Goodyear: Its second brand in china'07

Recently, Meng Xianguang, vice president of Goodyear China Region sales, said Goodyear will introduce another brand this year in China, in addition to "Goodyear".
Meng Xianguang revealed that the second is under assessing procedure, if everything goes well, it will be introduced to the Chinese market this year. The second brand is aiming at what are Goodyear current shortcomings-- the mid - and low-end markets."

From 2005, we do not supply products such as 14-inch tires, although the low-end markets accounted for about 50%." Meng Xianguang said. Reporter learned that Goodyear is phasing out supporting market of the Jetta, Bora and Santana this year. Currently, Goodyear mainly targets in the middle and high-end markets, such as Audi A6, Cadillac and other high-end brands, as well as self-owned brands of high-end products, such as Roewe and MG.  

Due to lack of suitable mid- and low-end products, the market share is dominated by the Korean brands. In the domestic market, Hankok and Kumho take the largest tire market share.

Michelin, Goodyear's major competitor in China launched the multi-brand strategy a few years ago. Its brands include Michelin, BFGoodrich and Warrior, aimed at the high-end sedans and trucks, SUVs and low-end trucks respectively.
 
"Briefly speaking, our strategy is quite the same with Michelin; we hope to establish a second brand in China. Next point lies in the implementation strategy. "Meng Xianguang said. However, he did not disclose whether Goodyear will set up a new plant or acquire an existing manufacturer."
But Michelin's low-end brand is not functioning well in China. Because the fierce pressure from tire manufacturers from Korea, Japan and domestic market, Shanghai Michelin Warrior Plant, the largest joint ventures in China has been running in loss for a very long time.