20 Feb 2023
Investment to see car tire manufacturing capacity raised by over 60% in the country
Hiratsuka, Japan – Yokohama Rubber Co. (YRC) is expanding passenger car tire production capacity in India to meet the increasing demands from the local market.
The Japanese tire & rubber group is investing $82 million (€77 million) within the premises of its off-road tire production facility in Visakhapatnam, in eastern India, to build an additional manufacturing line for passenger car tires.
The project, to be operated by Yokohama India Pvt (YIN), will raise the local subsidiary’s manufacturing capacity by 60% from the existing 2.8 million units per year to 4.5 million units a year, said YRC in a statement 17 Feb.
The new line is scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of 2024 and will be capable of building passenger car tires up to 22 inches.
Yokohama India is YRC’s subsidiary for production and sale of passenger car tires and has been operational since 2007, contributing to “a sharp increase” in the group’s sales in India.
The company operates a passenger car tire production facility in Haryana, in north India, which has been operational since July 2014 and has been expanded multiple times.
Initially built to produce 700,000 tires per year, the facility was expanded in 2019 to produce 1.53 million units a year and in 2021 to produce 1.96 million units a year.
From January, it has been operating at an annual capacity of 2.8 million units of tire.
The new production line is being built in YRC’s Visakhapatnam facility in Andhra Pradesh, where off-road tire subsidiary ATC Tires AP Pvt. Ltd has been operating a manufacturing facility since August last year.
Described by YRC as “one of the most important markets” for the group, India has seen its automotive industry expanding rapidly.
The country's total new car sales volume in 2022 surpassed that of Japan's, making it the third largest car market in the world.
Yokohama Rubber said it is making the investment in anticipation of further growth in India's automotive market in the future.
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