Westlake Tyres, which are produced by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company (ZC Rubber) and distributed in Europe by Eskay Tyres Ltd. – part of the Al Dobowi Group, has joined TyreSafe. According to a statement announcing the news, Westlake will use its technical expertise to assist TyreSafe in its campaigns aimed at improving road safety.
Leading Chinese tyre manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber has confirmed that it is planning to build a tyre factory in the vicinity of Bangkok, Thailand. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories, the executive responsible for the company’s Westlake brand Mr Ge, confirmed that the company had signed a contract with the Thai government to purchase land in the Bangkok development zone.
Al Dobowi Group recently celebrated 35 years of operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This fourth generation tyre business was started in the Middle East with the aim of addressing the needs of a growing tyre management and service industry in the Middle East. Today, says the company, it has grown to become a leading global player in the industry providing clients with superior services and unique solutions to their problems across three continents. The group has grown beyond tyre management into providing clients with all the solutions they need with regards to motion. This includes batteries for motive power, lubricants, conveyor belt systems and technical rubber products.
PCL has reported that exchanging Nitrogen for Air is set to be the biggest growth area for tyre inflation, according to feedback from visitors to Brityrex 2010. According to the company, N2 inflation was the talk of the show, with “huge interest” in PCL’s Nitrogen range, and tyreshop managers impressed with product features such as the in-built inflator’s ‘purge’ function – which competitors apparently can’t match.
After eight month of market research and development Westlake Central Europe launched the SW612 light truck winter tyre at Reifen 2010 in Essen, Germany. The new tyre, which is produced by China’ Hangzhou ZhongCe Rubber Co., Ltd.,, has reportedly been especially developed to cater to Central European requirements. The design and structure of the tyre is said to have been “hammered-out” by well-known premium brand technicians and compound experts, while Westlake distributors in Germany and Austria influenced the specification, look, feel and size range.
After the launch Guorong Ge, vice president of Hangzhou ZhongCe Rubber assured customers that Central Europe will — in addition to China and the United States of America — become a “top priority region” for ZhongCe Rubber “with immediate effect” and that the SW612 was only the beginning of a series of new tyres especially developed for Central Europe.
Visitors to 26th Reifen Show in Essen will have the chance to hear former German federal foreign minister Joschka Fischer speak on the subject of “Economic Growth and Ecological Responsibility” at the ceremonial opening of Reifen 2010, the evening before the show proper begins.
In addition visitors to Reifen can look forward to a “high profile” supporting programme. For example Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk e.V. (BRV – Federal Association of the Tyre Trade and the Vulcanisers' Skilled Trade), the ideal sponsor of the trade fair, has recruited top experts and well-known personalities for its events.
Diamond Tire is the exclusive agent for Westlake tyres in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and Slovenia since it was awarded distribution rights in the region by Chinese manufacturer Huangzhou ZhongCe Rubber Company in 2009. The company and its partners will exhibit the Westlake brand using their collective Westlake Central Europe Group moniker at Reifen Essen 2010 in Hall 6, Booth 124.
Al Dobowi Group, the owner of the Infinity brand and distributor of the Westlake tyre brand, has announced that the company “terminated its relationship with their general manager (West Europe), Martin West” this week. The news comes just six months after West, who previously held a similar position for Turkish-produced tyre brand Lassa, joined the Infinity team. The company’s dealer partners were informed that the company’s “relationship” with West ceased “with immediate effect” on 20 April 2010. The company has not released any further details about who will replace him.
Falken Tire Corp. is back in the medium truck tyre business in the USA, Tire Review reports, once again becoming the North American distributor for Ohtsu brand medium truck radials. Falken will take over marketing, sales and distribution of the Ohtsu brand as of 1 March, 2010. The Ohtsu brand is owned and produced by Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which also controls the Falken brand.
Enjoy Tyre is a young, Chinese company trading in the wheel and tyre sector, which has built up an export business supplying companies in more than 60 countries in less than five years. Turnover in 2008 was US$ 46 million.
The product range includes good quality Chinese tyres, including a number of brands that are becoming increasingly familiar names in Western Europe. Among these are; Linglong, Chengshan, Westlake, Goodride, Taishan, Double Star and Jintong. Miss Xu Xia, managing director of Enjoy, told T&A that the company has global exclusivity for the distribution of the Rotalla brand of passenger car and high/ultra high performance radial tyres, which are being actively marketed across Europe.
After making its debut on the international winter tyre market in 2007, the Westlake brand, manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company, is offering eleven size options ranging from 13 inches to 16 inches, incorporating an imposing and rugged symmetrical tread pattern to combat all winter road condition right across Europe.
The Westlake line is manufactured at one of the largest tyre production plants in China, while the products are distributed throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe by London-based Eskay Tyres. The general manager of Eskay, Rob Henderson states that, “With the Westlake brand already well-established as a quality brand in both PCR and Truck budget sectors of the market, we have every confidence that our new winter tyre range will be well-received and have an instant impact in the market. They will offer the same exceptional value for money as all other Westlake products and the range will be further enhanced with new sizes and patterns in due course”.
Despite an absence of specific festivities, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber marked a significant milestone during the Reifen Essen show – this year the Chinese company has been in existence for half a century. Established in 1958 in Hangzhou city, in China’s east coast Zhejiang Province, the former state owned enterprise produces a range of rubber related products. The company’s first tyre (for bicycles) was manufactured ten years ago, and since then Hangzhou Zhongce has increased its range substantially.
A company representative reported that Hangzhou Zhongce now produces more than one thousand sizes of automotive tyre, with annual output for this segment an impressive 27 million pieces, of which 22 million are radials. The representative added the company aims to achieve sales (for all products) of US$2.7 billion by 2010. Amongst the products on display at the exhibition were familiar brand names, including Goodride and Westlake. Truck and bus tyre products, an important market for Hangzhou Zhongce, featured prominently.
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Yokohama Tire Corp. and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. have reached a final settlement agreement with Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd. pertaining to design patent infringement, with Hangzhou agreeing to destroy the manufacturing moulds and remaining inventory of its Westlake H280 tyres. In September 2006, Yokohama Tire Corp. and its parent company initiated legal proceedings against China’s Hangzhou alleging, among other claims, a violation of Yokohama’s tyre tread design patent which protects some of its best-selling lines, including the Geolandar A/T+II.
The fortunes of Hangzhou Zhongce in the US have received another blow. Only seven months after the beginning of the now notorious Foreign Tire Sales recall of the company’s Westlake, Compass and YKS branded tyres, the Chinese manufacturer is facing legal action regarding the tread pattern used on some of the tyres it produces.
On January 17 the Yokohama Rubber Company filed an intellectual property infringement complaint with the Miami office of the Florida Southern District Court. The document filed by Yokohama claims that Hangzhou Zhongce has copied the tread pattern design from its S.drive tyre range, a design patented in the US by Yokohama in November 2005. The alleged copycat tyres are marketed under the Sumo brand name, the private brand belonging to Singapore’s Stamford Tyres, and the models in question are the Sumo Firenza ST-08 and Sumo Akina ST-08.
Chinese tyre manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber has released its response to the commencement of the US recall involving approximately a quarter of a million tyres produced by the company.
“Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. (HZR) has a long record of producing high-quality, safe and reliable products. HZR has fully cooperated with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to provide information on the scope of the recall and the design history of the products involved. While HZR has not found any evidence that the LTR tyres at issue contain any structural defects or are missing any safety features, because FTS has initiated a recall, consumers who own tyres within its scope should bring them into their dealer to have them checked.
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