HANGZHOU, China — Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (ZC Rubber) plans to extend warranty coverage for its Chaoyang, Goodride, Trazano, Westlake and Yartu brands starting July 1 to five years in all global markets, the Hangzhou-based company said recently.
ZC Rubber America Inc., the U.S. sales subsidiary, said separately that it plans to offer a warranty exceeding the five-year terms already available on its Arisun premium truck tire line. That warranty offers a free replacement tire for any tire that fails within the first 50% of original tread depth.
The parent company announcement did not mention the Arisun brand, which the U.S. subsidiary considers its premium brand in North America.
Citing its desire to support its distributors around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, ZC Rubber said the warranty upgrade will apply to all sizes of passenger, truck/bus and OTR tires it produces. It did not say what the warranty terms were previously and that information is not available on the company's various brand websites.
In North America, the warranty coverage extension will apply to the Goodride, Trazano and Westlake brands. The Chaoyang and Yartu brands aren't sold in North America.
ZC Rubber extended the warranty last year in Europe to five years on Westlake radial light and medium truck tires and received positive market feedback, the company said.
In the U.S., ZC Rubber USA markets the Arisun and Goodride brands overall along with Westlake-brand truck/bus tires and has assigned marketing rights to Westlake-brand car/light truck tires to Tireco Inc., which already offers a six-year warranty from the date of manufacture on the Westlake tires it sells in the U.S.
Tireco said it determines the terms of warranties it offers on products it handles exclusively, based on its own testing.
ZC Rubber said the warranty extension "represents our service, care and support for our global customers."