TOKYO—Bridgestone Corp. is planning to double the size of a passenger tire plant under construction in Vietnam to roughly 49,000 units a day, a decision that will require an additional $425 million in investment.
Bridgestone broke ground on the factory near Hai Phong City in July 2012 and said at that time that manufacturing would start by March 2014, although first-phase capacity of 25,000 units a day wouldn't be reached until two years later.
The Tokyo-based tire maker budgeted $457 million for the plant originally.
The second-phase project will expand the factory's daily output to 49,000 tires by the second half of 2017, the company said.
Employment in the first phase is expected to be 1,900, with that number to double by 2017 when the second phase is running.
The plant will produce what Bridgestone describes as general-purpose tires to be sold in Europe, North America and Japan, principally. The expansion will help the company meet the "continually growing demand for tires globally."
The project is being carried out by Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing Vietnam L.L.C, a wholly owned Bridgestone subsidiary. The plant is being built on a 250-acre site in Hai Phong City's Dinh Vu Industrial Zone.
Bridgestone did not provide details as to the size of the factory or whether the second phase will require a physical expansion of the factory floor space.