ZAVENTEM-headquartered Bridgestone Europe is closing down its passenger car tyre production facility in Bari, Italy within the first half of 2014.
The Bari plant, fully owned by Bridgestone Italia S.p.A., is one of eight Europe-sited Bridgestone tyre plants.
Bridgestone assured that this plan will not affect the other existing units in Italy, one of the key markets in Europe, including Bridgestone Technical Centre Europe S.p.A. near Rome, and the sales office of Bridgestone Italia S.p.A., in Agrate Brianza.
The decision came down following analysis of the developments that have taken place in the tyre markers in EU and worldwide during the last two years.
Based on the analysis, the overall EU tyre segment for cars slid by 13%, compared to 2011, and no recovery to pre-2011 volume is foreseen before 2020.
Meanwhile, the premium segment remains to be have positive output.
Aside from a structural drop in tyre demand, the sector strains from the escalating pressure from emerging countries’ producers having advantages in terms of cost competitiveness.
Logistic costs and energy costs weakened the Bari plant and consequently failed to cope with the challenges despite successive attempts to overhaul it.