YOKOHAMA Rubber Co. is boosting capacity of its passenger car tyres in its Philippines and Russia plants.
The plant, which opened in 1996, has capacity for tyres up to 18 inches rim diameter, and this expansion will add capacity for tyres up to 20 inches rim diameter.
Recently, Yokohama has announced its plan of expanding its Philippine plant, investing a total of 11 billion yen (£75.4 million) for Phase 2, which is expected to come on stream in 2014. Upon completion of Phase 2, Yokohama Tire Philippines’ annual production capacity is expected to reach 12.5 million tyres to serve the increased exports and local supply requirements.
The plant, which opened in 1996, has capacity for tyres up to 18 inches rim diameter, YRC said. This expansion will add capacity for tyres up to 20 inches rim diameter, the firm said.
In Russia, Yokohama has allocated US$5.5 million for expansion of its Lipetsk plant to 1.6 million units annually.
The Russian venture, an 80-20 partnership involving Yokohama and Japanese trading company Itochu, is aimed at promoting local production for local consumption.
The US$165 million plant opened in May 2012 and is expected to reach the initial planned annual capacity of 1.4 million units this year.
Yokohama said it was planning to “reinforce” the 462,680-sq ft plant’s production capacity in stages and was in the process of securing a more than 50-acre plot of land from the Lipetsk Special Economic Zone for expansion.
Production is focused on the firm’s “C. drive2” passenger tyres and “ice GUARD iG35” studded winter tyres in 13- to 18-inch rim diameters.
Moreover, it is staging to export some products to Europe from Lipetsk.
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