World Bank Group member IFC is investing US$30 million in JK Tyre & Industries. These funds will part-finance the expansion of capacities and integration of resource-efficient technologies into TBR & PCR manufacturing, leading to a more than 10% increase in radial tyre production. IFC gains a 5.6% stake in the tyre maker.
Yokohama is investing US$82 million in expanding the annual passenger car tyre production capacity of its Yokohama India Pvt. Ltd. (YIN) from 2.8 million to 4.5 million tyres. The new capacity will be installed within premises of the Visakhapatnam plant in eastern India and is scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of 2024. At that point, the factory will be capable of building passenger car tyres up to 22 inches.
Next Century Ventures (NCV), Nexen Tire’s venture capital arm, has invested in Automotus, a curbside management technology company. Nexen representatives described the investment as a way of meeting “NCV’s goals to revolutionize the mobility industry”. No financial details have been released.
Alongside an exclusive tour of Linglong Tire’s new European production base in Serbia, Tyres & Accessories sat down with chairman Wang Feng in a conversation that covered topics including the company’s plans for its latest factory in Serbia, the location of its next manufacturing investment and the fast-growing tyre manufacturer’s strategic goals.
On 3 March, Sentury purchased 20 hectares of land for the company’s Morocco tyre factory project. Lin Wenlong, general manager of the tyre manufacturer, formally signed a land purchase agreement with the company in charge of the Tangier Tech City project. According to various reports, Sentury will use this piece of land located in Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City to build a factory in Morocco. The project is scheduled to start construction in July 2023 ahead of an 18-month construction period.
SK Incheon Petrochem, a petrochemical wing of South Korean conglomerate SK Group’s intermediate holding company SK Innovation, has made an equity investment into LD Carbon, uses pyrolysis to extract oil from end-of-life tyres. The news confirms earlier reports that LD Carbon was being backed a South Korean petrochemical firm.
Hankook Tire & Technology has become a KRW 3 billion (£1.9 million) pre-Series A investor in South Korean used car e-commerce platform ‘Carmerce’. The tyre maker and start-up signed an investment contract at Hankook & Company’s headquarters on 28 February.
Major German automotive components supplier Schaeffler Group, which like tyre and automotive systems firm Continental counts the Schaeffler family’s IHO Holding as a significant shareholder, is shunning investment at home and in Europe in favour of the USA. In addition to more advantageous energy prices, Schaeffler looks approvingly upon the USA’s more pragmatic approach to climate issues.
LD Carbon is on the brink of closing a 10-year tyre pyrolysis oil contract with a South Korean oil firm. Tyres & Accessories understands that the 10-year deal will be worth around $25 million a year, making the whole contract worth around $250 million.
Following the departure of Sentury’s Spain factory project’s general manager, Warren Rudman, Sentury’s senior executives have taken up the reins of Sentury Tire (Spain), according to local business publication Economia Digital Galicia.
Linglong Tire will build its next tyre factory in the Americas region. Tyres & Accessories learnt the news during a recent interview with Linglong Tire chairman Wang Feng, which took place alongside an exclusive tour of the company’s new European tyre production facility in Serbia.
On 20 February 2023, the board of directors of Doublestar reviewed and approved the proposal to build a factory in Cambodia. The tyre manufacturer reportedly plans to establish a joint venture with UBE Development Co., Ltd in order to complete the plans.
Late in 2021, BKT announced operations would continue at its 1988-inaugurated Waluj factory following the commissioning of a plant originally intended to replace it. A year down the track and BKT reverted to its initial plan and is now redirecting the capital expenditure of Rs 3.5 billion (£35.2 million; US$42.4 million) previously approved for modernising the old plant to the newer Waluj facility to “bring in economies of scale.”
Australian firm Recharge Industries, which is backed by US-based financiers Scale Facilitation Partners, has been named as the preferred bidder for Britishvolt. Britishvolt had planned to build a battery gigafactory near Blyth, Northumberland but ran into cashflow problems that became public in the last quarter of 2022.
In May-2020, we needed a lift. We’d all been through the first and arguably harshest lockdown and Prime Minister Boris Johnson modified the COVID-19 message from “stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” to “stay alert, control the virus, save lives”. In other words, not knowing that further lockdowns would follow, the PM was working towards easing restrictions and reopening the economy. Within the automotive sector many tyre specialists, garages and fast-fits had closed along with OEM factories and car dealerships. One result of the latter was that car production figures fell to post-war lows. What better time to back a British electric vehicle battery manufacturing gigafactory? Several projects came to the fore. There was even talk of Elon Musk considering a Tesla gigafactory in the UK. But it was BritishVolt that Boris Johnson put his name to.
Yokohama
China Road and Bridge Corporation
Lars Eriksen; Pixabay
Narcisa Aciko; Pexels
Linglong
Doublestar