BRUSSELS — The European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) has accepted Nexen Tire Europe and the tire producers trade associations from Czech Republic and Slovak Republic as new members, starting in 2022.
With these additions, the ETRMA membership will comprise 15 tire manufacturers and 11 national sector associations.
Nexen Tire Europe, a subsidiary of South Korea's Nexen Tire Corp., opened a tire factory in Zatec, Czech Republic, in August 2019.
ETRMA Secretary General Fazilet Cinaralp noted that with these additions, "Our critical mass is growing, and together we can create strong synergies to work even more efficiently towards a safer and greener Europe."
The ETRMA's current 14 tire company members operate 93 manufacturing facilities (including retread plants) throughout Europe, employing over 200,000 workers and representing 300 million units of passenger and 18 million units of truck/bus tire capacity.
The new trade groups are: Zsruzeni Vyrobcu Pneumatik v Ceske Republice and Zsruzenie Vyrobcov Pneumatik v Slovenskej Republike, or Association of Producers of Tyres in Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, respectively.
During a recent ETRMA board meeting, the association reaffirmed its commitment to the European Union policy objective of a European economic recovery geared to meeting the "green deal" ambitions, a digital Europe and safer roads.
The board emphasized the importance for the industry and its supply chain to be supported by an appropriate regulatory framework, while continuing to nurture its dialogue and cooperation with the European institutions and relevant stakeholders in order to deliver on the EU priorities and on a more competitive industry in Europe.
"The European tire industry has been a global leader in tire performance, innovation and research, sustained by a unique regulatory framework (minimum thresholds, labeling…)," ETRMA President Franco Annunziato said.
"As we recently shared during our meeting with [EU] Commissioner Thierry Breton, we have the ambition to contribute even further to increased climate-change mitigation targets, tackling tire abrasion and continuing to improve road safety, whilst contributing to an increasingly circular economy."
