Update: Ralson ready to roll into U.S.

LAS VEGAS — Ralson India Ltd. will enter the U.S. commercial tire market next year, launching its Ralson and Accelus brand truck/bus tires in the first quarter of 2023, the company announced at the SEMA Show.

Ralson, which prior to this was predominantly a producer of tires for two- and three-wheeled-vehicles, also is staffing a team of U.S. sales and marketing tire professionals,with a U.S. office in Franklin, Tenn.

Industry veteran Jim Mayfield is overseeing the initiative as executive vice president of Ralson Tire North America Inc.

Brian Sheehey, former vice president/head of marketing for Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America (YOHTA), joined the company as senior vice president, Ralson announced in late November.

Ludhiana, India-based Ralson is sourcing the tires from a $350 million plant it opened earlier this year in Indore, India, and which is dedicated to producing tires for the U.S. market.

The Ralson brand will be sold through larger full-service commercial tire dealerships that buy direct from Ralson, company executives said during their SEMA presentation.

The Accelus brand will be sold through distributors to smaller tire dealers.

The first phase of tire offerings will focus on products for the regional, pickup-and-delivery and waste-hauling and construction markets, the executives said.

"We are committed to supplying fleets and owner operators with TBR tires that deliver outstanding performance and a low total cost of ownership to help them thrive in the ultra-competitive U.S. trucking industry," Ralson CEO Manjul Pahwa said.

"Tire dealers who join the Ralson team will benefit from repeat customers and positive word-of-mouth due to our unbeatable combination of acquisition price and performance."

Growing into truck tires just made sense for Ralson, Mayfield told Tire Business.

"In India, our home market, we're 60% market share. And with 60% market share, how do you grow? How do you continue on?"

Ralson began eying the TBR commercial truck tire market ten years ago, specifically the U.S. market. If the company could build a tire that worked in the U.S., "we're going to be telling the world that we know how to make commercial truck tires," he said.

Mayfield said Ralson's tire offerings will offer a tier one performance and a value price and will include a warranty and retread minimum guarantee.

"We're confident that the performance is going to be there, the way that we expect it to. And the performance of the tire will be the foundation of building our brand," he said.

Ralson's U.S. product offerings include:

• The Ralson RAR51, an all-position tire available in seven sizes. Featuring integrated sipes for all-weather traction and cooler running for extended tread life; optimized groove angle with stone ejector; sinusoidal shoulder groove that promotes dependable traction, shoulder stability and low rolling resistance for uniform wear and fuel efficiency.

• The Ralson RAC55 (available in 315/80R22.5) for waste haul and construction applications. Featuring open shoulder with tie bars for "powerful" traction and self-cleaning capabilities that improve tread and casing life; balanced rib ratio for even pressure distribution, higher mileage and even wear; optimized groove angles with stone ejectors that provide self-cleaning.

• The Accelus AR91, an all-position radial available in seven sizes. Featuring five-rib design that balances long tread wear and fuel efficiency; four belt construction that absorbs impacts and provides uniform ground contact; wavy shoulder groove that promotes uniform wear, shoulder stability and traction.

• The Accelus DR92, a closed-shoulder drive tire available in four sizes. Featuring wide belt construction that distributes tension evenly for high mileage and optimum retreadability; an ideal lug-to-void ratio that enhances driver comfort while delivering long treadwear; and a next-generation compound that helps dissipate energy for higher fuel economy and reduced wear.

"We are very excited to get our tires in operation on the roads and highways of America," Mayfield said. "Their performance will be our best advertisement. Ralson has assembled a team of R&D engineers and rubber technologists previously responsible for some of the industry's most renowned commercial tire tread patterns. They have developed tread patterns and casing designs ideally suited to operate efficiently on America's highways and roads."

"In addition to R&D, the manufacturing process at Ralson's highly advanced plant is the other key ingredient. From best-in-class extrusion equipment to RFID enabled bead preparation, the facility is rolling out TBR tires of superior quality," he said.

Ralson said its R&D team uses the most advanced computer simulation and testing equipment, and puts prototype tires through exhaustive testing inside labs equipped with Virtual Simulation Capabilities (FEA) and then thoroughly punishes them on a wide variety of surfaces.

Ralson, which claims to be India's fastest-growing tire company, is one of the world's top five bicycle tire manufacturers and began producing automotive tires in 2000.

Ralson recently entered the global commercial tire market with a state-of-the-art plant in Indore, India, with a nameplate annual production capacity of more than 1 million tires. Ralson plans to expand the plant.

The plant uses a nitrogen-cure system instead of the hot water cure system, which it claims allows better control of the curing process, leading to greater tire uniformity. The nitrogen process, which conserves water, is one of many environmental protection initiatives deployed at the plant.