On December 12, 2016, US Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, listed in the U.S. as the world's leading tire manufacturer, held a grand opening ceremony for the new joint venture in Qingdao. This is another new factory in China after the Cooper Tire (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. Bradley E. Hughes, the CEO and President of Cooper Tire, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. He said: "it is a very important step for our strategic plan to establish a new cooperation with Qingdao GRT Rubber and this move can enrich Cooper Tire supply sources for all-steel tire and reflects our high confidence on the Chinese market. The new factory will be Cooper’s main manufacturing base globally for truck and bus tires. (Figure 1).
   
　　Qingdao GRT Rubber Co., Ltd, invested by Qingdao Yi Yuan Investment Company, was founded in 2014 and is located at Qingdao Pingdu (Figure 2). In January 2016, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company signed an agreement with Qingdao Yi Yuan Investment Co., Ltd. for purchasing 65% shares of Qingdao GRT Rubber Co., Ltd. and changing it into a joint venture. This move is intended to boost the business for Cooper all-steel tire so it can satisfy customers’ demand from North America, Asia and other markets and may expand its business scope to produce saloon tires in the future. 　　GRT has the workshops covering an area of 1 million square feet and a production capacity of up to 2 million of all-steel tires a year. After the overall expansion, it is predicted to produce about 2.5 million ~ 3 million all-steel tires annually and nearly equal number of saloon car tires as well.
　　At the annual dealership meeting after the opening ceremony, Cooper’s "American Starfire Tires" released its new all-steel tire product line, which represents the measures to produce saloon tires and at the same time meet the market demand for all-steel tires.