Shandong Linglong Tire recently unveiled a new range of bio-based rubber tyres. Developed in joint collaboration with Beijing University of Chemical Technology over the past three years, the tyres utilise a number of sustainable rubber ingredients.
Environmental campaigners have been protesting against Linglong’s Zrenjanin, Serbia tyre factory. At the same time the construction work, which has been variously described as either an 800 million euro or US$994 million project by different sources, has also been involved in certification disputes.
The five-year-old sponsorship arrangement between Linglong Tire and German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg has been given a further boost with a two-year extension of the 2019-initiated sleeve partnership. The continued presence of the Linglong logo on the left sleeve of players’ jerseys through to 2022 complements a partnership that also includes advertising on stadium LED boards, cam carpets, matchday hospitality and digital services.
On July 10, Linglong Tire signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent Cloud and Huazhi. As a result, the three parties will cooperate on smart marketing and industrial digitalization based on “the world’s first industrial Internet platform for the tyre industry, aiming at helping Linglong realize the transformation from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, while seizing the aftermarket and improving the overall digital marketing and service level.”
Linglong Tire signed a cooperation agreement with the Jinan Municipal People’s Government on 17 July 2020. As a result, Linglong Tire will settle its research and development and technological innovation base in the central district of Jinan. According to the agreement, the two parties will cooperate in terms of science and technology as well as personnel matters. The relevant leaders of Jinan and Linglong’s chairman and president Wang Feng attended the signing ceremony.
Over the last five years of data collection for the Tyres & Accessories’ ranking of the leading tyre manufacturers, a few trends can be observed – see accompanying graphs for more details. Firstly, it is easy to see that there are a few separate groupings of rival companies within the top ten. In our first chart, we can see that Continental has continued to progress in narrowing the tyre sales gap with Goodyear, partially because Goodyear has yet to regain the level of sales achieved in 2015, despite improved results on its half-decade low in 2017. Tyrepress noted in 2018 that based on tyre volumes, Conti looked likely to overtake Goodyear in light vehicle (passenger car and light truck) tyre volumes, showing how it has gained ground on the previous ‘Big Three’. Regardless of their order, it has been appropriate to talk of a global Big Four tyre manufacturers for a few years.
NTDA wholesaler member GB Tyres UK Ltd in association with Linglong Tyres are sponsoring the 2020 Tyre Industry Conference. Sukhi Singh GB Tyres UK Ltd’s managing director said: “We are very pleased to announce our sponsorship of the prestigious NTDA Tyre Industry Conference and Lunch to be held at the VOX, Birmingham on 5th November.”
In addition to being the strongest brand globally, according to Brand Finance, Michelin has been named the world’s most valuable tyre brand for the third year in a row. However, the gap between first position and second-placed Bridgestone narrowed, meaning the Japanese tyre manufacturer is well-placed to regain pole.
Linglong Tire aims to become a top-five tyre maker by 2030. It voices this goal in a recently-published document outlining the company’s mid- and long-term strategy. Specifically, it intends to increase tyre production to 160 million pieces a year within the next decade, and by doing so grow annual sales revenues to more than RMB 80 billion (£9.1 billion).
Chinese tyre manufacturer Linglong has held a project launch ceremony for its fifth Chinese manufacturing base in Changchun, Jilin Province. Dignitaries from Changchun, Jilin, China FAW Group Corporation, China Rubber Industry Association, and Linglong partners attended the event. The event marks the latest step in the manufacturer’s “5+3” global production strategy, which is designed to “achieve sustained, stable and healthy development,” Linglong states. It currently has four Chinese manufacturing bases in Zhaoyuan, Dezhou, Liuzhou, Jingmen, a well as one in Thailand and a further international plant under construction in Serbia. Furthermore, Linglong said it would upgrade its strategy to “6+6”; six plants in China and six internationally.
Next week it’ll be a year since Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., Ltd. officially launched its project to build a new tyre factory in Serbia. Today the tyre maker is working with its new host country in a way unimaginable 12 months ago. It donated 300,000 disposable surgical masks, 2,000 sets of medical protective clothing, and 10,000 COVID-19 antibody test kits to the Serbian government yesterday via the country’s embassy in China.
Linglong Tire has been working hard to make good production shortfalls resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. The tyre maker reports that it shipped a record 280,000 tyres on 29 February, with nearly 300 employees working over the weekend at several of Linglong’s sites in China to ensure as many deliveries as possible.
This year got off to a good start, says Linglong Tire. Between 7 and 9 January, a team from Man Truck & Bus visited the Linglong International Tire (Thailand) Co., Ltd facility in Rayong, Thailand. The MAN team, responsible for auditing potential suppliers, spent three days at the truck and bus tyre plant. After it passed the MAN potential supplier audit, the team entered the facility into the MAN supplier system.
As of 5 February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that there have been 24,554 confirmed cases of coronavirus across 25 countries since the outbreak began on 23 January 2020. Governments all round the world are taking steps to contain the spread of the virus as well as to develop treatment, but China is bearing the brunt of it with 24,363 cases within its borders alone. As a result, the transport systems of at least 10 cities in the People’s Republic have been shut down and public gatherings are being discouraged. As a result, home-working rates have shot through the roof and there has been an inevitable impact on the manufacturing industry. Considering China is the world’s largest manufacturer of tyres by unit volume, what impact is the coronavirus having on the tyre industry?
Positive experiences with original equipment tyres play an important role when it comes to choosing replacement tyres, and leading tyre makers therefore strive to gain approvals with OEMs. Linglong Tire recently scored a coup when FAW Group chose its tyres for what’s arguably China’s most expensive car, the Hongqi L5.
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