CANKIRI, Turkey—Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. broke ground Sept. 18 on the $500 million joint venture passenger and light truck tire plant factory it's building in Cankiri.
Abdulkadir Ozcan Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., a Turkish tire distributor and parent of tire maker Petlas Tyre Industry & Trade Co., is Sumitomo's joint venture partner.
The groundbreaking ceremony comes a year after the partners agreed to create the joint venture, known as Sumitomo Rubber AKO Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Sumitomo and Abdulkadir Ozcan anticipate the plant will be in production by July 2015. Daily capacity is expected to be 30,000 tires, by late 2019, with 2,000 employees. The plant is being built on a 250-acre site.