MTD Mid-Year Q&A: PCTNA Continues to Invest in Brands

Samuel Felberbaum, president of Prinx Chengshan Tire North America (PCTNA), discusses investments the company is making in its Prinx and Fortune brands.

MTD: Can you bring us up to speed on PCTNA's business so far in 2025? What have some of the company's accomplishments and challenges been?

Felberbaum: Business for PCTNA in 2025 started off very strong for both PCR and TBR segments. We’ve launched our tire size lineup for our all-weather products, the HiSeason 4S for Prinx and the ClimaFlex 4S for Fortune, and we will be launching our new Fortune Tormenta A/T² and Prinx HiCountry A/T² in late-2Q, for arrival in Q3.

MTD: How would you assess the state of the consumer tire market and the TBR tire market in the U.S. at the moment?  What are you hearing from your dealers and distributors?

Felberbaum: For PCTNA’s products, Fortune and Prinx, demand remains strong in both the consumer and TBR segments. Demand, we believe, will continue to rise. We believe that high-quality products at lower price points are resonating with both consumer and commercial customers – especially with the new tariffs that are causing price increases. Unfortunately, people’s wages are not rising at an equal rate. Consumer and commercial consumers are looking at high-quality alternative products and this is where Prinx and Fortune are well-positioned to compete. Prinx and Fortune offer great value to the consumer and more importantly, give the distributor, retailer and commercial servicing dealer the ability to have one name and offer over 450 SKUs to meet all vehicle demands for their customer base.

MTD: PCTNA has maintained a regular cadence of new tire introductions across both the Prinx and Fortune brands. Why is this important for both PCTNA and its dealers?

Felberbaum: It’s paramount that we continue to bring products to the marketplace that our customers can make high profits on and are needed by the consumer and/or commercial customer. We need to constantly refresh the line and will do so over the next two to three years, where we’ll have a new broadline product, a UHP product (and) H/T and M/T lines that not only perform but are aesthetically pleasing.

We try to have very deep coverage. This allows customers to make Prinx and Fortune a one-stop shop for all PLT, STR and TBR needs. In PLT...with the launch of the new A/T² for both brands and additions to the current line-up, we’ll be close to 400 SKUS. TBR will be over 80 SKUs. We’re able to meet the demands of the market. We (also will) need to have an EV-adaptable product. It’s coming in the future.

MTD: Will tariff actions imposed by the Trump administration change PCTNA's product sourcing and/or manufacturing footprint or strategy? 

Felberbaum: The short answer is no, because we just can’t pick up our plant and move it. But our company has announced it will add its third plant in Malaysia with an opening date for 2026. The first tires will arrive in the U.S. and Canada in Q1 2027. It will be a complete PLT, STR and TBR tire plant for the U.S.

MTD: How have existing tariffs on Thailand-made TBR tires affected your business or has it been business as usual?

Felberbaum: The anti-dumping duty has had a bigger effect than the (recently announced) tariffs. But once the dust settles on the amount of the reciprocal tariffs – since everyone has been given a reprieve at the time of our conversation – then we can determine what that net result will be. It’s business as usual and our customers understand and have been flexible. They know we’re following the rules and that's all we can do.

MTD: PCTNA continues to invest in sports marketing, most recently establishing a partnership with the American Hockey League (AHL). Why has PCTNA ramped up its sports marketing efforts and how do you anticipate this will help your distributors and dealers? What are your goals for these ongoing investments?

Felberbaum: For Fortune, we’re in the third year of our agreement with USA Pickleball and we’ll be starting next season with the AHL. For Prinx, we're in year two of our deal with the U.S. Soccer league. These have been great partners for PCTNA and each brand, respectively.

PCTNA’s goal is to continue to build brand awareness for both Prinx and Fortune. We believe that getting involved with these sports and leagues are a way to show our customers we’re committed to the U.S. and Canadian markets and hopefully, this will resonate with the consumer, who will go to the retail counters and ask for Prinx and Fortune. We've only been in the U.S. five-and-a-half years. We’re still young and we're really trying to make a lot of inroads. It’s a long-term play.

We continue to hear from our distributors and retailers that consumers are asking more about Prinx and Fortune, which is hard to quantify, but is great. The more that Prinx and Fortune get recommended and placed onto vehicles and consumers have no issues, the more they will want to (purchase) Prinx and Fortune in the future.

MTD: Can you bring us up to speed on PCTNA's plans to establish its own distribution center in the U.S.?

Felberbaum: We’re getting close and I hope to have this completed in the second half of 2025.

MTD: What can we expect to see from PCTNA during the rest of 2025?

Felberbaum: We’re going to continue to enhance our overall product offering through the roll-out of our new Prinx HiCountry A/T² and Fortune Tormenta A/T² and we're going to look to continue to grow our footprint in both the U.S. and Canada. We still have some open white space. I think with the new products we’ll be offering, we should attract many customers (who are) looking at alternative products, where they can get full-line coverage.