TOKYO—Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. held the official opening ceremony on Nov. 1 for its new passenger car tire plant completed earlier this year in India's Haryana Bahadurgarh Industrial Estate.
About 200 guests attended the opening ceremony, including Salil Narang, general manager of the Investment Promotion Center of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corp. Ltd., the operator of the industrial park, Japan's ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi, representatives from auto makers with production and sales networks in India, and tire dealers from around the country, according to the Tokyo-based tire maker.
Yokohama representatives at the event included President and Representative Director Hikomitsu Noji and corporate officer Osamu Mikami, head of the company's Tire Overseas Sales & Marketing Division. A second opening ceremony exclusively for some 200 invited tire dealers from throughout India was held on Nov. 2.
Noji told guests that, “anticipating considerable growth in demand for automobile tires in India, our company decided to construct a tire plant on this site back in 2012. It is with great pleasure that I join you here today for the official opening of this plant nearly two years later.
“I would like to express our deepest appreciation to the government of Haryana, to the HSIIDC, and to all the parties who made this plant and this day possible.
“Going forward, all of us at Yokohama Rubber look forward to supplying the highest quality tires manufactured at this plant to drivers throughout India and are confident that our efforts here will contribute to the further development of Bahadurgarh, the state of Haryana, and the great nation of India.”
The new plant was built as the production site for Yokohama's wholly owned local subsidiary, Yokohama India Pvt. Ltd., which was established in April 2007. The plant, which began operations in July this year, is forecast to have to an annual production capacity of 700,000 tires in 2015. It will produce passenger car tires, such as the Yokohama Earth-1 and the S.drive, for sale as replacement tires in the Indian market.
The Bahadurgarh Industrial Estate that serves as home to the new plant is about 40 kilometers to the west of Delhi, India's largest consumption center, and has convenient access to the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi, about an hour away by car, according to Yokohama. The company noted that nearby Haryana State University of Science and Technology “is expected to provide a steady supply of high-quality employees.”