Why can’t foreign truck tires survive in China?
There is a very interesting phenomenon in the domestic tire consumption market, that is, foreign-funded tires are selling well in the passenger car tire market, suppressing domestic tires. However, in the truck and bus tire market, foreign brands are at a disadvantage.
In the passenger car tire market, foreign and domestic brands are divided about 6:4, and some say it is 7:3, but generally speaking, foreign capital occupies the absolute majority. In recent years, Linglong, Sailun, and Chaoyang have regained some of their gains in the passenger car tire market, but have not yet formed a force that can compete with foreign brands.
But in the truck and bus tire market, this situation has been completely reversed!
In the truck and bus tire market, domestic tires can be said to be completely beating foreign brands. Under the impact of countless small and medium-sized tire factories in China, foreign brands have basically lost their armor, and many have surrendered and completely withdrawn from the Chinese truck and bus tire market. The remaining few large companies, such as Michelin and Bridgestone, are just icing on the cake for the group's entire tire business.
The most obvious surrender of foreign brands is the Japanese manufacturer Yokohama. Yokohama originally had two factories in Suzhou, one of which produced passenger car tires, and the other was used to produce truck tires. However, it was unexpected that the development of the Chinese truck tire market has not been smooth. In the end, Yokohama completely stopped the production of truck tires and upgraded the second factory to a passenger car tire factory. This year, Dunlop also announced its withdrawal from China's truck tire business.
Is it that the brand competitiveness is not strong enough, or the product quality is not strong enough? Neither, there is actually only one reason for the failure of foreign brands in the Chinese TBR market, that is, "water and soil are not suitable", to put it bluntly, it is not based on the demands of Chinese truck tire consumers.
Low price becomes the key to domestic production
What kind of tires do most Chinese truck tire consumers need? Cheap and wear-resistant. As for the brand, how many truck drivers care. In January 2023, the wholesale price of all-steel tires in different regions, tire business statistics show that 12R22.5 different brands, different regions, different grades of wholesale prices!
Foreign-funded enterprises try to struggle, but it is not ideal
Foreign brands certainly know that price is the key to the success or failure of the Chinese truck and bus tire market. For example, if Michelin directly drops below 1,000, sales will soar in minutes, killing a lot of domestic tire factories.
In order to get a share of the Chinese truck and bus tire market, foreign-funded enterprises have also thought of some ways. For example, the sub-brand "ZONECROSS" launched by Bridgestone and the sub-brand "Remington" launched by Goodyear are tailored to the actual needs of domestic mid-range commercial vehicle users, aiming to provide users with high-quality choices with technology, safety and high cost performance. But everyone knows the final result.
As a consumer, I am very willing to see tire companies engage in price wars, because the ultimate beneficiary will be myself. At present, the price war in the Chinese truck and bus tire market is more of a civil war. Cheap and wear-resistant is the kingly way. The principle is simple and the execution is rough. Unfortunately, foreign brands do not understand this well. Perhaps, the turning point of foreign brands in the Chinese truck and bus market was opened from a certain price reduction notice!
