Bridgestone to invest €1.8bn in expanding ‘premium’ products

Tokyo – Bridgestone Corp. is planning to invest a total of Yen280 billion (€1.8 billion) over the coming years to “reinforce its structure for producing premium products”.

For passenger car tires, the Japanese group will focus investments on production of high-rim-diameter tires and products equipped with the group’s lightweighting Enliten technology.

Under the programme, Bridgestone said it will replace manufacturing equipment at 20 sites worldwide and, in particular, increase production capacity in Brazil, Costa Rica, and Japan.

For truck & bus tires, the manufacturing structure for new tires and retreads will be strengthened based on a circular business model, Bridgestone added in a 30 June update on its 10-year growth strategy.

In the off-the-road mining vehicles, the Tokyo group said it was investing in production in response “to sales and market share expansion” mainly for its Mastercore tires.

In the update, Bridgestone also stated that it would ensure its investments “are lean through on-site productivity improvement and by fully leveraging existing equipment.”