Global Tire Production Capacity Ranking | 2024(December 19, 2024)

In 2024, the number of factories of well-known tire companies in various countries has exceeded 550.

Asia ranks first in the world with nearly 350 tire factories. At the same time, as the global tire production capacity shifts eastward, Asia has become an important tire production base in the world - about 81% of the world's tires are manufactured in Asia.

Number of factories, China leads

In 2024, China is still the country with the largest number of tire factories in the world (including Chinese factories of foreign-funded tire companies) - the number of factories in one country is 2.5 times the number of factories in North America and 1.7 times the number of factories in Europe. Chinese tire factories with large numbers and high single-unit production capacity undertake about 27% of the global tire supply.

Statistics show that at least 10 tire companies have tire factories with an annual production capacity of more than 27 million tires. The Chinese factories of Zhongce Rubber and Linglong Tire both have a production capacity of more than 100 million tires.

According to new information, the "crown" of the highest production capacity of a single factory in China may belong to Wanli Tire - Wanli Tire Conghua Phase III is expected to become the largest single factory with an annual production capacity of 36 million tires.

In addition, the fourth phase expansion project of Continental's Anhui plant was put into operation in June this year, and its annual production capacity quickly jumped to 18 million. However, since the DOT codes of some emerging tire companies have not been included in the 2024 capacity layout, the overall capacity scale in China has not changed significantly this year.

But overall, the investment and expansion of China's tire production capacity has slowed down. Especially the capacity of truck and bus tires, compared with the past decade, can almost be regarded as stagnant. In 2024, Bridgestone stopped production at its Shenyang plant, and Michelin announced in April that it would convert the truck and bus tire capacity of the Shenyang plant into passenger car tire capacity.

Closing factories and reducing production, European tires are in a mess

However, compared with the rounds of large-scale withdrawal of local production capacity in Europe in 2024, China's production capacity can be maintained stable, which can be described as "good performance". The European tire industry developed earlier, so there have always been many factories here - "but no matter how strong the tire foundation is, it can't withstand the torture of cost." Since 2020, it has been in a vicious cycle of temporary suspension of production, production restrictions, and permanent closure of factories due to various emergencies.

In 2024, the number of active factories here has dropped from nearly 100 to 90. According to the announcement of tire companies this year, at least 4 more tire factories will be closed. These factories are mainly concentrated in Germany and France, where labor costs are high.

In Russia, tire production capacity is gradually recovering.

2022 can be said to be the most collapsed year for Russia's tire manufacturing industry. Four major tire companies have successively announced the permanent closure of production capacity. For nearly a year and a half since then, Russia's tire supply has been in an embarrassing situation of "patchwork in the east and in the middle". But in 2024, Russia's production capacity has improved significantly.

In a year, at least 6 million production capacity in Russia has been restored.

And Nokian Tires has gradually escaped from its previous predicament. After this winter tire powerhouse withdrew from Russia's production capacity, at least 10 million tires faced supply difficulties. In 2023, it selected Romania as its new production base, and the base produced its first tire in 2024. It is expected that 6 million tires will be put into production in 2025, and the "no rice to cook" dilemma that has lasted for nearly two years will be alleviated.

It is also worth noting that although European and American tire companies have closed their European factories, in 2024, Senqilin continued to promote its Spanish production capacity construction, and Linglong started a new round of expansion investment after the Serbian factory was put into production.

Overall, Europe's current truck and passenger car tire production capacity has reached 292 million, and its production capacity is still among the top in the world. And as Asian tire companies (there are rumors that Korean tire companies have plans to invest here) continue to deploy production capacity in Europe in order to strengthen their localized business strategies, it is likely that it will still be one of the world's important production bases in the next ten years.

Southeast Asia, production capacity rises again

Southeast Asia has always attracted tire companies to invest here with its advantages in natural rubber production and labor costs.

At the end of 2024, Sumitomo Rubber closed its US factory and transferred its production capacity to its Thailand base. It stated in a statement that due to cost pressure and equipment efficiency, the operating efficiency of the North American factory has been very low, and it has even been in a loss-making state in recent years.

Although retaining the factory can help Sumitomo Rubber better complete its supply to the North American market, considering the operating costs, Sumitomo Rubber finally chose to close the factory. After transferring to the Thai factory, although it will face high anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs and fluctuating shipping costs, these cost expenditures are still lower than maintaining factory operations in the United States.

In fact, Southeast Asia has been in a state of explosive capacity in recent years. The expansion of Chinese tire companies in Southeast Asia in 2024 has exceeded 100 million. Among them, Zhongce Rubber and Sailun Tire have also opened up a new base in Southeast Asia, Indonesia.

As of December 2024, there are as many as 61 tire factories in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia, and the capacity supply even accounts for 7% of the world. Compared with the tire base in Thailand, where global tire companies are increasing their investment, Cambodia's current tire production capacity is mainly dominated by Chinese tire companies. It is expected that as the factories of various companies are put into production and reach full capacity, the annual production capacity here will exceed 50 million tires in 2027.

Thailand currently has the largest production capacity among the tire bases in Southeast Asia, with a total annual production capacity of more than 150 million tires, which is 10 million more than the scale in 2023. It is reported that in 2025, Chinese tire companies have plans to continue investing; Germany's Continental Thailand factory has expanded production. With the continued investment of Chinese and foreign tire companies, it is expected that the production capacity here will most likely exceed 200 million tires in two years.

Tire companies sit in a row, and tonnage still determines status

"Tonnage determines status" is still the truth of the tire industry so far. Currently, there are only three tire companies with more than 40 factories worldwide: Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear. Even if some production capacity is closed or sold, by the end of 2024, Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear will still have more than 35 factories each, dominating the global tire supply.

In terms of production capacity, 60% of the global tire production capacity is currently controlled by foreign tire companies. If Chinese tire companies want to rank among the top five in the world, expanding production capacity is still a top priority...