The tire market today seems to be flooded with many brands, and they are very hard to follow, even for automotive journalists like me.
For that reason, I decided to give you a list of the ten largest tire manufacturers in the world. Many of these large conglomerates have other brands under their umbrella, which makes things even more interesting.
So, let’s see who’s the leader among the titans – large countries like Japan, France, USA, Germany, South Korea, Italy, and China, all have a representative in the list.
1. Bridgestone Corporation
The Japanese Bridgestone recently overtook Michelin as the largest tire manufacturer in the world. The company offers a large variety of tire products, each aimed at different vehicles, conditions and drivers. Bridgestone produces its tires in 181 production facilities in 24 countries.
Bridgestone’s passenger-car lineup consists of the Ecopia and Turanza touring all-season and summer tires. These products are aimed at customers that want safe and reliable handling, high levels of comfort, long treadlife, excellent treadwear warranties, and improved fuel consumption.
For the more spirited drivers, Bridgestone offers the Potenza family of performance summer and all-season tires. These products can be often seen at racing competitions, and they are also installed on numerous sports cars and supercars as an OEM installation.
The Japanese manufacturer is also widely known for its Driveguard family of run-flat tires. The company utilizes the same technology in other products, including the Turanza and Potenza family of tires.
For drivers of SUVs and trucks, Bridgestone offers the Dueler family of tires, designed for longevity, stability, and comfort. The Blizzak family of products, on the other hand, is specially designed for winter driving.
Motorcycle drivers are also covered – Bridgestone has a vast portfolio of products for track, street, off-road, gravel road, and urban driving.
On the commercial side, Bridgestone has an extensive portfolio of semi-truck tires, including steer tires, drive tires, and trailer tires. Each of their commercial tires comes with extended treadwear warranties, and retreading opportunity.
Bridgestone also owns the Firestone tire brand.
2. Michelin SCA
Michelin is the company that developed the radial tire, which significantly improved high-speed stability and treadlife. The French manufacturer is arguably the most successful tire manufacturer in history – today, they have 69 facilities in 18 countries.
Michelin has a vast portfolio of passenger-car tires, including the Primacy, Defender, and Premier family of all-season and summer tires.
These tires are designed to offer drivers safe and reliable handling on dry and wet surfaces, quiet and comfortable ride, lower fuel consumption, and very long treadlife and treadwear warranties.
Michelin also prides itself on the Pilot Sport family of performance tires. This lineup of products includes all-season and summer tires, but also tires for street driving, combination of street and track, and track-only driving.
The Pilot Sport family is very successful in motorsport. Moreover, Michelin’s flagship tires are also installed as an OEM solution on the Bugatti Chiron, which is the fastest car in the world (top speed of 273.4 mph).
Michelin covers truck and SUV drivers with the Defender LTX family of tires, which are known for the extreme toughness, excellent stability, and comfort.
Furthermore, Michelin also has an extensive lineup of products for motorcycles, including cruisers, sports bikes, roadsters, enduro’s, and MX bikes.
For commercial use, Michelin is still the most revered company – its portfolio of X Line Energy tires provides exceptional treadwear warranties, superior performance, and lower fuel consumption.
Michelin Group owns other tire manufacturers, including Kleber and Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company.
3. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Goodyear is the largest manufacturer of tires in the U.S., known for inventing the vulcanized rubber which is utilized in every modern tire today.
The American tire manufacturer offers various tire lineups, including tires for passenger cars, SUVs, light trucks, semi-trucks, and motorcycles.
Its passenger-car portfolio includes the Assurance family of all-season tires, which provides passengers with comfortable and quiet ride, extended treadwear warranties, all-weather traction, and low-rolling resistance.
Goodyear’s Eagle family of tires, on the other hand, consists of all-season and summer performance models. These are the official tires of the NASCAR championship, and they are also often used as an OEM solution on sports cars and supercars.
Truck and SUV owners consistently rate Goodyear’s Wrangler family of tires as one of the best in the business, especially for off-road driving.
The company’s Marathon and Fuel Max tires are also very popular commercial products, known for the longevity, performance, reduced fuel consumption, and value.
Goodyear owns other tire brands, including Fulda, Dunlop, Sava, Kelly Tires, and Debica.
4. Continental AG
Continental is the largest German manufacturer, known for producing premium tires that compete directly with the likes from Michelin and Bridgestone.
The company offers a wide range of tires for passenger cars, trucks, SUVs, commercial trucks, motorcycles, and even bicycles.
The TrueContact and PureContact tires, for example, are aimed at drivers that want year-round traction, luxurious ride, long treadlife, and better fuel economy.
For smaller vehicles, Continental offers the EcoContact and AllSeasonContact Tires, which provide low-rolling-resistance technology for improved fuel consumption.
Moreover, the PremiumContact and SportContact tires offer larger and more powerful cars with performance-level traction, but also luxurious ride.
The CrossContact family of Continental tires is aimed at SUV and truck owners, and it consists of highway, all-terrain, and off-road models.
Continental’s commercial lineup covers vans (VanContact Eco), and commercial trucks (H.S., HDL, and H.T. family of tires).
Continental has other tire brands under its umbrella, including Uniroyal, Semperit, Barum, General Tire, Viking, Gislaved, Mabor, Matador and Sportiva.
5. Sumitomo Rubber Industries
The Sumitomo brand might not be very popular among car buyers, but the company is the fifth largest tire manufacturer in the world.
That’s mainly due to the success of Falken, its premium brand of tires, but also due to the fact that Sumitomo can sell Dunlop-branded tires in some markets. Sumitomo also produces tires under its own brand, which aim to provide buyers with excellent value for money.
The company produces passenger-car tires (summer, all-season, and winter), which include CUV, SUV, and truck tires, and commercial tires made for urban trucks, buses, semi-trucks, large hauling trucks, and mixed-service trucks.
6. Hankook Tire & Technology
The South-Korean brand Hankook slowly but steadily continues to conquer the tire market with its lineup of budget-friendly premium tires – in 2019, they overtook Pirelli for the 6th place.
The company offers a detailed and varied lineup of tires for passenger cars, crossovers, SUVs, trucks, off-road tires, and commercial tires.
In its lineup, the Smart and Optimo tire products are designed for drivers that want safe and comfortable drive, and excellent treadlife.
The Ventus family, on the other hand, is designed for performance cars and is available in summer and all-season tread compounds. These tires are also used in popular racing series, such as DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters).
The Dynapro family of tires consists of highway, all-terrain, and off-road tires, and is designed for drivers of larger trucks and SUVs.
Hankook Tire & Technology has three other tire brands in its portfolio – Laufenn, Aurora, and Kingstar.
7. Pirelli & C. SpA
The Italian manufacturer Pirelli is historically one of the largest and most important tire manufacturers. The company is known for its high-performance lineup of tires, P Zero, which is also the official tire of the fastest and most advanced motorsport in the world, Formula 1.
The P Zero family of tires is composed of summer and all-season performance tires. These products are often installed as an OEM solution on many supercars and hypercars, such as the stunning Pagani Huayra.
The company also prides itself on its passenger-car tire lineup. The Cinturato family consists of many award-winning summer and all-season tires for sedans and minivans, while the Scorpion family does the same things for SUV, truck, and crossover owners.
Moreover, the Sottozero and Ice Zero family of tires provide drivers with excellent snow, ice, and slush traction. The Carrier family of tires, on the other hand, is designed for commercial vans. Pirelli also produces bicycle and motorcycle tires.
8. Yokohama Rubber Company
Yokohama is a Japanese tire manufacturer that focuses on offering premium tires at slightly lower prices than competitors like Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental, and Pirelli.
In its extensive tire lineup, the company offers passenger car tires, performance tires, SUV and truck tires, and commercial tires.
The most popular family of Yokohama tires is branded as “Advan” and it consists of touring and high-performance tires with all-season and summer tread compounds.
The Geolandar family, on the other hand, provides premium-level performance to drivers of SUVs and trucks, and comprises of highway, all-terrain, and off-road models.
Yokohama also offers the IceGUARD family of winter tires for passenger vehicles, SUVs, and trucks.
9. Zhongce Rubber Group Company
The Zhongce Rubber Group Company might not be well known among the western audience, and that’s primarily because the company sells most of its products in China, where it’s the largest tire manufacturer.
The Chinese company has a very extensive portfolio of tires, which consists of passenger-car tires, SUV and truck tires, industrial tires, off-road tires, agricultural tires, ATV tires, bicycle tires, and motorcycle tires.
Brands that operate under the umbrella of Zhongce Rubber Group Company are: Westlake, Goodride, Golden Crown, Chaoyang, Arisun, and Trazano.
10. Cheng Shin Rubber Industry
The Taiwanese company Cheng Shin Rubber Industry recently entered in the top 10 largest tire manufacturers in the world.
The company is mostly known for the Maxxis brand, which has a popular lineup ATV and UTV tires, extreme off-road tires, bicycle tires, and motorcycle tires.
Maxxis recently started producing passenger-car tires as well, which consist of touring, grand-touring, and performance tires with all-season and summer tread compounds.
Conclusion
I sincerely hope that my top 10 list of the largest tire manufacturers helped you find where your tire comes from.
Also, I didn’t make this list just to fill your knowledge. Purchasing tires from reputable and well-known manufacturers almost always means that you’ll get a completely safe and reliable product that will last for a long time.
So, what tires do you have installed on your vehicle and how satisfied are you from the performance? Leave us a comment down below – we’d really like to know!
The post Top 10 Largest Tire Manufacturers In the World appeared first on Smart Motorist.
source https://www.smartmotorist.com/largest-tire-manufacturers
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