Techking's Heze plant is ready to roll

Techking Tires Co. Ltd. has announced the completion of a greenfield plant in the city of Heze in China’s Shandong province. Techking completed the project, known as the “Spark” project, with an anonymous partner.

The plant will produce passenger car radial (PCR) and light truck radial (LTR) tires. The company says the plant will make it more capable of building tires for other specific segments.

Techking says the plant will have an annual capacity of 10 million units, an output that will be reached in two phases over the next five to seven years. The Heze plant began trial operations last month.

Prior to initiating the Spark project, Techking invested in collecting market information within China and studying tire demand. The first products manufactured in the new factory will target certain OE and replacement market segments within the Chinese market.

Techking says that in an industry first, it will deliver application-specific PCR products to the domestic Chinese market. One of the application-specific products (and the first tire planned for the project) is a low rolling resistance tire designed for electric vehicles.

The second tire planned for production will service the minivan market in China, an area where cross-ply tires are traditionally used; Techking says its radial minivan pattern will reduce punctures and enhance driving comfort and safety.

The company says that starting 2Q 2013, overseas markets will also be served with passenger car and light commercial vehicle tires from the new plant.