LAS VEGAS — Sentury Tire USA is expanding its business platform with the launch of a fourth brand — Groundspeed — that also will put Sentury into the commercial truck/bus tire segment for the first time.
The Groundspeed brand — to be promoted with the tagline "Quality from the ground up" — will complement Sentury Tire USA's existing Delinte, Landsail and Sentury brands with a full line of all-season tires for passenger cars, ultra-high performance vehicles, SUVs, CUVs, light trucks (including all-, highway- and mud-terrain versions) along with the range of truck/bus radials.
Sentury Tire anticipates shipments will start in the first quarter of 2022, with both containerload and truckload deliveries possible, according to Nick Gutierrez, territory sales director for the Hialeah, Fla.-based subsidiary of China's Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd.
The company sees the Groundspeed brand competing in the Tier 3 category and will be priced according, Mr. Gutierrez said.
The launch of the brand — actually a relaunch of a brand that was tied to the company's plans to build a U.S. plant in 2016-17 — coincides with the availability of capacity at Qingdao Sentury's factory in Rayong, Thailand, which opened in 2016.
That factory is designated a "4.0 Smart Factory" — in light of its adherence to strict sustainability standards, productivity, production and time to market. The technology and manufacturing practices in place there — such as six independent automation lines with monorail systems, machine visual technology (MVT) software for automating x-ray imaging analysis, and (VMI) Maxx radial tire building — collectively are often referred to as "intelligent manufacturing."
The truck tire program includes a full complement of closed-shoulder drive, steer, all-position and trailer tires, Mr. Gutierrez said, backed by limited mileage warranties of 40,000 to 50,000 miles and road-hazard coverage in most cases. The truck tires are considered retreadable, but Sentury Tire does not have enough data gathered as yet to comment on the tire line's possibility for multiple retreads.
The new brand will be available either in containerloads or truckloads, the latter shipped from Sentury Tire USA' U.S. warehouses, Mr. Guitierrez said.
To support the launch, Sentury Tire USA has created a dedicated web site, GroundSpeedtires.com, which includes a user interface designed for mobile use, making the tire search intuitive for both desktop and mobile device users.
"Our goal was to create an easy tire search experience," Maxwell Wee, executive vice president, said.
The brand also includes full lines of passenger and light truck/SUV tires, comprising three passenger and three light truck/SUV lines:
The passenger versions are:
- Voyager SV, a premium all-season, low-profile highway tire targeted at CUVs and SUVs, available in 19 sizes covering 18- to 22-inch rim diameters;
- Voyager HP, a W speed-rated, ultra-high-performance tire that “delivers enhanced handling and traction” for the current crop of performance cars and is available in 28 sizes covering 17- to 20-inch rim diameters and 35 to 50 series profiles; and
- Voyager GT, an all-season touring tire, which Sentury said delivers “high-mileage durability” and “excellent” wet grip along with a quiet, comfortable ride.
The light truck/SUV versions:
- Voyager MT, a mud-terrain tire that offers “exceptional” off-road traction in extreme conditions and an “aggressive” look, available in nine sizes covering 15- to 20-inch rim diameters;
- Voyager AT all-terrain tire , which targets light trucks, fits rims ranging from 15 inches to 20 inches in diameter and has been engineered for “exceptional off-road traction, with a durable sidewall and rugged tread pattern;”
- Voyager HT, a premium highway tire that offers a “quieter, more comfortable” ride for the targeted light truck/SUVs. It’s available in 21 P-metric sizes covering 5- to 19-inch rim diameters and six LT sizes in 16- and 17-inch rim diameters.
Sentury Tire USA is offering a “Ground Up” warranty of 50,000 miles on all the products but the Voyager HP (40,000 miles) and MT (no warranty) and limited road-hazard coverage on the Voyager product line.
The brand debuted at Sentury Tire USA's booth at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.