Long March, Moncar ink U.S. distribution deal for Starlux

CHAOYANG, China—China's Chaoyang Long March Tyre Co. Ltd. has struck a deal with U.S. importer and distributor Moncar Inc. for the distribution of Starlux radial truck/bus tires that Long March is producing at a new joint venture plant in Pakistan.

The deal with Coral Gables, Fla., based-Moncar also involves Mexico's Avante Group, a producer and distributor of tires and custom wheels under the Avante and Emotion brands, which is partnering with Moncar on the Starlux deal.

Avante has an established relationship with Long March throughout Latin America, according to Jose Luis Arrelano, chairman of the Mexican company.

"We have partnered with Long March in the most stringent markets with the most demanding conditions throughout Latin America," Arrelano said in a prepared statement.

"We have conducted in-depth studies," he said, "and we can say with certitude you can't find a better truck tire for this price."

Moncar is a relatively new company founded by tire distribution industry veteran Charles Salas, who told Tire Business he has a decades-old business relationship with Arrelano and Avante Group.

Salas said Moncar sees the Starlux product as a premium-quality, value-priced radial truck tire line that will be offered with an extended new tire tread warranty and a casing warranty covering at least two retreads.

The brand will launch with a range of products covering 17.5- to 24.5-inch rim diameters, he said, with wide-base products under development.

Business will be containerload orders initially, but Moncar also is prepared to offer smaller orders eventually using third-party warehousing partners, Salas said, most likely in California, Texas or South Carolina. In addition, Avante/Emotion has warehousing in Monterrey, Mexico, Salas said.

Long March partnered with Pakistan's Service Industries Ltd. three years ago to build a $250 million radial truck/bus tire plant in Pakistan's southern Sindh province.

That plant, rated at 600,000 tires a year in the initial phase, has now come on stream. Long March said the factory's capacity will quadruple to 2.4 million units a year by 2026. The factory is the first in Pakistan dedicated to truck/bus tires.

Sourcing tires from Pakistan enables Moncar to avoid the elevated U.S. import duties imposed on truck/bus tires from China.

Lahore, Pakistan-based Service Industries, a producer primaily of two- and three-wheeler tires and tubes at a plant in Lahore, owns 51% of the venture through its Servis Tyres business unit.

Salas owns another tire import/distribution business, CMC Tires, but that company is inactive for now, he said.