Today, the European Union has replaced the U.S. in becoming the largest tire export destination of China.
Shandong port exported 4.65 million tires to EU in May, accounting for 23.5% of the province’s total tire exports.
In the first five months of this year, Shanghai Customs exported 3.4 million tires to EU, accounting for 22.6% of the customs’s tire exports.
China exporting tires to EU has been obstructed for years. Besides technical barriers to trade, some institutes even tried to exclude Chinese tires by falsifying information.
Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e. V. (ADAC), the largest auto club in Europe, had a scandal in 2014 that it was suspected of falsifying information.
A former senior executive of Michelin disclosed that ADAC deliberately let Chinese tires failed the test to exclude inexpensive Chinese goods.
In a winter test in 2010 jointly conducted by ADAC and German Foundation for Commodity Inspection, some Chinese tire brands failed to pass the test.
Among the 28 winter tire models, the worst three models were all from China, two models even had no ground grip.
German media were highly concerned about the results and called car owners not to buy dangerous Chinese tires.
Because of the bad performances in ADAC tire test, the sales of Chinese tires in Europe were difficult.
Austrian importers of Chinese tires sued ADAC in 2011, but the court overturned the allegation.
When the scandal was unveiled, the importers in Europe are mulling over new counterattack.
A former senior employee of ADAC said before the test, the renowned tire manufacturing chamber would be informed in advance about which products would be tested.
At that time, the price of a Chinese winter tire was only 70 some euros, while that of a European tire was between 16o to 224 euros. Many European car owners inclined to buy Chinese tires.
Local media said it was a war launched by European brands to inexpensive Chinese tires.
ADAC was exposed Jan. 2014 that its authorized award Most Favorite Cars of German not only falsified the number of votes, but also the rankings.
The club firmed denied falsification, but admitted after media’s endless inquiries.
