When Tyrepress.com visited Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd in China late last year, newly-appointed executive vice-president Rami Helminen shared details about the US factory project he’d been hired to head. He disclosed that “hundreds of millions of US dollars” would be invested in a factory, and that a search for a suitable site was already underway. It appears the tyre maker has decided upon a location in the state of Tennessee.
Landsail Tyres has refreshed its brand, targeting both the trade and public. The brand is seeking consolidation having become a high-selling brand in the UK market; it states the brand identity will “re-affirm Landsail’s position… by showcasing [its] exceptional value for money.” The brand, produced by China’s Sentury Tire, has grown quickly, with a range spanning over 250 sizes, most recently including Landsail’s first venture into the all-season market, offering comprehensive coverage for the UK market, in which sales are thought to have reached 1.2 million. Landsail itself states that it supplies “one in every 25 tyres sold in the UK.”
One of the most immediately visible tyre brands at this year’s Autosport International show was Landsail. Not only did Group Tyre member Oak Tyres take out a five times bigger stand this year, the company also sponsored the Performance Car Show, which means the brand’s name was being dropped show new releases weeks before the event and that branded hoarding adorned the Performance Car Show’s entrance. When you consider that Oak Tyres also organised a Davanti-branded stand at the show, the company was one of the most prominent tyre brands present.
Step off the plane and into a car at Qingdao airport and it won’t be long before you see a Sentury Tire billboard. While this particular Chinese tyre manufacturer isn’t a global player, it is rapidly internationalising and is selling millions of tyres in Europe (many of which end up in the UK). The firm is expanding very quickly and recent high-profile appointments and off-shore factory investment announcements suggest the firm is well and truly on a growth path. Towards the end of 2015, Tyres & Accessories met with export sales manager Hellen Yang and Davanti vice-general manager Wilson Zhang for a tour of the firm’s large and very modern factory near Qingdao airport.
Oak Tyres has undergone some dynamic changes this year as it adapts its business to a shifting wholesale landscape. The most radical of the company’s developments in 2015 has been the launch of its fully owned private brand Davanti, which Oak’s management most recently supported at CITExpo 2015 in Shanghai. To accommodate operations associated with the new brand, Oak Group Holdings was formed, with the Oak Tyres 100 per cent wholesale business now under this umbrella alongside Davanti Tyres, and promotional merchandise producer Davanti World. With the Davanti product designed as “an opportunity for margin”, in the words of general manager Larry Cross, Oak Tyres’ brand portfolio has increased its scope. Stating that “we have a very clear, defined brand strategy at Oak, which we have refined continuously over the past five years,” Peter Cross, commercial manager at Oak Tyres, told Tyres & Accessories a bit more about the company’s current outlook, and how the second tier “exclusive brand programmes” are offering customers the opportunity “to maximise their profits”.
Growing global demand for Landsail car, high performance and van tyres has prompted Sentury to open a new factory in Thailand and the first Landsail tyres rolled off the production line earlier this week. The new plant will mean a significant increase in the capacity and output of Landsail tyres. A completely automated production line has been introduced, with Sentury investing in the VMI Exxium building machines, which are capable of producing a tyre every 38 seconds.
Cimcorp, which specialises in intralogistics automation reports that Qingdao Sentury Tire Co Ltd. has made the firm’s biggest ever order. According to Cimcorp Sentury has ordered a turnkey material handling solution for its new factory in Thailand.
With Landsail and Grouptyre celebrating their third anniversary this June, the two firms have announced that the partnership is now selling over 1.5 million units a year. Grouptyre became the sole distributor of Landsail in the UK and Ireland when the deal was struck three years ago and, according to both the partners and the unit sales figures, the relationship has gone from strength to strength since then.
Qingdao Sentury Tire has already stated its intention to become a player in the aviation tyre business, and in June 2014 the tyre maker received its first airworthiness certificate from a civil aviation authority (a Chinese Technical Standard Order Authorisation issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China) ahead of the start of aviation tyre production later in the year. Now the company reports that on 29 December 2014, the AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) Fund of China invested RMB 400 million (£42.2 million) in Sentury Tire and become its strategic partner.
Landsail Tyres has confirmed its sponsorship of the 2015 Performance Car Show, in association with Autocar and PistonHeads.com. The leading UK exhibition dedicated to enthusiasts of sports and performance cars, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, on 8-11 January 2015. The brand, manufactured by Qingdao’s Sentury Tire and distributed in the UK by Grouptyre member Oak Tyres, will communicate with visitors about the depth and breadth of its range, with high performance, ultra high performance, and SUV fitments. The manufacturer, founded in 2009, has been moving to differentiate itself in a populous field of Chinese tyre brands selling into the UK. At the beginning of December it stated that it would offer tyres for magazine testing to prove the quality of its products, having presented some eye-catching European tyre labels at its Reifen debut.
Landsail tyres, which are produced by Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd in China’s Shandong province, are offering their tyres for magazine testing in a bid to demonstrate the quality of its products. According to the company, the move made as the Landsail brand reaches its fifth anniversary, follows accelerated investment in engineering, production capabaility, and […]
How does a tyre manufacturer grow from nothing to having large-scale international sales and a few percentage points of market share in a country like the UK in just five years? The answer is by starting with a blank piece of paper and by virtue of some strategic acquisitions.
Chinese tyre manufacturer Qingdao Sentury Tire has commissioned Finnish robotics company Cimcorp to deliver a new material handling solution for passenger car green tyre production. Plans are that the system will be fully operational next year, and the stated aims are to increase plant productivity and improve product quality.
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