In 2026, the tire market is falling into a dual game of cost and transformation.
Since the escalation of the situation in the Middle East, the cost of raw materials in the tire industry has been rising, and corporate manufacturing costs have also been rising.
“Affected by the increase in oil prices, the cost of raw materials for natural rubber, synthetic rubber, and carbon black in the tire industry has indeed increased, which has brought certain pressure, but currently we have not adjusted prices in the end consumer market,” a staff member of German Continental Tire revealed a few days ago.
Under the short-term pressure of continued high raw material prices, the tire industry is also facing long-term changes brought about by new energy vehicles, and companies are trying to find a new balance among dual variables.
This industry trend was highlighted at the Tuhu Automobile Spring Tire New Product Launch on March 30.
Seven major brands including Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Chaoyang, Dongfeng Victory, Thor and Feiyue appeared on the same stage and launched 12 new spring products at one time.
Spokespersons from many tire brands said bluntly at the scene that electrification transformation is changing the logic of tire research and development.
Focusing on the use scenarios of new energy vehicles, performance indicators such as low rolling resistance, high silence, and high load-bearing capacity are becoming the core direction of a new round of competition for tire products.
With the trend of vehicle electrification, the design logic of tires has changed.
“When Chinese consumers choose tires, safety is the first indicator. The second is the silent effect. Since new energy vehicles do not have internal combustion engines, tire noise becomes the biggest source of noise, which requires tires to be better silent. The last is energy saving. Whether it is increasing battery life or saving fuel costs, these are real benefits.” Michelin senior product manager Wang Xuehan said.
“The acceleration characteristics of new energy vehicles also put forward higher requirements for the grip and wear resistance of tires.
The superposition of these multiple demands has caused a change in the research and development focus of tire companies,” said a staff member of German Continental Tire.
A Bridgestone staff member revealed that the current R&D model of the tire industry is also changing, from independent R&D by companies in the past to joint creation of platforms and brands.
“Faced with the current market demand, on the one hand, we work with OEMs to develop new products on the product research and development side. On the consumer side, we will also collect more feedback from car owners through the platform and conduct product research based on the needs of end users.”
The reporter found that at this conference, the new products brought by multiple brands were all aimed at the needs of new energy vehicles.
For example, Michelin Haoyue 5E is equipped with dual-tread technology, which can be applied to both fuel and new energy vehicles; German Continental XC7 Pro Max has self-repairing technology and is equipped with silent cotton, which can specifically solve driving safety hazards and reduce tire noise of new energy vehicles; domestic tire Dongfeng Shengli has also launched exclusive tires for new energy vehicles, with features such as high load-bearing, strong grip, and ultra-quietness.
It is understood that 12 new tire products from the above-mentioned seven major tire brands have been launched on Tuhu Automobile. Some brands such as German Continental have also chosen to authorize their flagship products to the platform for exclusive sales.
Huang Hao, Marketing Director of Continental China, said that relying on the Tuhu platform, it can quickly reach sinking markets; even if there is a niche demand, the two parties’ quick delivery service can deliver the goods on the same day or even half an hour at the fastest.
According to the latest financial report of Tuhu Car Maintenance, the number of Tuhu factory stores will be 8,008 in 2025, and nearly 20 million tires will be sold every year.
It is worth noting that just as tire companies are making every effort to promote product transformation, the continuous escalation of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East has caused the industry to encounter the impact of raw material costs, and both upstream and downstream companies are facing huge operating pressure.
According to Zhuochuang Information monitoring, the three core raw materials of natural rubber, synthetic rubber, and carbon black account for more than 70% of tire production costs.
Recently, the prices of the three have risen simultaneously, and the cost of auxiliary materials and logistics have increased. The comprehensive cost pressure of tire companies has reached a stage high.
“The impact of the current price increase on raw materials on costs has been reflected, and logistics freight has also increased.” Bridgestone staff said frankly that the current cost pressure is emerging.
Feiyue Tire staff also revealed that its brand terminals have started to adjust prices, “because the profit margin of the product itself is not large, and after the price increase of upstream raw materials, the pressure on manufacturing costs is great.”
In fact, since March, the domestic tire industry has ushered in a wave of price increases. Linglong Tire, Zhongce Rubber, Sailun Tire and other companies have successively issued price increase letters. All products such as all-steel tires and semi-steel tires have generally increased prices by 2% to 5%, and the price increases for some specifications are approaching 10%.
A number of tire companies stated in their price increase letters that due to the impact of changes in the international situation and market environment, the prices of various raw materials continued to rise, and the company’s manufacturing costs continued to rise.
Currently, the tire industry is under the dual pressure of electrification transformation and rising raw material costs. Many companies have successively issued price increase letters to alleviate operating pressure.
In the context of high costs and intensified market competition, how will the industry reshuffle evolve?
Can companies successfully survive this adjustment cycle through technology upgrades and supply chain optimization?
It will take time to answer these questions.
