Dunlop Tire market and back to slice 10% search

The tyre manufacturer Dunlop, of the Japanese group Sumitomo Rubber Industries, wants at least 10% market share in Brazil with the installation of a new plant on domestic soil. Dunlop already marketed products in the country and now returned to import tires until the new plant start to sell their production in mid-October 2013. The goal is to reach an average production of 2 thousand tires per day in the first full year of operation of the factory and increase to 15 thousand units per day up to 2015, intensify competition on the market of tyres with competitors such as Pirelli and Michelin.
"The plant is almost ready, and this year, we will start the production", says sales and marketing manager of Dunlop, Renato Baroli. The investment in the unit located in the town of Fazenda Rio Grande, in the State of Paraná,-the first brand outside the Asian continent-is r $ 560 million and the number of signings will be of 1.5 thousand employees.
The factory's production will be destined for the domestic market and for the whole of South America. The brand will target their products primarily for passenger vehicles, SUVs (SUVs, the acronym in English) and heavy, in a few years.
The Dunlop brand is named after the inventor of the pneumatic, John Dunlop Bayd. In Brazil, the company intends to use its global prestige to spare markets-the so-called aftermarket-and the original (automakers). "In this kind of business, we need to be in the original market. We must enter in this segment in the medium term, "said Barolo.
The Brazilian market is experiencing a time of transition tires, since the production numbers have fluctuated in recent years, according to the National Association of the tyre Industry (ANIP). In 2012, this volume amounted to 62.6 million units in the country, fall of 6.4% compared to the production of 66.9 million recorded a year earlier.
"Part of the fall is due to the shrinkage of the manufacturing of vehicles in the country. However, the main factor for the lower production was the continued growth of imports of tires, which already accounts for 40% of consumption in Brazil ", says the President of ANIP, Albert Mayer. He adds that only the production of tyres for agricultural tractors registered growth of 1.6% in 2011, following the good moment of the agricultural sector.
The ANIP numbers show that the sale of tires in Brazil, which is the result of more imports by the members of the entity, amounted to 67.9 million units last year fell 72.9 million tires consumed on the domestic market in 2011. The volume of exports also dropped from 17.4 million units in 2011, to 13.2 million tires last year. "Almost all categories showed a decline of its exports in the year 2012," says Mayer, highlighting the sharp drop in exports of tires for bicycles, from 77% last year compared to 2011.
However, the industry's trade balance was favored by the higher value of exports. Tyre imports totaled the figure of $ 1.5 billion, down 7% in relation to registered in 2011. The external sales totaled $ 1.4 billion, totaling a negative balance of $ 70 million on the balance of trade in the sector. The figure represents a 35% reduction of the deficit in 2011. "This gain in the period means that Brazil exported products of higher unit value in 2012, including load and tires for off-road equipment," says Mayer.
Dunlop plans the company also will bring to Brazil the Falken brand, premium tires for specific niches such as large trucks, for example, type of vehicle widely marketed in the United States. "This is one of the reasons why the Falken is fairly recognized in North America. Let's bring this quality also for Brazil ", explains Baroli.
The Executive says that not all local production will meet niches. Of the total number of tires sold by the brand in the country, about 80% must be obtained on domestic soil and the other 20% imported from other units around the world. "Some segments are very specific and, to this end, in the use of imports," he said. And to further consolidate the Dunlop brand in the country, the company must inaugurate 50 concept stores by the end of 2013.
The Executive highlights that so-called green-tyres that reduce fuel consumption by reason of their composition, with reduction of friction in shooting-are on the radar. "This is a worldwide trend and that we will also be attentive to demand in Brazil", complete Baroli.