carbon (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. from Tokai Carbon Group for US$9 million. The carbon black manufacturing facility was commissioned in 2006 and is located in close proximity to Cabot’s current carbon black and speciality compounds facility in Tianjin, China. Cabot will run the plant and intends to continue to supply current customers while conducting technology upgrades. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
Japanese Ambassador to the UK, Hayashi Hajime, visited global battery manufacturer GS Yuasa’s factory in Ebbw Vale on Friday 9 July as part of an official two-day visit to Wales to celebrate the strong connections between the two countries. During the visit, Hayashi Hajime toured the plant, which is owned by the Japanese based corporation and celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year, seeing first-hand how industrial batteries are produced by the 360-strong workforce.
Jiangsu General Technology Co. Ltd, which is known as General Science or Jiangsu General, has announced plans to invest 3.061 billion yuan (£341.930 million; 399.958 million euros; US$473 million) in the construction of a 10.2 million tyre a year factory in Anqing, Anhui Province, China. The announcement of the new Chinese production base follow plans for investment in the construction of a separate factory in Cambodia.
Shareholders have voted in support of Linglong Tire’s US$1 billion investment in a largescale facturoy in Tongchuan City, Shaanxi Province, China.
The board of Shandong Linglong Tire Co., Ltd has agreed to build its sixth Chinese tyre factory in Tongchuan City, Shaanxi Province. The construction site is located in Dongjiahe Circular Economy Industrial Park, Yaozhou District, Tongchuan City, Shaanxi Province and will be home to large and modern factory manufacturing tyres for a wide range of business segments.
The board of Shandong Linglong Tire Company Ltd has revised its 10-year “medium and long-term development plan (2020-2030)” to focus on a 7+5 rather than a 6+6 tyre manufacturing capacity expansion model. Up till April 2020, Linglong has worked according to a 5+3 plan, but last year this was upgraded to 6+6, meaning the company plans to run six tyre factories in China as well as six situated in international locations. However, according a stock market filing dated 10 June 2021, Linglong’s board voted unanimously in favour of running a total of seven plants in China and five internationally.
The first batch of radial truck tyres rolled off the production line at Guizhou Tire Co Ltd’s Vietnam plant on 1 April 2021, marking the completion of the first phase of the factory project. When Guizhou Tire’s Vietnam tyre factory, which was funded through a share issue in September last year, gets up to speed it will produce 1.2 million radial tyres a year.
Ferentino Tyre Corporation’s Horana, Sri Lanka tyre factory was officially opened by Sri Lankan president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on 14 January 2021. The facility was constructed with an investment of US$250 million and can reportedly produce 2.4 million tyres annually. Tyres made at the Ferentino factory will cross a number of sectors including radial car, SUV, bicycle and even three-wheelers. These include a “Mythos” product line reminiscent of the Marangoni passenger car tyre range previously produced in the same place (see below). Of the 2.4 million tyres produced annually at the Ferentino factory in this phase, 80 per cent are destined for export markets. A second phase is scheduled to be completed in March 2022.
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Sailun
Hella
Haohua Tire
Seyoun Tire
Blatco
Tokai Carbon
Morning Star
Zrenjanin city government
Guizhou Tyre
Ferentino; Facebook