The Serbian subsidiary of Cooper Tire has announced a US$8 million construction project to increase production capacity at its Kruševac tyre manufacturing plant. The project will increase the size of the Kruševac facility to more than 882,000 sq. ft., facilitate various equipment upgrades and add another 118 new jobs to Cooper Tire Serbia. The project is supported by the Serbian government.
Brad Hughes, Cooper Tire President and CEO, said, “This project will enable the facility to manufacture light truck tyres, including 4 x 4 tyres, and large diameter tyres up to 22 inches in addition to the passenger car and sport utility vehicle (SUV) tyres it currently produces.”
Total annual production capacity at the Kruševac plant will increase by approximately one-third at completion of this expansion later this year, which will allow Cooper Tire Serbia to produce new, larger diameter tyres which are in demand in Europe and other global markets.
“This expansion demonstrates Cooper’s commitment to the Europe market and will position us to better meet customer needs throughout the region and beyond with high quality tyres that are in step with what consumers want in today’s tyres,” added Jaap van Wessum, Cooper’s Tire General manager, EMEA.
“We appreciate the support of the Serbian government and the city of Kruševac in the continued development of this site, and look forward to completing the project.”