The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup, held in Japan during November, is one of the main qualifying tournaments for the 2012 Olympics. China’s national team finished the 12-team tournament in third place, assuring it a berth in London next year. Commenting on this achievement, team sponsor Shandong Linglong Tyre praised the 18 players for showing the “spirit of Chinese women’s volleyball” to the world.
On 11 October 2011, Hou Yifan, member of Linglong Tyre chess team was awarded “Non-olympic Athlete of the Year” at the 10th China Laurens Prize ceremony was held in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. The award was the second grand prize she won after a prizegiving by state television – “CCTV non-olympic athlete” – at the beginning of this year.
Infinity Tyres aimed to stand out at the recent Charleville Show, Ireland’s largest agricultrual show. Irish dealer, Daly Tyres, and the Infinity-backed rally car placed at the brand’s stand were said to have caught visitors’ attention. The car, an Infinity-branded Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 was available all day for photo shoots with the many budding young drivers and their parents queuing to get their children, who were wearing their own competition helmet and gloves, into the car. As Eamon Daly, owner of Daly Tyres, said: “The Infinity car gave pleasure to many people and hopefully, when they view the pictures, they will come back to buy Infinity products”.
The China Rubber Industry Association has referred to rising rubber costs as a ‘grim situation’. The CRIA reports that rubber prices, currently approaching RMB 40,000 per ton, have caused tyre production costs to increase by 50 per cent and squeezed profit margins to a record low, with year-on-year profits declining by up to 50 per cent last year. In light of this industry crisis, seven CRIA members met in Beijing on January 13 to discuss possible countermeasures.
Australian football club Brisbane Roar has received a sponsorship boost after signing a one-year deal with tyre maker Shandong Linglong. The team, which plays in the nation’s premier A-league, has welcomed the Chinese company’s Australian presence, Linglong Tyres, as ‘front of short’ sponsors.
Autocar’s latest tyre test reports on the extent of the performance gap between premium and budget products when it comes to wet weather handling. Autocar tested five leading budget brands (GT Radial, Linglong, Nankang, Triangle and Wanli) against an established Continental tyre. The magazine conducted its own tests for wet handling and braking, dry handling and braking and aquaplaning, plus a stringent high-speed test at the Contidrom test centre in Hannover. Summing up Autocar senior tester Jamie Corstorphine said: “We expected the bargain tyres in this test to fall short of the Continental, but we were not prepared for just how poorly some performed.”
Shandong Linglong will soon be exporting high performance tyres from its new factory, commented company representatives at the Reifen exhibition. Work started on the £100 million 40,000 square metre facility last year and progress is said to be at an advanced stage. Full capacity at the plant should be reached by 2010, at which time it will have an annual output of 10 million tyres, bringing the company’s total capacity to 30 million pieces.
Shandong Linglong Rubber Co. has announced plans to construct a new 40,000 m2 factory for the production of passenger-car/light truck tyres. Online news sources quoted Jiang Guibo, Shandong Linglong's import and export business business chief, as saying that the new plant will be built in Shandong province, will cost 1.5 billion yuan (£100 million, 141 million euros), and will focus on high performance products.
Infinity, the private brand label, has complemented its range of passenger car, van and 4×4 radial with 15 sizes of winter tyres. The tyres, produced for UK based Goldspark Trading Ltd by the Shandong Linglong Company in China, have been well-received throughout Europe in their first year of distribution.
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