OK, no one has asked me that, but I’m going to answer the question nonetheless.

To start with, I have no agenda here other than to do my part to inform tire dealers that all may not be as it appears.

I would be just as happy to not have to play watchdog when it comes to ATC – or any company – and would be equally happy if all it claims comes true. A new OTR tire plant in this country is an exciting prospect (especially now when creating new jobs is a priority). Yet its lack of transparency (and, in fairness, it is not legally required to be report every detail) brings to question every single claim it makes.

Issuing a news release or product brochure or customer letter or Web site does not give the issuer carte blanche to say anything. Regardless of public or private status, any such communication must be honest and forthright. If it is not, or appears to be boastful or otherwise unusual, one should expect to be taken to questioned.

ATC has taken “taking liberties” to a new level. Early one, I was willing to consider some of its claims to a misunderstanding of English; ATC’s principals are, after all, Chinese, and such misunderstandings are not unusual. English, as any English teacher will tell you, is the most difficult language to learn.

At the same time, its president Abraham Hengyucius claims to hold a doctorate and has worked in this country for a number of years. And generally when there is a “misunderstanding” of a language, such is limited to the occasional use of the wrong word, not the inclusion of grand claims.

As I said, nothing would make me happier than to see a real OTR tire plant arise somewhere in Washington. Will that, in fact, happen? That remains to be seen.

So for now, I feel we have every right to make sure that tire dealers understand that ATC has been making wholly unsubstantiated claims that could lead one to believe that it is something other than reality.

It is not, as ATC has endlessly claimed, a “U.S. tire manufacturer.” It currently produces no tires of its own, and certainly not on these shores. To the best information available to me, ATC has tires produced for it by a number of manufacturers in China.

It claims to have some sort of support from the U.S. government. Unless it is a charitable organization or sells all of its products exclusively to the U.S. government (it does not) we cannot comprehend how that claim is realistic.

ATC has announced grandiose plans to build what would be (in dollar terms) the largest tire plant in North America – $500 million – and that it has bought some 1,000 acres at an unnamed location in Washington state for such a facility. Yet, the state’s largest and most influential newspaper could find no records of such a purchase, and had never heard of ATC’s plans.

Now we learn that ATC has at least put a $40,000 down payment on 96 acres of land, according to two media outlets in that area. Details beyond that are sketchy.

There is a long (very, very long) list of similar twists at the truth from ATC, too long to recount here. The company claims it is somehow immune to such questioning as it is not publicly held, and has publicly stated that it will not answer to some of its claims.

I’m sorry, that is not the case. Not now, not ever.

We are quite used to dealing with the superlatives offered by companies; we get hundreds of press releases each week with words and phrases like “better than,” and “leading,” and “cutting edge” and the like tossed in. Those are easy to edit away because the companies involved, by and large, have a track record of being reputable and fair and transparent, especially in their dealings with our customers: readers.

We have afforded ATC the opportunity to respond to reasonable questions about its plans and activities. We attempted to interview Abraham Hengyucius last week at SEMA. Failing that, we have emailed the interview questions to him for a written response. I am hoping that he will take the opportunity to clear the air, and, further, that he bring to an end the company’s penchant for making what any person would conclude are outrageous claims.

If you have comments to share, send to me at [email protected].

– Jim Smith