Expansion against the trend: the "lone hero logic" of all-steel tire investment
Against the background of the industry generally singing the pessimism of the all-steel tire market, Chinese tire companies have staged a "breakout battle" of counter-cyclical investment.
Between 2023 and 2024, the investment in new capacity of all-steel tires only accounted for 7% of semi-steel tires. The field that seemed to be abandoned by the market ushered in a dramatic turning point in 2025. Five companies including Shaanxi Hantaiwei, Youdao Rubber, Junle Tire, Dayou Tire, and Sailun Group invested a total of 5.4 billion yuan, adding 8.25 million all-steel tire production capacity, and the investment intensity of a single plant reached 1.9 billion yuan. Behind this "irrational prosperity", it reflects the deep game logic of China's tire industry.
Investment motivation analysis
Overseas market hedging logic: Leading enterprises circumvent trade barriers by using overseas bases such as Cambodia (such as Sailun's 1.65 million tire expansion project) to directly seize the incremental market in the United States (truck tire demand is expected to increase by 24.6% in 2025) and Europe (annual sales of more than 11 million tires).
Cost extreme path: Through differentiated products such as new material technology (Dayou Tire's 1.2 million high-performance lines) and special tires for mining trucks, the cost per kilogram is reduced to 10-16 yuan, which is lower than the price of pork but still has a small profit margin.
Capacity positioning strategy: When foreign capital (Michelin, Bridgestone) withdraws due to profit margins falling below 5%, local companies compete for market share with a production capacity of 2.4 million tires (such as Dayou Tire's plan) to build a competitive barrier of "survival of the fittest".
The song of ice and fire in the all-steel tire market is essentially a microcosm of the transformation of China's manufacturing from "scale dividends" to "system capabilities". When the price war hits the bottom of costs, only by building a value network of "technology-channel-service" can China's coordinates be engraved in the global truck tire industry map. The outcome of this gamble does not depend on the speed of capacity expansion, but on the depth of the value reconstruction of the industrial chain.
