Top 20 Largest Tire Manufacturers (2024)
A new ranking of the world's largest tire manufacturers by revenue has been released, showing that the industry is relatively stable, with Chinese companies closing in on the established leaders from Europe, the US, and Japan, according to Pneus News.
The top spots for 2023 again went to Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Continental. For Michelin, this is its fourth "gold" after the French company overtook its Japanese competitor Bridgestone. In 2018, Michelin acquired the Canadian company Camso, which produces tires for special equipment, helping it to approach Bridgestone and eventually take the top spot. The American company Goodyear remains in the top three, thanks in part to its acquisition of Cooper Tire in the summer of 2021. Overall, Goodyear's sales have grown by more than 80% since 2020.
Pirelli has regained its fifth place this year, overtaking the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries. The Italian company is currently focusing on the premium segment of the market, and this strategy seems to be paying off - between 2020 and 2023, Pirelli's revenue grew from 4.3 to 6.6 billion euros, an increase of over 50%. At the same time, Sumitomo (which produces tires under the brands Dunlop and Falken) trails by just 210 million euros.
Places 7-9 are again occupied by the Korean company Hankook, the Japanese company Yokohama, and the Chinese company ZC Rubber (which has brands such as Goodride and Westlake in its portfolio).
The fastest-growing company last year was the Chinese company Sailun, which rose two positions and entered the top ten of the world's largest tire manufacturers, which can be considered a truly outstanding achievement for a relatively young company founded just over 20 years ago. Currently, Sailun has seven plants, with two more to be built in Mexico and Indonesia, and plans to localize production in Europe.
While Sailun improved its position in the ranking, the Japanese company Toyo Tires, on the other hand, dropped out of the top ten and became 11th, and Maxxis International/Cheng Shin Rubber fell from 11th to 12th place.
In addition to Sailun, the Korean company Nexen also achieved significant success, rising two places and overtaking the Indian company JK Tyre and the American company Titan International (which owns the Russian company "Voltair-Prom") in terms of sales volume.
The Singaporean company Giti (which produces tires at plants in China, Indonesia, and the US) also changed its position, falling from 16th to 14th place, although it increased its turnover by 50 million euros. In turn, the Korean company Kumho and the Indian company MRF increased their sales by 130 and 220 million euros, respectively. As noted in PN, during the recent The Tire Cologne 2024 exhibition, representatives of MRF said that they are the leader of the Indian tire industry, but in fact, the first place is occupied by Apollo Tyres, which owns plants in India and Europe, as well as the brand Vredestein. At the same time, MRF is also making progress and has risen from 19th to 15th place in the ranking over the past 10 years.
Overall, the industry leaders are increasing their revenue at roughly the same rate as the growth of the global tire market, whose volumes have grown by 29.1% over the past 10 years, from 110 to 142 billion euros. According to PN experts, this means that while the tire market is highly competitive and individual manufacturers may demonstrate significant growth, the overall balance of power remains relatively stable and has been largely defined many years ago. The top three manufacturers account for 49% of the sales of all companies in the top twenty, while ten years ago this figure was 50.5%. In the top ten, the dominance is even more noticeable - 60.2% of the total turnover.