RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico — Maxam Tire North America Inc. is planning to roll out a line of radial truck/bus tires in the second half of 2024, company representatives told those attending the 2024 Independent Tire Dealers Group (ITDG) members' meeting in Riviera Maya this week.
The new product range, which will include long-haul, regional and mixed-service designs, will be built using parent Sailun Tire Group's EcoPoint3 liquid-phase mixing technology, according to Jimmy McDonnell, vice president, sales and marketing for Danvers, Mass.-based Maxam Tire North America.
The new product range was designed completely new by Maxam's engineering teams, McDonnell said, and thus the products are distinct from existing Sailun-brand truck tires.
Sailun disclosed in 2022 that it had developed a liquid-phase rubber-mixing process that it claims can yield tire performance improvements in multiple parameters that previously were not possible.
Sailun claims its testing shows tires made with rubber compounded with its proprietary "EcoPoint3" liquid-phase mixing "matched or exceeded" tire performance across the three key functional attributes of rolling resistance, wear resistance and wet grip — characteristics that traditionally could be improved individually only by compromising one or more of the others.
The first examples of the new product range are just now hitting the U.S., McDonnell said, and will be used primarily for some on-road testing before a more complete roll-out in the second half of the year.
Maxam expects the new tires to be marketed as upper Tier 2 products and thus be competitively priced against other brands in that category.
Maxam has truck tire capacity at its factories in Tay Ninh, Vietnam — where it already is using the EcoPoint3 technology — and Svay Rien, Cambodia, where the company has budgeted $311 million to expand passenger tire capacity over the coming 18 months.
In addition, Maxam is adding a line of rubber tracks to its product portfolio, that are being manufactured at the Sailun factory in Vietnam, where the company has built a dedicated production line for tracks.
The company will focus first on products for construction equipment, McDonnell said, and then later start developing tracks for the agricultural sector. The first examples of the new track lines are just starting to ship to the U.S., he added.
Pricing information was not disclosed at this time.
These new product ranges come on the heels of Maxam's recent introduction of VF sizes to the Maxam AgilXtra I-3 implement product series.
Maxam said its AgilXtra VF technology solutions deliver the capability to carry heavier loads at high speeds while ensuring both increased tire traction and minimizing soil compaction.
Maxam earlier said it continues to focus its efforts on developing VF technology solutions that can meet the challenge of mixed terrains, loads, applications and high speeds without compromising performance or endurance.