Pirelli pursuing growth opportunities in U.S. market

MILAN, Italy — Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is targeting the U.S. for its next phase of growth with an eye to increasing its share of the market for larger rim-sized, higher value-added tires in the region.

"We have a lot of opportunities in the U.S. market because we have a lower market-share compared to the other regions in the high-value [segments]," Andrea Casaluci, general manager operations, said, without specifying the scale of growth the company expects.

"We were able to gain [market] share in 2022 and we'll target clearly to [increase market-share] in 2023 and the coming years," he said, without specifying the company's share or quantifying the company's growth expectations. He did note, however, that the company's growth goals are tied to new product launches and increasing its OE presence in North America.

Pirelli did not break down its fiscal 2022 sales by region, but at the nine-month mark of the fiscal year, revenue attributed to North America had grown over 40%, putting the U.S./Canada/Mexico territory on pace for roughly $1.65 billion in sales, or about 21% of Pirelli's global revenue.

"We are entering in U.S. original equipment [market with] partners that were not customers of Pirelli five years ago," he said during a conference call with the financial community.

Among these new customers are General Motors Co., Stellantis N.V. and Tesla Motors. It also includes "iconic" vehicles such as the Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram pickup trucks.

According to Casaluci, Pirelli is also enlarging its customer-base with long-term agreements with the "most important distributors" in the region, again without providing specifics.

To help support its growth plans in North America, Pirelli has earmarked nearly $165 million over the past 18 months toward capacity expansions at its plant in Silao, Mexico, with emphasis on larger-rim diameter tires and tires for electric vehicles.

The investments in Mexico are part of nearly $425 million the company set aside in fiscal 2022 for technology upgrades at factories, improving product-mix and increasing high-value capacities in Romania and North America, by 2025.

Of that amount, Casaluci said, "more or less 30%" will be related to capacity increases, around 45% to technology upgrades and digital transformation, and 25% on "business continuity."