Warrior tires return to the market

Warrior, a domestic tire brand, has returned to the local market after a two-year absence.

The Shanghai Huayi Group, its affiliated company Double Coin Holdings Ltd and French tire maker Michelin launched new Warrior tires in Shanghai on Aug 28.

The tires are made at a new 3.2 billion yuan ($504.80 million) plant at the Anhui Industrial Park.

Three series of Warrior passenger car tires with 26 specifications will be supplied to the local market to meet the growing demand from medium- and high-end consumers, said Jiang Bin, deputy general manager of Double Coin.

Jiang, also general manager of Double Coin (Anhui) Warrior Tire Co Ltd, said Huayi had to give up the rights to the traditional Chinese brand in 2001 when it set up a joint venture with Michelin, which controlled 70 percent of the JV.

The JV company made Warrior tires, but the brand lost market share as it only produced about 6 million tires in 10 years.

Therefore, Double Coin had to end the relationship with Michelin in early 2010 and launched a new factory of its own in Anhui province in 2011, said Jiang.

"But Michelin was still willing to cooperate with Double Coin to launch a joint venture in Anhui to manufacture Warrior car radial tires," said Liu Xunfeng, president of the Huayi Group.

The new JV — which has a registered capital of 1.67 billion yuan — is controlled by Double Coin with a 40.8 percent stake, Huayi with 19.2 percent, Michelin Finance Co with 30 percent and Michelin (China) Investment Co Ltd with 10 percent, Liu said.

The new plant, which was designed by Michelin, is expected to have an annual capacity of 15 million car radial tires by 2015.

By the end of this year, about 6 million tires will be made for the local market. The output will increase to up to 10 million in the second phase of the project, said Yue Chunchen, general manager of Double Coin.

He said that half of the tires from the plant will be sold to the local retail market, 30 percent will be sold to automakers and 20 percent to overseas markets.