Qingdao Doublestar Group, the largest Chinese tyre manufactuer and one of the 500 biggest companies in Asia, recently named Antonio Smith Montero as the new General Director for the company in Spain and Portugal. With this announcement, the company well-known for its popular brands such as Doublestar, Crossleader, Aosen and the recently acquired Kumho Tire, has underlined its commitment to the Iberian tyre market.
Antonio Smith, New General Director for Doublestar in Spain and Portugal
Antonio Smith stated, “This for me, is an honour and a challenge that the main tyre manufacturer in China has placed its faith and confidence in me to distribute and market its brands across Spain and Portugal. I have confidence in the fact that over the coming months, Doublestar’s tyres will become recognised in the Iberian market as a product that delivers high levels of trust and safety. We want to apply the motto of the company and “build the safest passenger tyre brand in the world.” Additionally, he emphasised: “we have important expansion plans for the group brand in Spain and Portugal that we are eager to make public.”
In this regard, Antonio Smith has further stressed that Doublestar’s products are manufactured in line with the requirements of European labelling, with attractive tyre designs, through the most modern production standards as shown by its state-of-the art intelligent 4.0 manufacturing plant.
It should be recalled that last July, the Qingdao Doublestar Group completed the acquisition of a 45% stake in the Korean tyre manufacturer, Kumho Tire Co. Inc. Double and its Korean filial Xingwei Korea Co. Ltd. signed a contract in April with the Korea Development Bank in order to purchase a stake of KDB in Kumho Tire with 607 million dollars. With that in mind, Doublestar became the major shareholder in Kumho Tire, while KDG and other creditors of Kumho will continue being the second major shareholder in the company, owning a 23% share. The remaining 22% of Kumho Tire will stay in private ownership.
