Prinx Chengshan relocated its European operations to Germany in 2019, and the Darmstadt-based Prinx Chengshan Tire Europe GmbH team has now been reinforced by the arrival of Sybille Schümann-Huth as senior marketing & communications manager. She reports directly to managing director Thomas Wohlgemuth.
Thomas Wohlgemuth has taken over as managing director of Prinx Chengshan Europe, effective 1 September. His appointment coincides with the relocation of Prinx Chengshan’s European head office from Slovakia to Germany. He succeeds Ivan Majsky, who is no longer with the company.
Together with local partner Intergomma, Aeolus Tyre has opened its very first flagship retail outlet in Italy. The tyre maker states that the 4,500 square metre site in Livorno offers customers an “innovative sales and service centre that leaves nothing to be desired.” The outlet opened late last month and caters to both car and commercial vehicle users.
Two new Aeolus winter tyres were unveiled at last month’s Reifen 2016 show, the SnowAce2 for the standard segment and SnowACE2 HP for the high performance segment. The pair are the successor tyres to the SnowACE AW02 und AW03.
ChemChina’s Aeolus Tyre will exhibit in Hall 3 at Reifen 2016 (stand A45), with a larger booth than in 2014 displaying its major product ranges. Thomas Wohlgemuth, European sales and marketing manager at Aeolus Western Europe (Consumer Tyres), is looking forward to the exhibition: “What we will show our international customers is a future-proof company with a clear strategic direction. We would also like to further establish ourselves as a strong and reliable commercial partner.”
In the coming months the Aeolus tyre range for the European market will expand to include further cold weather products. Aeolus Tyre reports that the first addition to its winter range is currently being evaluated for the TÜV Tire Test Mark; the products have already undergone initial testing by TÜV SÜD and the results have been favourable, and if “weather conditions play out as projected” tests for this quality seal of approval will be completed before the end of this year.
Aeolus Tyres Europe aims to grow within the passenger car, SUV and van tyre segments, and in order to do is appointing managers in various European markets to support the tyre maker’s local partners. The first of these new hires has now been named – Marc Wolf has taken on the role of national retail development manager for Aeolus Tyres Europe’s German-speaking markets. The company says it will report on appointments for other Western European markets “in due course.”
Quality certification by a known, independent organisation adds weight to a product’s credentials, and earlier in the year Aeolus Tyre announced that its new PrecisionACE2 had been awarded the TÜV Tire Test Mark from certification specialist TÜV SÜD. The tyre maker stated at the time that approval of this first product from the ACE2 portfolio would soon be followed by the TÜV certification of a second range, the SteeringACE2. This has now been achieved.
The days when a handful of well-known brands dominated the tyre market are long gone, and while consumers are now spoiled for choice, this choice comes with one major hitch – gaining an overview of the good, the bad and the ugly in the tyre world is nigh on impossible. All but a few brand names are ‘unknowns’ to the average tyre buyer, and as a result serious manufacturers can easily remain invisible. Faced with this situation, passenger car tyre sector newcomer Aeolus Tyre Co. Ltd is drawing attention to its products through a name synonymous with product quality the world over.
With thousands of people attending Autopromotec and with news of the ChemChina-Pirelli deal still ringing in our ears, Aeolus and Heuver Tyrewholesale representatives will no-doubt take the opportunity to stand out from the crowd in Bologna in May.
Thomas Wohlgemuth general manager West Europe continued this theme during a recent conversation with Tyres & Accessories, highlighting the ways in which Aeolus has long sought to stand out from the crowd:
The Aeolus ACE Series 2 ranges first displayed at the Madrid-based motortec trade show earlier this month and subsequently shown to distributors and dealers at events in Spain and Finland are the first passenger car products from Aeolus Tyre to go on sale bearing a quality mark from world-renown testing and certification corporation TÜV. The TÜV Tire Test Mark will be used to promote the PrecisionACE2 and SteeringACE2 summer tyre ranges and Aeolus intends to use it as a means of differentiating its products from the many other Chinese brands now on sale in Europe.
Even today the number of Chinese tyre makers, and tyre brands, remains exceptionally high. The necessity for consolidation is obvious and something China’s authorities are well aware of. And in the People’s Republic of China, where the state has a closer relationship to the market than in the West, how a firm appears to measure up can be crucial. Tyre makers who fail to meet targets set for them fall by the wayside while those who establish a global presence grow in favour and are viewed as strategically significant enterprises. This state-business relationship also means companies can rely upon government support in one form or another – and this certainly applies in the case of Jiaozuo, Henan Province-based Aeolus Tyre Co., Ltd.
Aeolus Tyre has appointed Koem Grupo Comercial S.L. its consumer segment distributor in Spain, Andorra and the Spanish islands. The arrangement gives Koem exclusive distribution of Aeolus’ passenger car, van and SUV tyre ranges.
According to Greek mythology, Aeolus was the ruler of the winds, and for this reason Aeolus Tyres’ Western Europe general manager considers sponsoring a participant in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/2015 highly appropriate. At a press conference in the French seaport of Lorient, Thomas Wohlgemuth said the sponsorship deal with the DongFeng Racing Team had “set the sails towards the right direction” and will aid Aeolus in its goal of positioning itself at the apex of its business segment.
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