Under a deal touted as the first of its kind in the country, South Korea’s second largest tyre maker Kumho Tire Co has signed a ten-year technology transfer agreement with Pakistan’s Century Engineering, which is essentially involved in producing car batteries.
In the deal which will run through September 2028, Kumho Tire will transfer technology required to manufacture 28 different types of tyres for passenger and commercial vehicles to Century, the company said in a statement.
Kumho Tire plans to share its know-how for tyre manufacturing ranging from designing to quality assurance and assessment. It also is planning to offer training to Century’s workers and solutions to problems arising during the manufacturing process.
Kumho Tire will initially receive US$5 million from Century for transferring its basic tyre manufacturing technology and 2.5% of the Pakistani firm’s annual sales over a period of ten years.
Century, which has been looking at diversifying its product range, says the tyre plant will have a capacity of 5 million units.
Century Engineering started making old technology Starting-Lighting-Ignition, (SLI) lead acid and gel batteries under the brand name Phoenix in 2005. Lead Acid battery was invented by French physicist Gaston Planté in 1859.
The company decided to diversify to the tyre business after realising that the battery market had become saturated.