Yokohama to build greenfield off-highway tire plant in India

Tokyo – Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd is planning to build a new $165 million (€140 million) off-highway tire production plant in Visakhapatnam, in India’s south eastern Andhra Pradesh province, the Japanese group announced 11 Sept.

Marking Yokohama’s eighth off-highway tire production facility, the plant will produce 55 tonnes (rubber weight) of tires per day, a group statement said.

Construction work on the project is set to start in the third quarter of 2020, with production scheduled for the first quarter of 2023. 

The Indian manufacturing facility will be operated by Yokohama subsidiary ATG (Alliance Tire Group), which has seen continued rise in demand for its off-road tire products. 

ATG currently has two tire plants in India – one in Dahej, Gujarat and one in Tirunelveli, in Tamil Nadu – which manufacture tires for use in the agricultural, construction, industrial and forestry machinery industries. 

The new investment follows an expansion project at the Dahej production facility in 2018, which increased ATG’s total capacity by 60%.

“However, expectations for further increases in demand for ATG’s off-highway tires led to the decision to build an entirely new plant,” according to Yokohama’s statement.

In addition to the plants in India, Yokohama operates three off-highway tire production facilities in Japan, one in Israel and one in Vietnam.

Once completed, the Visakhapatnam facility will raise Yokohama’s overall production capacity for off-road tires to 480 tonnes (rubber weight) per day.

Under its medium-term management plan, Grand Design 2020 (GD2020), Yokohama has positioned off-highway tires as a “growth driver”. 

Accordingly, the group aims to expand this business, which includes ATG as well as group company Aichi Tire Industry’s tires for industrial machinery.