Goodyear completes expansion at Slovenia tire plant

Kranj, Slovenia – Goodyear has completed a €96-million expansion project at its Dunlop Sava Tires plant in Kranj, the company has confirmed.

In March, "the Slovenian government issued the final operating permit to Goodyear Slovenia which denotes completion of the project," said a Goodyear spokeswoman. 

The project "took slightly longer than planned due to the disruption of the global pandemic," she added in a 24 April written statement to ERJ.  

As originally disclosed in late 2018, the project aimed to increase capacity at the facility by about 25%: adding equipment for making larger rim-diameter tires.

Expected to create 160 jobs, the project was slated to add 5,400m2 to the site and raise capacity by up to 1.8 million units/year by 2022.

In particular, the focus was on replacement tires of 17-19" rim diameters: targeting rising demand for these tires in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Launching the project, Goodyear scheduled the first phase of construction for early 2019, with additional phases set for 2020 and 2021 "to reach full capacity." 

According to the Global Tire Report 2022, published in ERJ, the Kranj facility has capacity to produce 20,000 units/day of light vehicle and truck & bus tires.

Since buying into Sava Tires in 1998, Goodyear said it has invested over $300 million to develop the Kranj tire-making facility.

The Slovenia factory was built in 1956 by the Yugoslav state-owned company operating under the Sava name.

In the late 1960s, it partnered with the Austrian tire maker Semperit and then later with Continental AG after the German group purchased Semperit Reifen in 1985.

Goodyear acquired the full ownership of the plant in 2004.