Yokohama to expand OTR tire capacity in India

Tokyo – Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd is expanding production capacity for off-highway tires by adding new facilities at ATC Tires Pvt. Ltd – the Indian tire manufacturing and sales subsidiary of the Alliance Tire Group (ATG).

Construction of the new facilities will begin in February at ATC Tire’s Dahej Plant in the state of Gujarat, said Yokohama, which acquired ATG in July 2016.

The $45.50-million (€37.2 million) investment will raise the Dahej Plant’s annual production capacity from the current 57,000 tonnes to 91,700 tons by the end of 2019, said Yokohama’s 15 Jan announcement.

“With its tire sales on a strong upward trend, Yokohama Rubber decided to expand production capacity to avoid insufficient supply capacity in the medium term,” said the statement.

As well as the Dahej unit, ATC Tires has a tire plant in Tirunelveli in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Dahej facility, which began operations in 2015, produces three core ATG tire brands — the Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands. The products are used on various off-road vehicles, including agricultural, construction, industrial and forestry machinery.

The new investment is part of a Yokohama strategy to expand its commercial tire business.

In October 2015, the Japanese group started manufacturing truck and bus tires at a new US plant in Mississippi. It acquired ATG in 2016 and Aichi Tire Industry Co. Ltd, a maker of industrial machinery tires, in March 2017.