Sailun Group has revised the timetable for expanding production at its factory in Vietnam. Instead of commencing operations by March 2024, the tyre maker now intends to add a further three million semi-steel radials, one million all-steel radials and 50,000 tonnes of off-highway tyres to its annual capacities by March 2025.
The FIA updated its list of homologated suppliers for tyre barcodes and RFID tags on 22 February, and for the first time this list features a Chinese tyre maker – Sailun Group. Reporting its inclusion on the ‘List of Suppliers for Tyre Barcodes and RFID Tags Homologated by the FIA’, Sailun says it is now able to exclusively provide racing tyres for numerous international professional racing events.
In the landscape of modern fleet management, increasing demand within the local public transport and freight haulage sectors underscores the significance of electric propulsion. While the focus on electric vehicles extends beyond cars, the common challenge of optimising range persists across all vehicle types. This poses a pertinent question for operators of electric trucks: How to maximise range without resorting to simply installing larger batteries? The answer lies in a critical but sometimes overlooked component – tyres.
Sailun Group has announced plans to set up a factory in Indonesia capable of producing 3 million semi-steel radial tyres, 600,000 all-steel radials and 37,000 tonnes of OTR tyres annually. The company intends to invest US$251.44 million in the project, including $204.29 million to build the plant in Demak, Central Java.
A number of Chinese tyre manufacturers have stated that their net profits significantly increased year-on-year in 2023. Doublestar is one of the few tyre companies that was still losing money. Jiangsu General turned losses into profits. In terms of net profit alone, Sailun’s 3.1 billion yuan suggest the company gradually widened the gap between itself and Linglong. Currently, ZC Rubber has not officially disclosed its operating data for 2023. Therefore, it is not yet possible to judge who is in the leading position in terms of net profit between Sailun and ZC Rubber.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV presented the fourth annual China Automotive Festival on 28 January. The event at Beijing National Stadium included an awards ceremony honouring the best from domestic and international manufacturers, and amongst the recipients was Sailun Group, which won the Jury’s Choice Award for its EcoPoint3 technology. Mrs Liu Yanhua, chairwoman of Sailun Group, accepted the award on behalf of the tyre maker.
Membership in the Justice League? Not quite, or not yet – but Sailun Group has joined several organisations and initiatives dedicated to doing good in recent times. The company confirms that it is now a member of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). It also recently became the first Chinese tyre maker to join the United Nations Global Compact.
Driven by recovery within the domestic tyre market and the declining impact of destocking measures internationally in the second half of the year, Sailun Group expects to achieve a net profit of RMB 3.1 billion (£341.1 million) for 2023. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of some 132.77 per cent. Improving capacity utilisation rate pushed production and sales volumes within the company’s consumer, commercial and specialty tyre segments to “record highs,” with the gross profit margin of these products “substantially” increasing year-on-year.
Following on from an October 2023 announcement that it will extend annual passenger and light commercial vehicle tyre capacity in Cambodia by 6 million pieces, Sailun Group has approved additional investment in its plant. It will invest a further RMB 773.69 million (£85.05 million) to expand the capacity expansion project from 6 million to 12 million tyres a year. In total, Sailun is investing RMB 2.25 billion (£247.33 million) in its Cart Tire Co. Ltd. project, which will result in a facility capable of making 21 million semi-steel radial tyres a year.
With additions made during the third phase of Sailun Group’s Vietnam factory project now operational, the plant has started manufacturing rubber tracks. Members of the Sailun management team recently invited partners and plant employees to a ceremony celebrating the inauguration of track production.
Sailun Group officially began participation in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) as of 15 December 2023. According to the company, the move means the Sailun Group becomes the first Chinese tyre company to join UNGC, embarking on a journey with businesses of global impact to contribute to a sustainable future.
Sailun Group has confirmed plans to build a joint venture factory in Mexico. In a statement, Sailun Tire Americas describes the decision to establish the plant as a “strategic move” aimed at enhancing Sailun’s production capabilities and streamlining the supply chain to provide customers with “even better service and more efficient delivery of our products.” It further calls this “strategic expansion” a “significant milestone in the company’s commitment to innovation, efficiency, and global growth.”
Sailun Group is partnering to build a new factory in Mexico. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Sailun International Holding (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., the Chinese firm signed a joint venture agreement with TD International Holding and Sapide CV (TD Mexico) on 15 December. The partners will build a facility capable of producing 6 million semi-steel radial tyres annually and are also considering the future establishment of capacity to produce 1.65 million all-steel radials a year.
Following the production of the first giant tyre in its plant in Vietnam on 18 November, Sailun Group says its factories outside China are now equipped to manufacture a full range of PCR, TBR and OTR products.
At the end of September, the list of Asia’s most influential brands of 2023 was published at the “Asia Brand Summit” in Hong Kong. A total of 500 brands from 20 countries and regions, were honoured at the 18th World Brand Lab summit themed “The Impact of New Technologies on Brand Transformation and Consumer Behavior.” Seven of them were tyre brands and all seven were ranked amongst the top 350 of the 500 honoured brands.
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