December TBR Tire Industry Updates
China's TBR (All-Steel Radial Tire) industry is at a critical stage of simultaneously addressing trade barriers and upgrading its industry. Technological innovation has become the core driving force across the entire chain, encompassing brand upgrading, capacity optimization, and overseas expansion.
Against the backdrop of increasingly fierce global tire market competition and deepening geopolitical influence, Chinese TBR tire companies have achieved breakthroughs in three key technologies: material formulation innovation, intelligent design upgrades, and manufacturing process iterations.
This has not only overcome traditional technological bottlenecks but also built core competitiveness to address trade barriers, injecting strong momentum into the industry's high-quality development.
Material formulation innovation is key to breaking through the industry's "devil's triangle" (limitations on rolling resistance, wet skid resistance, and wear resistance), with leading companies achieving significant results. Doublestar's "Rare Earth Gold" tire, leveraging the synergistic effect of rare earth elements and rubber, achieves an industry-leading rolling resistance coefficient of 3.8-4.5, aligning with the trend of green transportation.
Sailun's "Liquid Gold" technology, using bio-based new materials, breaks through the "devil's triangle," gaining certification from luxury car manufacturers and contributing to the expansion of the high-end commercial vehicle market.
Furthermore, Doublestar's EV95 new energy vehicle-specific tires feature an optimized low rolling resistance compound, achieving full explosion-proof functionality. This makes Doublestar a supplier to automakers like Chery and Geely, perfectly matching the characteristics of new energy commercial vehicles.
Intelligent design and digital R&D upgrades significantly improve technology transfer efficiency. Traditional tire R&D, relying on physical testing, suffers from long cycles and high costs. Chinese tire manufacturing and tire repair (TBR) companies are accelerating the construction of digital R&D platforms: Doublestar Group has built an AI digital twin design platform, shortening product testing and verification cycles by more than 50%, providing support for the rapid launch of innovative products.
Guizhou Tire, as the industry's first "lighthouse factory," achieves full collaboration in R&D and production through over 40 digital solutions, including AI simulation, shortening TBR product development cycles by 30% and reducing the defect rate by 57%. This intelligent model helps companies quickly adapt to international technical standards and enhances their flexibility in dealing with trade barriers.
Intelligent manufacturing process iterations solidify the foundation for high-end products, providing manufacturing support for technology implementation. Sailun's Shenyang Xinheping TBR project, with an annual production capacity of 3.3 million tires, adopts an "acquisition + upgrade" model, deploying a fully intelligent system.
The first unit is scheduled to roll off the production line by the end of 2025. Utilizing "liquid gold" technology to ensure quality, it will fill the gap in the market for high-end giant tires of 49 inches and above after production commences.
Double Star's Dongjiakou "Industry 4.0" base has built a fully intelligent ecosystem across the entire industry chain, achieving a TBR product qualification rate of over 99.8%. The Guizhou Tire Zazuo base has increased labor productivity by 68% through a 5G-connected factory, supporting the operation of its Vietnam base and providing production capacity guarantees for circumventing trade barriers when expanding overseas.
Technological innovation empowers brand upgrading and export breakthroughs, effectively offsetting trade barriers. Against the backdrop of rising global trade protectionism, technological advantages have become key to breaking through: Double Star has won dual brand honors with its "rare earth gold" and "EV95" technologies, with a brand value exceeding 100 billion yuan.
Companies like Shandong Youdao have enhanced their product competitiveness through technological upgrades and leveraged customs policy benefits to achieve a surge in exports. From January to October 2025, the export value in Zibo reached 560 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 142.4%.
In response to barriers such as the Eurasian Economic Commission's anti-dumping review, these companies have optimized their product structure and adapted to international standards through technological upgrades, ensuring stable exports.
Technological innovation has become the core engine for China's TBR tire industry to cope with trade barriers and achieve industrial upgrading. From material formulation innovation to intelligent R&D upgrades and manufacturing process iterations, Chinese TBR companies are gradually gaining control over core technologies in the industry.
