Andreas Wilmsmeier has joined Sailun as the company’s new business development manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Benelux. In this role, he reports directly to European sales director, Janis Amolins.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is to form a joint venture with Sailun Vietnam Co, Ltd to build a 2 million capacity truck and bus radial manufacturing plant. Subject to closing and government approvals, the facility will be located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at the site of Sailun Vietnam’s existing operations, which early in 2018 signed an offtake agreement to produce Roadmaster, Dean and Starfire brand tyres for Cooper. The new announcement represents the latest move in a series of cooperative moves between the two firms – Sailun Jinyu invested in joining Cooper in its GRT JV in September.
As of today, Sailun’s ticker symbol on the Shanghai Stock Exchange has changed from ‘Sailun Jinyu Group Co., Ltd.’ to ‘Sailun Group Co., Ltd.’. The tyre maker’s securities code remains 601058.
Martin West retired as global president of Maxam Tire International Limited. He left the Sailun Group company at the end of last month and has been succeeded by Troy Kline. The president of Maxam Tire North America has assumed full responsibility for European operations.
The vast majority of Sailun Jinyu Group shareholders have approved the adoption of a new company name and changes to the company’s articles of association. Votes held during an extraordinary meeting of shareholders on 12 October resulted in a 99.1 per cent turnout in favour of both measures. The tyre maker will thus adopt the name Sailun Group Co., Ltd.
At a meeting held yesterday, the Board of Directors of Sailun Jinyu Group Co. Ltd. approved a change of the company’s name to Sailun Group Co., Ltd.
As far as years go, 2017 was a special one for Tyre Trading International (T.T.I.). Early on in the piece it delivered growth through the acquisition of Van Aalderen Twen-Tyre, it then witnessed expansion with Reifen Kraftwerk and was rounded off by organisational restructuring following the sale of the company’s Motoria business. T.T.I.’s owner Peter-Alexander van ’t Hof sees last year’s changes as a “big step” for the wholesaler, and 2018 is also looking to be a red-letter year.
At the end of May, anti-Chinese truck tyre tariffs were implemented. They included nominal (as opposed to percentage) tariffs at levels that surprised many. As a result, supply shortages and challenges at distributors were predicted. Shuttering of some of the lowest cost Chinese tyremakers is also expected. However, speaking to affected firms during the recent Tire Cologne reveals that many are already prepared to source tyres elsewhere. Indeed, the largest manufacturers have been off-shoring for some time. As a result, virtually all the leading Chinese tyre manufacturers already have non-Chinese tyre production in place. Let’s take a look at who’s got what.
Prometeon Tyre Group’s recent appointment of Kirkby Tyres as its official wholesale partner for Pirelli truck & bus product is “a landmark in Kirkby’s history as with this agreement, this is Kirkby’s first appointment as a national distributor of a major tier-1 tyre brand”, according to Dave Dorrity, managing director of Kirkby Tyres.
Under a new multi-year manufacturing offtake agreement, the Sailun tyre plant in Vietnam will produce truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres for Cooper Tire & Rubber. Tyres produced for Cooper in the Sailun Vietnam Co., Ltd. plant will be manufactured under the Roadmaster, Dean and Starfire brand names and be sold in global markets. Cooper says the offtake agreement gives it a “third global source of TBR tyre production to meet growing customer needs.”
Two of Sailun Jinyu International Europe’s tyre brands will now be distributed by wholesalers Viking Wholesaler Tyres and Bond International following a major strategic review of its UK distribution operations. The manufacturer pronounced itself “delighted to announce a number of enhancements and improvements” for its portfolio, which includes the Sailun, Jinyu, Blacklion, and Rovelo brands. The new strategy has become effective immediately, SJI Europe added.
The management of Kings Road Tyres Group (KRTG) has welcomed the well-known wholesaler’s return to private ownership after reaching agreement to conclude its contractual arrangements with the Sailun Jinyu Group.
Sailun Jinyu Group has announced that it sold its Kings Road Tyres Group (KRT Group) tyre wholesale subsidiary to KRT Holdings Ltd in a November Shanghai stock market statement.
Kirkby Tyres’ 2017 expansion programme will see its first warehouse completed in December 2017, with the 80,000sqft of new floor space, across nine additional new warehouses, fully operational by March 2018. In total, Kirkby will fit in 2,500 additional tyre racking units, enabling 8.9m high tyre storage facilities. The wholesaler will also add 10 more loading bays to its operation. In order to realise this expansion, Kirkby purchased three acres of land adjacent to its Speke headquarters, allowing it to increase its stock capacity and further improve its logistical operations, and increasing its total footprint to approximately nine acres. Kirkby added that the expansion would require more local personnel to be employed, and enable the company to offer customers a wider range of brands, sizes and applications.
During May’s Autopromotec 2017 in Bologna Sailun held a prize draw, and received customer donations and pledges of over 5000 euros, which Sailun matched to make a donation of 10,000 euros to the World Child Cancer charity.
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