Tire plant investment projects continue to flow

London - This year’s ramp-up in new tire production capacity continued apace in the third quarter of 2024, driven largely by expansion programmes in south east Asia.

Among recent developments, Chinese major Qingdao Doublestar inaugurated its €130-million tire plant in Kratie province, Cambodia, local authorities announced 6 Sept.

Operated by Newbustar (Cambodia) Tire Co. – a JV owned 80% by Doublestar and 20% by Ube Development Co. – the facility is projected to have capacity to produce 8.5 million radial tires/year.

Also in Cambodia, Jiangsu General Technology Co. (General Science) has rolled out the first tire at its expanded production facility in Sihanoukville.

The Chinese group broke ground on the €180m phase II project at the site in February, manufacturing the first tire within seven months, reported General Science 28 Aug.

In its first phase, the factory has the capacity to produce 5 million units of passenger car tires and 900,000 truck and bus tires per year. Phase II will raise capacity by another 3.5 million units of PCRs and 750,000 TBRs.

In China, meanwhile, Shandong Jinyu Tire Co. has announced plans for a Yuan250 million (€32 million) expansion project to increase all-steel truck and bus radial tire production at its site in Dongying City.

In an environmental impact assessment report, submitted in July, the Chinese tire maker said the investment would add capacity to produce an additional 1 million units per year of TBR tires at the facility.

Once completed the production capacity of the facility will increase to 4.2 million units of all-steel TBR tires, according to Jinyu.

Elsewhere, investment group Shanghai Huaqing Petroleum Development Group has filed plans to build a major tire manufacturing facility in Yongzhou economic development zone, in southern Hunan province, eastern China.

The group signed an agreement with the local authorities on 11 Sept for the construction of a Yuan9.8 billion plant to be completed in multiple phases.

The project aims to build a  production base with an annual output of 21.75 million units of tires.

Zhongce Rubber (ZC Rubber) has submitted a first environmental impact assessment for a major passenger car radial (PCR) tire plant to be built in Jintan district, in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

The project will involve building a ‘high performance green 5G digital new energy tire production base’ with an estimated cost of Yuan5 billion (€600 million).

With the construction period estimated to be between “2024 to 2025”, the project will produce 25 million units of PCRs per year, said China’s largest tire manufacturer.

Meanwhile, Shandong Linglong Tire Co. is investing Yuan4.6 billion (€586 million) to “enhance competitiveness” at its European tire manufacturing facility in Zrenjanin, Serbia. Due for completion by the end of 2030, the construction project will add capacity for the manufacture of 1.1 million radial tires,” Linglong said in a stock exchange filing.

These will include 800,000 units of truck and bus all-steel tires, 50,000 units of engineering tires, and 150,000 units of agricultural tires.

Further afield, Chinese truck & off-road tire maker Hubei Aulice Tyre is planning to build a greenfield tire manufacturing plant in Tanzania.

The new factory, with a proposed name of Baha Tyre Ltd, will have a capacity to produce 1.2 million units of all-steel radial truck tires, said the company in a statement.

To be based in Tanzania’s Kibaha District, Pwani region, the project is estimated to cost Yuan700 million (€88 million), of which Yuan500 million will be borrowed from banks.

Aulice did not provide a project timeline for what would be its first overseas wholly-owned subsidiary: joining the company’s Chinese existing units in Huangshi, Hubei and Xianning.

The two units have a combined capacity to produce 12,000 units of truck tires and 2,500 units of off-road tires per day, said Aulice.

In Canada, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is investing CAD$575 million (€381 million) to expand its tire production facility in Napanee, Ontario:  and create an “energy-efficient, end-to-end manufacturing process” at the site

Goodyear’s investment will increase production capacity for electric vehicle and all-terrain tires for both OE and replacement markets, it noted.

The project is expected to create 200 new jobs by 2027, bringing the size of the workforce at the plant to over 1,000.

Also in North America, China’s largest tire maker ZhongCe Rubber (ZC Rubber) has officially broken ground on its third overseas manufacturing facility in Saltillo, Mexico.

Phase I of the $500-million (€457 million) project, set to start up by late 2025, will have capacity to produce 13.5 million passenger car radial tires and 50 kilotonnes per annum off-road tires.

In addition to the Mexican facility, ZC Rubber is also constructing a tire factory in Central Java, due for completion in October.