During The Tire Cologne show, which took place in May, we spotted the Landsail Qirin EV concept tyre on the stand of wholesaler Inter-Sprint. It is a concept no longer, as Qingdao Sentury Tire officially debuted the tyre yesterday.
Sentury is in the process of declaring its Spanish factory plans as a strategic industrial project with the government of Garcia, Spain. The tyre maker hopes that its plant in the As Pontes region of Garcia will be able to use this method to obtain fast-track approvals to speed up the entire project’s construction.
Chinese listed tyre companies have successively released their 2021 annual reports in recent weeks. Here, Tyrepress analyses these annual reports’ comparing developments in revenue, operating conditions and overseas factory strategy. And the short story is Linglong remains the largest tyremaker amongst the top 10 listed Chinese tyre companies and that Sailun is the fastest growing.
Sentury Tire, the tyre manufacturer behind the global Landsail tyre brand, has outlined its plan to construct a 522.59 million euro car and light truck tyre plant in the Galicia region of northwest Spain. Qingdao Sentury Tire Co, Ltd’s board of directors approved the proposal to build capacity for 12 million high performance and light commercial tyres on a three-year schedule at a meeting in the last quarter of 2021, announcing this intention to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on 19 December. The company has implemented a 100 per cent owned subsidiary, Sentury Tire (Spain) Co, Ltd, via its Hong Kong trading company for the project, and wants to ramp up production in two phases; it expects the plant to reach 50 per cent capacity (six million tyres) after two years, with the second half added after three years. Sentury wants to achieve these milestones in 2024 and 2025 respectively, pending construction conditions in Spain and the availability of funding, which Sentury plans to self-raise.
Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd. has appointed Martin Winter as global technical director OE. Winter has more than 20 years’ experience of working in original equipment tyre development with Continental, Goodyear, and most recently Hankook. Sentury Tire states that Winter will work to establish relationships with leading original equipment manufacturers. Sentury is seeking to “establish and increase a competitive partnership and relationship” with European and global light vehicle makers. Manufacturing from its base in Qingdao, China and in Thailand, Sentury is primarily known for its Landsail brand in the UK and Europe.
Having received approval back in June, Qingdao Sentury Tire has successfully completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and is now listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (China) as of 11 September 2020. 11 per cent of the company’s shares were valued at 1.31 billion yuan (162 million euros; £149.859 million) by investors, resulting in a theoretical total valuation of 1.47 billion euros. The offered shares offered were oversubscribed 2887 times over. But what is the company planning to do with its newly-raised funds?
Chinese manufacturer Qingdao Sentury Tire received approval for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange earlier in the month. The tyre maker is mainly known in the UK for supplying Landsail tyres through wholesaler Grouptyre, as well as being a manufacturing partner of Davanti Tyres. Tyres & Accessories asked Sean Maddocks, Davanti sales director for UK and Ireland, what the IPO would mean for its own relationship and growth plans.
The latest global tyre market share figures from tyre industry analyst Astutus Research show how long-established, leading players headquartered in Japan, Europe, and North America have seen their volume share diminish, while Chinese, ASEAN, and selected other markets’ tyre manufacturers’ share has risen. The analyst states that in aggregate, the ten leading PCLT tyre manufacturers based in Japan, Europe and North America (J-E-NA) have lost almost 6 percentage points of market share since the end of 2011 (OE and replacement segments combined, volumes in tyre units). In part this reflects a strategic choice of some to focus on the higher value premium segments of the market.
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.
Qingdao Sentury Tire reports that its aviation tyres have gained MDA (Modification Design Approval) certification by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) following take-off and landing tests conducted using a Boeing 737 at Yantai Laishan Airport in Shandong Province late last year. This MDA certification, the first given to a privately-owned tyre manufacturer in China, approves Sentury aviation tyres for sale and use within the country.
Landsail claims to be leading its particular market segment in ultra high performance tyres with its LS588 pattern.
Designed and manufactured in an Industry 4.0 production facility, smart manufacturing means Landsail can deliver quality and performance at a price that’s never been possible before.
Back in the middle of November, Sentury Tire launched its first run-flat tyre under the Landsail brand name. Now the Landsail 255/55 R18 109V all-season run flat tyre ha been developed and tested, Sentury has taken it to the market and says: “This new product is the evidence of Sentury’s strength of innovation” and is a justification of the firm’s ‘“Top Ranked Product is Made in China” advocacy’.
Initial data suggests graphene tyres offer 1.5x better rolling resistance and better mileage, braking 2016 has been the year that graphene has been most clearly and most publically associated with tyres. And with initial reports suggesting this material could have a dramatic effect on rolling resistance (and therefore emissions) as well as treadwear, it seems […]
Sentury and Huagao launched their first electrostatic conducting graphene tyre at the 2016 China International Graphene Innovation Conference (GrapChina) on 22 September. The launch comes less than a month after Sentury and Huagao officially announced their cooperation on the product.
Shangdong Hengyu Technology has become the latest tyre manufacturer to announce that it is making tyres based on the Nobel Prize-winning material graphene. Other firms using graphene in tyres include bicycle tyremaker Vitorria and fast-growing Chinese manufacturer Sentury Tire.
According to the company supplying Hengyu with Graphene (The Sixth Element Materials Technology), Shangdong Hengyu has developed “tyre formulations” that the companies say demonstrates the positive impact of graphene on the performance of tyres.
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Mylene2401; Pixabay
Sentury Tire