Bridgestone India Private Ltd. (BSID), a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone), recently announced a strategic growth investment to expand capacity and capability in India. The investment will be directed to the Bridgestone Pune Plant and the Indore Plant to reinforce the company’s premium-mass strategy. The collective investment will be approximately US$85 million with expansion scheduled to start from the beginning of 2025.
These efforts are expected to increase total production capacity at the Pune plant by approximately 1.1 million tyres/year by 2029. They will also improve capability to ensure premium tyre production at the Indore plant.
Additionally, BSID will establish a satellite technology centre at its Pune plant in 2025 to produce products will be customised optimally for the Indian market with Enliten technology, which is the base technology for product design. This new satellite technology centre will reinforce and accelerate the technology development capability of the company’s entire engineering chain from material planning to product research/design and manufacturing for the Indian market.
Bridgestone considers the Indian market to be a growth opportunity for the premium passenger tyre business. Recent trends in the market have produced an outlook of stable economic development and growth in the number of automotive vehicles both owned and produced.
The company additionally sees the growing demand as a tailwind for the premium tyre category, including the demand for High Rim Diameter (HRD) tyres and all the other categories over the mid-long term.
BSID, as a market leader, has been dedicated to motorisation and business development in India. Since it was established as a manufacturing and sales company in 1996, it has aimed to contribute to its local market by reinforcing a “produce and sell” system with an axis of on-site service and local production for local sales.