In December 2024, Balkan Insight reported that MAN Truck & Bus (part Volkswagen), has said it has stopped buying tyres from Shandong Linglong Tire following allegations that Indian and Vietnamese migrant workers at Shandong Linglong Tire’s Serbian factory experienced human rights abuse, including passport confiscation and unsanitary living conditions, among other labour rights abuses that violate Serbian labour law.

The allegations of abuse date back to reporting from 2021. Linglong denied any wrongdoing to reporters, and did not respond to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s (the Resource Centre) request for comment at the time. It told journalists it terminated its contract with the company that hired the Indian workers, China Energy Engineering Group Tianjin Electric Power Construction (CEEG TEPC), who did not respond to the Resource Centre's request for comment at the time.

MAN Truck & Bus told journalists it has been following the reports and has stopped all delivery requests since November. Volkswagen said to journalists it is seeking to “clarify the facts”.

Balkan Insight also reports that the director general of Shandong Linglong Tire listed Nissan, Audi, Ford, Stellantis, Hyundai, and Kia as among the plant’s first customers, alongside MAN Truck & Bus and Volkswagen.

In January 2025, the Resource Centre invited Nissan, Audi, Ford, Stellantis, and Hyundai Motor Group (parent of Hyundai and Kia) to confirm whether the companies currently buy, or have previously bought from, Shandong Linglong Tire; if they no longer buy from the company, to disclose the date they stopped buying from the company, why they ceased buying from the company, and how they disengaged responsibly; to disclose any steps they have taken to investigate and remedy workers for the reported abuses; and to disclose any human rights due diligence they undertake prior to entering into contracts with suppliers and when monitoring working conditions at suppliers. Audi, Ford, Nissan, Stellantis, Hyundai, and Hyundai Motor Group's responses can be read in full below.

The Resource Centre also invited Shandong Linglong Tire to respond to the article. The company responded stating that it operates in full compliance with Serbian law and that past allegations concerned subcontractors it has since terminated.