Who is leading the Chinese tire market
Every year, ratings of the world's largest tire manufacturers are published, in which Chinese companies are gradually approaching the recognized leaders, but who dominates the Chinese market itself?
As on the global level, the Chinese tire industry is characterized by an oligopoly, meaning that a limited number of players control the main part of the market. Thus, in 2025, the 15 leading companies sold around 112 million tires for passenger cars on the Chinese secondary market, which accounts for 59.7% of the total volume, and the leaders were ZC Rubber (which sold 19.85 million tires, with a market share of 10.7%), Linglong (16.4 million, 8.9%), and Giti (11 million, 5.9%).
In the primary equipment segment, the market share of manufacturers from the top 15 is even higher, at 73.2% (131 million tires), and the first place is occupied by Linglong (21.8 million tires, 12.2%), followed by ZC Rubber (18.5 million, 10.3%) and Giti (17 million, 9.5%). Only these three companies account for a third of sales in the OE sector.
Thus, the main player in the Chinese passenger tire market is ZC Rubber (Zhongce Rubber Group) with sales of 38.35 million units of products last year, and the second and third places are occupied by Linglong (38.2 million) and Giti (28 million), respectively. All of them significantly surpass the largest foreign brands in terms of supply volumes, and, for example, Michelin sold around 17.3 million tires for passenger cars in China in 2025, and the French company was followed in the ranking by Hankook (14.2 million), Continental (13.1 million), Goodyear (13 million), and Bridgestone (9.5 million).
It should be noted that the most well-known global ratings of tire manufacturers are compiled according to revenue, while here we are talking about sales in physical terms, which are very different things.
According to Chinese media, last year the capacity of the primary equipment segment in China was around 180 million tires, which is 10.4% more compared to 2024, and the growth was due to the increase in production and sales of vehicles on new energy sources (NEV). According to the data of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in 2025, 16.626 million hybrids and electric vehicles were produced in the country, with a year-on-year growth of 29%.
The secondary market had similar sales volumes (equivalent to 22% of production), but a decline in demand was noted - by 3% compared to the previous year. According to analysts, although the number of vehicles in operation in China has reached 366 million units, the willingness of drivers to buy new tires is "not high", and the average replacement cycle is 4-5 years, which leads to weak demand.
While on export markets, including the Russian one, ZC Rubber (in the photo, their headquarters in the form of a ship, which is supposed to symbolize continuous movement forward) is known mainly for the Goodride and Westlake brands, in China the company sells mainly tires under its historical brand Chaoyang, created in 1958. In turn, Linglong is known, among other things, for the fact that in 2024 it sold more tires for NEV factory equipment than any other manufacturer in the world, and Giti is originally an Indonesian company that is now based in Singapore and has factories in Indonesia, China, and the USA.