Sailun to build first North American tire factory

Shanghai, China – Sailun Group has signed a JV agreement with Mexico’s TD International Holding for the construction of a greenfield tire manufacturing plant in León, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Marking Sailun’s first production factory in North America, the project is estimated to cost $240 million (€220 million) and take 12 months to complete, Sailun said in a 16 Dec filing.

The factory will initially have the capacity to produce 6 million units of semi-steel radial passenger car tires per year, said the statement provided to the  Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The JV partners also aim to study the production of 1.65 million units per year of all-steel truck and bus radial tires in the future, according to the filing.

To be named SL & TD Tire Manufacturing, the JV will be 51%-owned by Sailun’s Singapore subsidiary, while local enterprise TD Mexico will own the remaining 49%.

Sailun will support the project in terms of construction, equipment installation and production, while TD Mexico will provide admin support in terms of managing, processing and maintaining external relationships.

According to Sailun, TD Mexico will also support the project via its subsidiary Tire Direct, which is claimed to be “the largest tire dealer in Mexico.”

Sailun expects the project to provide “faster and better market services to customers in North America and improve its customer base in the region”.

The investment will also enable the company to respond to ‘international trade barriers’ and improve its competitiveness and market-share, Sailun added.