OSAKA, Japan (Feb. 17)—Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. will build a tire plant in the U.S. in the coming two years, budgeting $150 million for a factory capable of making 2 million passenger and light truck tires a year.
Toyo said it is evaluating several sites in the eastern U.S. for the facility, which would begin production by early 2006 with initial employment of 350. Media in the Southeast U.S. have identified one of the sites as Bartow County, Ga., near Atlanta, where a local industrial development group has pitched a Japanese tire company on a site there.
Toyo said its decision to produce in the U.S. is based on several factors, including the need to increase capacity anyway to meet robust overseas demand and a desire to hedge against currency fluctuation risk.