We’re putting together the programme for the Tire Technology Conference next year in Hanover. It’s exciting, pulling together 140 or so papers detailing the latest technological advances in this industry. A lot of things in this industry are incremental, so we have papers on a huge range of topics. Many of these have an element
At the Frankfurt IAA motor show yesterday, two major themes emerged from my conversations with tire makers: New European legislation on TPMS is pushing tire makers to develop super-charged All-Season tires for European markets Global legislation on fuel economy means car makers are setting extreme targets for tire rolling resistance EU market moving toward All-Season
At a meeting in Yancheng, China this week, over 100 tire industry experts assembled to discuss the programme for introducing consumer labels for Chinese tires. 2016 will be a voluntary preparation period. 2017 will see the first voluntary labels associated with tires by leading brands 2018 the government will publish lists to say which tires
Today’s announcement that Yokohama and Nippon Zeon have successfully made isoprene monomer from micro-organisms set me thinking about bio-tech in the rubber industry. I first reported on the use of micro-organisms to make isoprene back in 2008 when Goodyear announced its cooperation with Genencor. Genencor subsequently became part of DuPont. Since then, Goodyear has gone
This week, I want to alert you to something from under the radar: there are big changes going on in the retread sector around the world. It’s hard to get numbers on this, but I’m increasingly getting involved in conversations about the impact of imports of low-priced truck tires from China on the global retread
Downward. Natural rubber (NR) is in mid- to long-term structural over-capacity right now, and the situation is made worse by the short- to mid-term turmoil in China’s tire industry. I’m not saying anything new here. The trade has been awash with speculation about how far down the price of rubber can go for the last
A perfect storm of negative conditions is driving huge changes in China’s tire industry, causing a meltdown in profitability and output among Chinese tire makers. Desperate Chinese tire makers are driving sharp price falls in almost every tire market and simultaneously forcing down prices of raw materials, notably natural and synthetic rubber. In dollar terms,
As many of you know, I’ve been talking to many people in the global tire industry but last week at the excellent Latin American Tire show in Panama, organized by Gustavo Lima and his team, I had a bit of a revelation. I’d like to share it with you. We all know there are hundreds
In the previous article, I addressed how the international tire makers’ profitability in China might be threatened by greater availability of consumer data on tires. This article looks at the situation of China’s tire makers and how that might change in the coming decade or so. Falling prices China’s tire industry is probably the most
I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people in China these last couple of months, and the mood is not happy. First, they are dealing with a downturn in the domestic truck market; second there is the issue of widespread tariffs against Chinese-made tires and third the question of land prices. The prospect of
A weekly newsletter of developments in the China tire industry including news reports and David Shaw’s expert commentary and analysis.
Monthly English & Chinese language newsletter bringing together global news stories covering retail, strategy, sustainability and legislative issues.