Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd. has consolidated sales and marketing responsibility for the five brands it markets in the U.S. under Sentury Tire USA, its Miami-based sales subsidiary.
The move brings responsibility for the Groundspeed brand — launched in 2016 as part of the establishment of the firm's North American manufacturing entity, Sentury Tire North America in LaGrange, Ga.
"The primary reason for this change is to improve on the customer experience for our distributors and dealers," Maxwell Wee, executive vice president for Sentury Tire USA, said. "Going forward, Sentury Tire USA's sales and customer care teams can better assist our GroundSpeed partners."
Sentury Tire USA now has responsibility for Qingdao Sentury's Delinte, Groundspeed, Landsail, Pantera and Sentury tire brands in the U.S.
The consolidation resulted in an undisclosed number of job losses for Sentury Tire North America staff.
"The consolidation of the GroundSpeed brand allows us to further strengthen Sentury Tire's multi-brand strategy," Mr. Wee said, noting that Sentury Tire USA's growth has come from the brand portfolio and the distributor's quality, competitive pricing and "outstanding" fill rates.
"We can respond to the dealer/distributor's tire needs with minimal geographical brand overlap," Mr. Wee said.
The GroundSpeed brand comprises passenger, high-performance, light truck and SUV/CUV tires.
Sentury Tire USA maintains warehouse distribution centers in Miami; Memphis, Tenn.; and southern California.
The move does not affect Qingdao Sentury's plans to build a tire plant near LaGrange, although that project is now behind the schedule announced in September 2016.
At that time, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced Sentury expected to have its $530 million plant in operation by 2018, but the company has yet to hold a groundbreaking at the site. Local news outlets have reported some ground-clearing has taken place.
Since then, representatives of Sentury have been relatively silent on the Georgia project's status, citing "quiet period" restrictions related to Qindao Sentury's pending initial public offering in China.
The company has been active on a number of fronts, though, including:
• Signing SSOE Group of Toledo, Ohio, as the lead designer for the 1.4 million-sq.-ft. tire plant to be built near LaGrange;
• Contracting Jones Lang Lasalle IP Inc. of Atlanta to help it solicit offers from developers interested in becoming equity partners in tire plant project; and
• Field-tested a subscription service for retailing tires, called AvanTech Tires L.L.C., in selected markets throughout the U.S. Southeast.
