Report: Toyo acquires land for Serbian tire plant

Indjija, Serbia – Japanese tire manufacturer Toyo Tires Corp. has officially acquired a 63-hectare land for the construction of its European tire production factory, it was announced 17 Sept.

The land is located in the northeastern industrial zone in Indjija, better known as Location 15, Indjija mayor Vladimir Gak told local newspaper Dnevnik. 

Toyo disclosed in July 2019 plans for the construction of a €390-million European production centre in Serbia, with initial production capacity of 5 million units per year. 

At the time, the tire maker said the plant was scheduled for start-up in January 2022 and would take over the production of European-destined tires from Toyo’s manufacturing unit in Japan.

However, in his interview with Dnevnik, Gak said the phase 1 of the project is now expected to come on-stream by the end of 2023 and will create over 530 jobs.

The local official also said that in phase 2, Toyo aims to double production capacity to 10 million passenger car tires a year and raise total investment to “about €1 billion”.  He did not offer a timeline for the phase 2 expansion project.