Federal Corp. recorded more than $89.3 million in sales last year, a record for the Taipei, Taiwan-based tire manufacturer. The total was 13.26% greater than in 2000.
The company credits much of its 2001 success on its worldwide sales performance. Markets outside Taiwan and China represented $53.6 million, or 60%, of the total sales of the company -- also a record.
Company sales from its domestic market totaled $35.7 million, down 12%.
"Given the very challenging economic environment worldwide, we are pleased to deliver a solid year with good revenue growth supported by new overseas marketing strategy and innovative product development," said Richard Ma, Federal's chairman and president.
"This is an excellent achievement from all who have worked hard and smart for Federal in 2001. This is a result of hard team work.”
Federal's new SS595 ultra-high performance tire line played a key role in the growth. After its first quarter 2001 introduction, the SS595 posted higher-than-expected sales in both domestic and overseas markets.
“When I joined the company, I realized that the market is going for the direction of increasing demand for high performance products," said Jamie Ma, Federal's executive vice president. "I looked at my existing product lines. I knew we needed a product like SS595 and we needed it fast."
Federal also is manufacturing broad-line tires under the Maxon and Hero brand names at its new manufacturing facility in the province of Jiang-Xi, China. But ultra-high performance tires are its focus.
“My dream is to become the number one ultra-high performance tire manufacturer from Taiwan," said Jamie Ma. "When buyers around the world think about buying high performance tires from Taiwan, Federal will be their first choice.”
Federal has a strong network of overseas distributors, with more than 80 sales points all over the world.
Federal plans to make incremental investments to expand its production capacity to meet "booming global demand," according to the company.
