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CHINESE TYRES
Zeta and Pace brands.
These leading companies, of course, only form part of the market. There are many truck tyre wholesalers marketing a plethora of Chinese brands as well as a multitude of brokers. To get an idea of how many of these there are, it’s worthwhile walking round the exhibition halls
at one of the major tyre shows – the Reifen show in Essen, Germany will do it. If you walk round the right part of the show, you will be descended upon by countless young sales people trying to sell you their brands.
So are we likely to see more or less Chinese tyres in the future. It is
certainly to be expected that the leading Chinese brands mentioned in this article will continue to grow, improving their ranges, their quality and their marketing skills. These are major tyre manufacturers geared up to compete with the best.
As for the rest, it is worth bearing in mind the point made by David
Shaw in his article in this magazine, that the world market for truck tyres and Chinese production capacity for the same are about equal. Combined with the potential impact of proposed new anti-dumping tariffs in the US against Chinese manufacturers, the effect on Europe can only be guessed at.
Chinese Truck Tyres – Good, Bad, or Just Plain Ugly?
By David Shaw, Tire Industry Research
Most Chinese tyre brands are distributed by the wholesale trade. Annaite is one of the brands marketed by RH Claydon
Mention Chinese tyres at a truck show and it triggers strong reactions. Some think those tyres are the worst; others believe they offer good value for money, while still others know that you can't generalise about Chinese-made tyres.
Before thinking about putting them on your vehicles, we need to look at the truck tyre business in China. I've been spending a lot of time there recently and have a few observations to make. With a few exceptions, Chinese
Another factor is that Chinese truckers tend to over-load their trucks by 50% or more. There is quite a lot of kerbing/pothole damage as well.
Put that together, and to be successful in China, a tyre supplier has to make a robust carcass, a tread compound which lasts a long time, but which may not perform so well in terms of wet grip and fuel economy and a carcass which — given the chronic overloading — lasts about the same length of
more recently Triangle are all good examples. Each of them separately has brought in Western tyre experts with years of international experience and asked them to come up with a strategy to develop the different brands.
There is another
type of company
which doesn't
make the tyres,
but does all the
marketing and
design and then
out-sources the
manufacture to a
trusted Chinese
manufacturer. These can be good options, as they take responsibility for the product performance, but they also do the communication with the Chinese supplier. Infinity is a good example of that kind of company.
Whether manufacturer or marketing company, these pioneers hope that coming up with good products and meeting
Sailun co-operate with Kirkby Tyres in the UK. This was their joint stand at the CV show
tyre makers are terrible at marketing. So they build tyres to suit Chinese roads and Chinese trucks and then hope they can sell those same tyres in different markets around the world: Africa; Middle East, Indonesia, North America, South America or even Europe.
Chinese roads are pretty good. Distances between cities are long; speeds are relatively low and you don't see many roundabouts. There's also no Summer/Winter split in most of China. That means driving conditions are closer to the US than to Europe — or the UK for that matter.
time as the tread. That tyre also has to be cheap, because the truck fleet market in China is barely developed at all and truckers in China look to the initial purchase price before pretty much any other factor. Like ever y other market, Chinese truckers demand different tyres for steer, drive and trailer applications.
I said there are a few exceptions on the marketing front. Some of the more enlightened companies in China are making a big effort to understand how different markets around the world vary. Double Coin, Shandong Linglong, Sailun, Aeolus and
the needs of different customers around the world will allow them to charge higher prices. That will help them make better profit in the intensely competitive Chinese market.
It's not a bad strategy.
As part of that marketing effort, those companies and a few others have been going to customers and asking what they really want. We know the
The Aeolus stand at the CV Show this year
22 Commercial Tyre Business