According to statistics, almost all of the top 75 tire makers in the world have plant in Asia, with most of them having more than one plant in Asia. Some international companies, such as Hankook, see more than half of its products produced in Asia. Asia is like a magnet, have great attraction for tire makers.
In the past year, major tire makers invested more than one billion US dollars to upgrade and expand plants, many of them are investing heavily in Asia. Not only Michelin, Bridgestone are investing, but also the third-level companies, such as Apollo. And, the investment mainly went to China, India and other Asian countries.
The fifth-ranking tire maker, Pirelli, the CEO said Asia market is a very important market, he also said the company will build a new plant when the company already have two plants in China and Indonesia.
Why Asian market is such a attraction for the tire makers?
According to world automobile association, Asia is now responsible for about half the shares of global auto market. The institute also predicts that the industry will grow at a 3% annual rate.
Tire industry, taking advantage of the auto industry, will also grow further in the near future. In the past several decades, America has been the leader in global market, whereas Asia is taking the lead now, with about 50% of total shares.
Since 2000, Asian market has been growing at a n astonishing rate with China became the largest vehicle maker in the world. As Europe has been suffering from the economic downturn, many tire makers in the region reduced production or even closed plants.
Some experts predicted that Asia will enjoy as high as 19% of growth rate whereas the world will grow at 4.7%. Also, in the tire industry, Asia will grow at 17%.
