'Made in America': Giti bringing premium tires, in-demand sizes to U.S. plant

RICHBURG, S.C.—With every tire Giti Tire Manufacturing (USA) Ltd. rolls out of its Richburg factory, the company makes a statement. You can see it for yourself, right there on the sidewall of every one.

"Made in U.S.A."

And there is depth to a statement like that, especially the kind that Giti intends to make. Because literally, yes, the tires are manufactured in the U.S., right there at the 6-year-old Richburg plant.

But "Made in U.S.A." means even more than that for Giti.

It means taking American ingenuity and combining it with innovation—both new and tried-and-true—to optimize performance and safety standards of its products, all to match the expectations of American consumers.

"Made in America" means taking manufacturing to new levels, through greater automation and higher efficiencies. It means continually reinventing, rethinking, reimagining every aspect of tire development to ensure you are meeting the U.S. market where it is.

So, Giti is doing all of that. Right there in Richburg.

"This is the beginning and the reinventing," Phang Wai Yeen, CEO of Giti Tire Manufacturing (USA), said during a recent open house at the Richburg facility. "Actually, this factory is a really good example of reinventing 'Made in America.' "

To reinvent Made in America, you need the right product mix.

So Giti aims bring some of its most popular premium products—in some of the most in-demand sizes—directly to the U.S. market with its continued expansion of the Richburg facility.

According to David Poling, Giti North America R&D's director of tire development and product marketing, the tire maker, in the months ahead, will focus on making more of the premium products U.S. drivers want in the sizes they need.

"We are going to be concentrating on our premium GT Radial products," Poling said. " … We will be bringing some sizes back into the U.S. that may have been manufactured overseas."

When Poling talks premium products, he's specifically talking: MaxTour LX, Adventuro HT and Adventuro ATX. And when he discusses the sizes that are most in-demand, he means 18-, 19-, and 20-inch rim sizes.

"We will still do some 17-inch. There is about nine of 10 new sizes in that mix that, again, is part of our overall strategy," Poling said. "… We will have one key size we have been missing—235/40r19—in June (is the) start-up (for that), and the other is to follow after that."

You can expect to see Adventuro ATX coming out of the factory within the next six months, Poling said, and the MaxTour LX should be in production in the U.S. at some point in 2023 as well.

The Adventuro HT is likely to begin rolling off Richburg production lines sometime next year.

This is not to say that all of the products Giti sells in the U.S. will be made in the U.S. Some portion of its tires will be imported, and that's not likely to change. As a global company serving a global market, Giti has to make the best use of its resources and operations. And that means sourcing some overseas tires.

"From a practical point of view," Phang said, "it will be no different than the other significant players. Because otherwise it does not make sense."

Still a major focus for Giti is the U.S. consumer. Proof of that is in the Richburg plant investment, where the tire maker is designing products in America for U.S. drivers. And it looks to do so through both OE and retail channels.

That mix, officials said, will shift as consumer demands change and OE fitments are secured.

When the factory first came to life, it did so with a solid focus on WalMart Inc., manufacturing Dextero-branded passenger car tires to help fulfill the retail giant's supply needs. And that move made sense in the early stages of factory set-up, Phang said.

Now, he said, it makes sense to transition to a wider range of products.

"When this factory was started, WalMart was one of our existing partners in our business," Phang said. "… So, it was quite natural when the factory started up that we transferred in quite a lot of production that was already on the supply radar of WalMart so that we could supply the factory."

Obviously, the factory has grown since then, and it continues to do so as new equipment is brought online and production continues to ramp up. And as the Giti brands—Dextero, yes, but the GT Radial and Primewell as well—continue to gain strength, the tire maker is adapting its production to better meet the needs of the American market.

"It is quite natural for us (to focus on) premium sizes, emerging sizes in the premium lines," Phang said. "… Of course, affordability—dollars and cents—will always be one of the important factors in the market. And now … the quality and performance of (the tires) is what the market really wants."

That's good news for Giti, Phang said, because the tire maker offers both.

The South Carolina plant was designed for a capacity of about 10 million standard tires per year. At present, Phang said, the facility is "more than halfway" there.

Halfway, and still making up ground. Because Giti is in the latter half of the first phase of development, adding some final touches with equipment installations. It expects capacity to continue to increase over the coming months.

And that, he said, allows for Giti to bring some of those more in-demand products at in-demand prices to the American market.

"In a nutshell," Phang said, "we have got to constantly realign our products and our size range to remain relevant to the market."

Remaining relevant means rethinking, reinventing, reimagining what kind of products you bring to the market, and that's where Poling and his team come in. Because you have to meet the market when it is, and the American consumer has very specific expectations.

They want quality products, affordable products. Products, Phang said, that are "made in America."

"For this factory, those tires that we should bring in and make in America, it is very obvious that being right where the market is, we should be utilizing this facility to develop and manufacture those tires that are more relevant."