Recently, at the 2014 International Tire Technology Forum held in Hangzhou, representatives from the tire industry at home and abroad conducted in-depth discussions on the current and future issues faced by the Chinese tire industry.
Recently, the United States Steel Workers Union of the United States on behalf of the United States to apply for the domestic industry tires "double anti-" survey, affecting the heart of the tire industry. The industry generally believes that the reason for this is that because Chinese tires have been exported to the United States too much, it has attracted the attention of domestic companies in the United States.
At the forum, John Y.Wu, director of the statistical project from the American Rubber Manufacturers Association, put forward his own opinions on the problems faced by current Chinese companies.
He said that the US market is actually an open market, but its competitiveness is also very strong. Through years of efforts, China's tire companies have successfully entered the US market. This is a relatively successful case. Further, It may be the success of a certain model.
However, he asked in reverse: "Do you want to continue this success? Or do you want to change it in other ways?"
The words of JohnY.Wu caused some thoughts of the participants. Chinese companies appear to be successful in entering the US market, but is this true success of Chinese tire companies? Or do Chinese tire companies successfully establish their own brand banner in the U.S. market?
According to analysis, this successful model is mainly based on "low-cost sales" strategy. In the United States, as long as consumers mention Chinese tires, they think of low-priced products. For a long time, this kind of impression has been deeply ingrained in the minds of consumers. The obvious thing is that without a brand, it is impossible for China to become a tire power.
Over the years, China’s tire production has been increasing year by year, especially semi-steel radial tires with cars as its main users. The output has grown rapidly. At present, the annual output has reached the number one in the world and it has become the largest tire country. However, in the international tire market, Chinese tire companies have not only increased their right to speak but have attracted one round of trade frictions.
So why are Chinese companies not raising R&D investment? Why not increase the added value of tire products and build your own tire brand?
In response to these problems, industry insiders explained that in order to increase the added value of tires, the company’s primary problem is to increase investment in R&D and increase research and development costs. However, as a result, the company’s operating costs and tire manufacturing costs also increase. The increase in the price of tires is the result. As tires are Chinese brands, they do not sell at high prices. Therefore, these two aspects seem to be in contradiction.
At the meeting, some people of insight believed that to increase the international brand image of China's tires, it was not so simple to raise prices and increase R&D investment. Breaking the bottleneck in the cost and R&D investment faced by companies in the development process was the key. The premise is that corporate decision makers must first establish brand awareness and have long-term plans for development.
Perhaps, as Secretary-General Xu Wenying of the China Rubber Industry Association stated at the meeting, this time the “double opposition†of the United States is not a good thing for China’s tire companies, but it may help companies to change the pattern of low-price exports. .