中国轮胎制造商扩大全球生产

In the context of the globalization of China's manufacturing industry, the overseas capacity expansion of the tire industry has attracted special attention. As one of the world's largest tire producers, Chinese tire companies have gradually established a multinational production network covering Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas over the past decade through the construction of overseas factories, leveraging a complete industrial chain, mature production technology, and large-scale manufacturing advantages.

This marks a shift from an export-oriented trade model to a new phase of localized production and regional supply. Among them, Zhongce Rubber, Sailun Group, and Linglong Tire are particularly representative, with overseas production capacity exceeding 100 million units, becoming an important force in the globalization of China's tire industry.

These three companies have strategically laid out their operations based on local conditions, forming distinctive global capacity footprints. Zhongce Rubber focuses on expanding its core market in Southeast Asia to consolidate its capacity advantages.

In addition to the production bases already operating in Thailand and Indonesia, the company further expanded its presence in Southeast Asia in 2026 by investing 1.04 billion yuan to launch the first phase of a tire production base in Vietnam. This further strengthened its regional capacity foundation, leveraging abundant natural rubber resources and convenient maritime conditions to reduce raw material procurement and cross-border logistics costs, effectively covering Southeast Asia and surrounding markets.

Sailun Group has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to steadily advance large-scale overseas expansion. By 2026, the company had established a Southeast Asian production matrix in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.

Its Indonesian factory achieved its first tire production line in 2025 and entered the capacity enhancement phase, with products adapted to local climate and road conditions while meeting high-end EU standards. Meanwhile, its global expansion continues, with the Mexican factory already operational and the Egyptian factory under construction, covering core markets in Southeast Asia, North America, and North Africa, with overseas capacity steadily increasing.

Linglong Tire is one of the first domestic tire companies to establish a production base in Europe, demonstrating strong foresight in its global expansion strategy. Its Thai production base operates well and has achieved stable profitability.

The Serbian base, located in the core region of Europe, achieved steady capacity enhancement by the end of 2025 and continued production line adjustments and upgrades in 2026 to precisely meet European market access standards and consumer demands. At the same time, the company is actively expanding into the South American market, planning to build a large production base in Brazil to further improve its global capacity system.

The large-scale overseas capacity expansion of leading companies is an important measure to break through industry development bottlenecks and seize global opportunities. In recent years, factors such as international trade barriers, tariff restrictions, and rising cross-border logistics costs have continued to affect the export of domestic tire products. Overseas localized production can effectively avoid trade risks and improve supply efficiency by being close to end markets.

Meanwhile, the continuous growth in vehicle ownership in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Latin America has steadily increased tire replacement demand, providing ample market space for the release of overseas capacity.

However, the road to globalization for Chinese tire companies is still full of opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, overseas markets face multiple uncertainties such as competition from local brands, geopolitical fluctuations, and adjustments in local industrial policies. Some overseas bases are still in the capacity development stage, facing significant short-term profitability pressures.

On the other hand, domestic tire companies still need to overcome high-end technical barriers, enhance their overseas brand influence, and gradually change the stereotype of low-cost and low-end products.

Overall, the globalization layout of these three companies not only promotes the development model of overseas factory construction and localized production in the tire industry but also, through continuous capacity investment and strategic optimization, is gradually reshaping the competitive landscape of the global tire industry, becoming a vivid epitome of the high-end and globalized development of China's manufacturing industry.