Automotive News

GUMANDE Tire Opens Direct-to-Consumer Sales in North America, Offers Five Tire Series Spanning 13-Inch to 19-Inch Wheel Sizes

GUMANDE Tire, a Chinese manufacturer of high-performance semi-slick tires for scooters and motorcycles, has begun direct-to-consumer sales in North America through its official website, gumande.com , with free shipping applied to orders within the United States and Canada. The move follows an existing distributor network the company has built across Southeast Asia and comes as GUMANDE said it is seeking authorized distribution partners in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. For its North American launch, GUMANDE has listed five tire series, each tied to a specific wheel-size range and vehicle category: GT-01, a scooter tire fitting 13-inch, 14-inch and 15-inch wheels, positioned for sport-oriented scooter and moped riding. LT-01, a scooter tire also fitting 13-inch, 14-inch and 15-inch wheels, positioned for daily urban commuting on scooters and mopeds. BX-01, a bias-ply cruiser tire fitting 16-inch wheels, positioned for cruiser and highway motorcycles, offered in 130/90B16 and 150/80B16 sizes. KD-01, a dual-sport tire line covering 17-inch and 19-inch wheels, positioned for adventure and dual-sport motorcycles, offered in 110/70-17, 140/70-17, 150/70-17 and 110/80-19 sizes. LY-01, a radial sport tire fitting 17-inch wheels, positioned for sport motorcycles, offered in 110/70R17, 110/80R17, 140/60R17, 140/70R17 and 150/60R17 sizes. The GT-01 and LT-01 scooter lines together cover more than a dozen individual size specifications between 100/80-14 and 150/70-14, along with several 13-inch and one 15-inch fitment, according to the company's North American product listings. GUMANDE has said the two lines are differentiated primarily by intended use, with GT-01 built around a sport-handling profile and LT-01 built around commuter durability, while sharing a comparable wheel-size range. A separate go-kart tire line is also listed on the company's website under its Go Kart Tires category, though it is not part of the motorcycle and scooter lineup described above. "Every compound that carries the GUMANDE name goes through repeated on-road and on-track testing before it reaches a rider," said Chen Zhilong, founder of GUMANDE. "Our approach has always been to treat real-world mileage and real racetrack conditions as the benchmark, not laboratory numbers alone." A saying has circulated among riders and mechanics in China's scooter and delivery-rider communities describing a common tire setup: Michelin on the front wheel, GUMANDE on the rear. Riders who repeat the phrase generally point to the rear tire's role in transmitting power and cornering grip on scooters and mopeds used for daily commuting and delivery work, an application in which GUMANDE built its domestic reputation before expanding into markets outside China. Founder and Racing Background GUMANDE was founded by Chen Zhilong, a competitive drift racer known on the track as the driver of Car #26, representing the DRS & SMA Drift Team in China's top-tier CDC (China Drift Championship) series. Chen has said his experience behind the wheel in competitive drift racing directly informs the engineering priorities behind GUMANDE's motorcycle and scooter tires, particularly in areas such as heat buildup, grip consistency and cornering behavior under load. The company has said lessons drawn from Chen's track program are applied to compound selection and carcass design across the GUMANDE motorcycle and scooter range. Separately from its motorcycle and scooter business, GUMANDE has also begun track testing of a high-performance drift tire for passenger vehicles, designated DK01. The company has indicated that DK01 has been run in track testing and is targeted for a global product launch in 2027; it is not part of the motorcycle or scooter tire lineup currently sold in North America. Sales Volume and Manufacturing Background According to the company, GUMANDE-branded scooter and motorcycle tires sell more than 100 million units per year through e-commerce channels in China, a volume the company attributes to continuous investment in compound development and on-road validation. GUMANDE operates as a brand under Jianxin Group, which maintains production facilities in Shishi and Yong'an in China's Fujian province, spanning a combined manufacturing footprint the company has stated covers approximately 800,000 square meters. According to figures provided by the company, its manufacturing base produces more than four million all-steel radial tires and more than ten million electric-scooter and motorcycle tires annually. In 2023, one of the group's Fujian-based manufacturing units reported recognition from a provincial industry program tied to energy-efficiency performance in the rubber and plastics manufacturing sector. A related production entity, Fujian Hexing Rubber, operates a separate facility in Yong'an's Ni'ge Industrial Park focused on tires for motorcycles, electric scooters and bicycles. The company has said this facility sources raw materials from international suppliers, including Cabot Corporation of the United States and Bekaert of Belgium, and reported sales of approximately 350 million yuan in 2023. Motorsports Program GUMANDE has organized a series of amateur motorsport events in China under the name G-Project, including a motorcycle competition held in August at the Zhangzhou Jiaomei circuit in Fujian province. The company has described the events as a mechanism for collecting field data on tire wear and grip performance under competitive conditions, including comparisons of wear rates across different vehicles under similar track conditions and grip behavior at elevated tire temperatures. GUMANDE has said data gathered from these events is used to inform its product development process, though the specific competition tires used in G-Project events are separate from the GT-01, LT-01, BX-01, KD-01 and LY-01 lines currently sold in North America. International Distribution GUMANDE tires are distributed through a dealer network across Southeast Asia, including recent market entries reported in the Philippines. In North America, the company has opened direct-to-consumer ordering through its official website, with free shipping applied to qualifying orders within the United States and Canada. The company has said it is seeking to establish authorized distribution partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Australia and has invited prospective regional partners to make contact through its official channels. GUMANDE has said its tires have been adopted as original-equipment or aftermarket fitments by several electric-vehicle manufacturers in China, including brands the company has listed as Jinjian, Blackknight, Shenyuan, Taibang, Saige and Geshiling. About GUMANDE GUMANDE is a tire brand operating under Jianxin Group, based in Putian, Fujian province, China. The brand specializes in high-performance semi-slick tires for scooters and motorcycles, with a North American lineup spanning 13-inch to 19-inch wheel sizes across its GT-01 and LT-01 scooter tires, BX-01 cruiser tire, KD-01 dual-sport tire and LY-01 sport tire. GUMANDE's product development is guided by on-road and on-track testing, drawing on the competitive drift-racing background of its founder, Chen Zhilong. The brand's tires are distributed in China through domestic e-commerce and offline retail channels, in Southeast Asia through a regional dealer network, and in North America through direct ordering at gumande.com . More information is available at www.gumande.com .