New energy and the reshaping of industry logic under the National VII standards, with GAC Group building a technological moat through the "Super Eucommia Tire."

Today, the tire industry is undergoing a profound reshaping driven jointly by physical changes in the new energy vehicle (NEV) segment and an upgrade in regulatory standards. On one hand, the operating conditions of electric vehicles—higher vehicle curb weight and a surge in torque—are imposing unprecedentedly stringent requirements for tire wear resistance. On the other hand, the China VII (GB 7) standard brings tire wear particles into emission controls, turning “low wear” from a performance option into a compliance threshold. When a century-old industry faces the ultimate test of the “devil’s triangle,” whoever can find a breakthrough at the level of base materials will seize the lead in the next round of industry shuffling. As reported, General Tyre & Rubber (601500.SH) is using its “Super Eucommia tire” as a leverage point; through source-level innovation in core materials, it is marking new coordinates for China’s tire industry to break into the high-end market amid this industrial transformation.

A Double Sonata: NEVs and China VII Reshaping the Tire Industry’s Logic

From the perspective of industry development, the rise of new energy vehicles is fundamentally reconstructing the value logic of the tire industry.

Research shows that compared with conventional internal combustion vehicles, electric vehicles exhibit significant differences in physical characteristics. On the one hand, because of the addition of the power battery, the overall curb weight of the vehicle generally increases. On the other hand, the electric motor can output peak torque instantly, making the tire’s instantaneous impact far exceed that of an internal combustion engine. In addition, in pursuit of maximum range, vehicles have an even more urgent need to reduce rolling resistance. These changes point to a core challenge: increased tire wear. According to industry tests, under the same usage conditions, the wear rate of EV tires is generally faster than that of fuel vehicle tires. Therefore, as new energy develops, the impact of tire performance on users’ usage costs and driving range becomes increasingly important.

Meanwhile, regulators’ focus is shifting from the traditional “exhaust pipe” to the “under the wheels.” In 2026, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has explicitly scheduled “accelerating the formulation of China VII emission standards for motor vehicles.” Unlike previous rounds of upgrades, the China VII standards are deeply aligned with the “Euro 7 regulation” passed in 2024. Its most core change is that tire wear-derived micro particulate matter (TRWP) is being included in the emission control system for the first time. Behind this policy shift is a deepening global understanding of non-tailpipe pollution.

Industry analysts point out that as electrification becomes widespread and the share of tailpipe emissions declines, microplastic particles generated by tire and road friction have become an important source of air and water pollution in cities. For tire companies, this transformation driven jointly by the NEV wave and the China VII standards presents the industry with unprecedented dual challenges. Companies need to break through, in technology, the “devil’s triangle” that has troubled the industry for a century—rolling resistance, wet grip, and wear resistance are difficult to improve simultaneously, in order to meet the composite requirements of NEVs for low rolling resistance, high wear resistance, and strong grip. This requires technical breakthroughs for “low wear,” and even “zero wear,” starting from the material source, to respond to the stringent regulations that are coming. It will transform environmental compliance from a passive cost into an active advantage—also a deep reshaping of company survival and industry structure.

From Material Breakthrough to Performance Breakthrough: General Tyre & Rubber’s “Super Eucommia Tire” Answer

Facing the dual pressure from policy and the market, it is reported that General Tyre & Rubber has chosen a path to break through that starts with innovative materials. Recently, General Tyre & Rubber officially released the “Super Eucommia Tire” series. With source-level innovation of its core materials, it is delivering a “weapon” that combines strategic foresight and strong technical capability to respond to industry changes.

It is known that Eucommia is a rare tree species unique to China. The natural Eucommia gum extracted from it (trans-1,4-polyisoprene) has inherent advantages such as fatigue resistance, anti-aging, low heat generation, and high wear resistance. Synthetic Eucommia gum has the same composition as natural Eucommia gum, with basically consistent functional characteristics, and the molecular weight and distribution can be precisely controlled. At the molecular-structure level, the room-temperature crystallization property of Eucommia gum enables it to combine the elasticity of rubber with the rigidity of plastic, providing a unique materials-science foundation to address the “devil’s triangle” challenge. From a strategic value perspective, 95% of Eucommia resources are distributed in China; its large-scale application is not only a successful practice of green bio-based materials, but also a strategic breakthrough that helps relieve China’s long-term dependence on imported natural rubber.

However, although the technical value of Eucommia gum has been known to the industry for a long time, the real difficulty lies in industrialization. For years, bottlenecks such as hard processing and poor formulation compatibility have made it difficult to achieve commercial applications. As an industry leader, General Tyre & Rubber has been focusing on fundamental research on Eucommia rubber since 2013, and in 2018 it was the first to tackle this industry challenge, winning the “Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Award.” Since then, the company has continued to advance technological iterations. In 2024, it successfully applied Eucommia gum technology comprehensively to passenger vehicle tires, and it has gradually built a complete product matrix covering urban SUVs, high-performance passenger sedans, and luxury flagship SUVs. By spanning the leap from cutting-edge laboratory research to large-scale commercial mass production, it has established a complete end-to-end proprietary technology system.

Research shows that the core of how the “Super Eucommia Tire” precisely addresses industry challenges lies in achieving multi-dimensional performance synergy through material innovation. First, on wear resistance: thanks to the unique molecular-chain structure of Eucommia gum, General Tyre & Rubber’s “Super Eucommia Tire” testing data show that wear resistance is improved by more than 30% year-over-year. For passenger-vehicle tires, the average first-life mileage of the front tires is over 80,000 kilometers, directly addressing EV users’ range anxiety and cost pain points related to frequent tire replacement, and also delivering a perfect practice of the China VII “source reduction” pathway. Second, on safety performance: with the Eucommia gum formulation, wet braking performance reaches the highest label level (A-grade) under the EU labeling law. Combined with the CeliSeal self-repair technology, it can instantly heal when punctures occur within 5mm, laying a solid safety line for vehicles. Finally, on ride experience: after integrating the CeliMute noise-reducing felt technology, real-world testing shows noise reduction of 9 dB, and the perceived loudness to human ears decreases by about 50%, creating a library-level quiet environment for EV users. By this point, General Tyre & Rubber, with the “Super Eucommia Tire” as its core, is providing the industry with a “high-scoring answer” that balances environmental compliance, performance upgrades, and user experience. It also injects new momentum into the company’s long-term operations.

Deep Accumulation, Thin Output: Strategic Depth Driven by R&D

If the “Super Eucommia Tire” is the concentrated embodiment of General Tyre & Rubber’s R&D strength, then the innovation system and strategic layout behind it form the company’s more solid competitive barriers.

It is understood that for a long time, General Tyre & Rubber has adhered to innovation leadership, relying on platforms such as a national-level technology center, a national-level industrial design center, and a nationally recognized laboratory. It has long maintained research cooperation with research institutes, universities, and globally well-known suppliers, and has focused on new-material exploration, as well as research into new equipment and new processes. To date, the company’s all-steel heavy-load radial tire co-line production technology pioneered domestically has passed scientific and technological achievement appraisal by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology. In the industry, it was the first to realize large-scale application of synthetic Eucommia rubber (TPI) in all-steel radial tires, achieving a comprehensive technology level at international advanced standards. Its embedded high-performance RFID tire technology has passed scientific and technological achievement appraisal, reaching a domestic leading level. These technological achievements have built a deep R&D moat for General Tyre & Rubber.

In recent years, the company has continued to deepen its “5X strategy plan,” aiming to achieve, within 10 years, a scale of 5 major production bases and 5 major R&D centers domestically and internationally, 500 strategic channel partners, 5,000 core stores, and production capacity of more than 50 million tires. Currently, its overseas layout has taken initial shape. The completion and commissioning of two major overseas production bases in Thailand and Cambodia give it greater flexibility and stronger resilience when facing international trade barriers.

It can be seen that when industry competition shifts from scale expansion to technology-driven development, General Tyre & Rubber, backed by its strong R&D system, forward-looking material technology, and global strategic perspective, is gradually moving from being a product manufacturer to becoming a maker of technical standards and a builder of an industrial ecosystem.

From the long-term development perspective, in the industrial transformation driven jointly by NEVs and the China VII standards, General Tyre & Rubber uses the “Super Eucommia Tire” as a fulcrum to precisely respond to the market’s rigid demand for high-performance, long-life tires. More importantly, it also aligns from the source with the direction of green and low-carbon regulation. The capability to convert technological advantages into product advantages, and then to embed product advantages into industry trends, is what places it at the forefront of leading China’s tire brands to break upward. It is expected that as the company’s “5X strategy” is steadily advanced, and as core material technologies such as Eucommia gum continue to deepen, General Tyre & Rubber may be able to, while reshaping the competitive landscape of the industry, also secure an essential position in the global high-end tire market representing “China-made ingenuity.”

(Responsible Editor: Dong Pingping)

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