Toyo officially opens new Serbian tire plant

HYOGO, Japan—Toyo Tire Corp. has officially opened its new passenger tire manufacturing plant in Serbia.

The new factory, located in Indjija, Republic of Serbia, had started partial production in July 2022 to serve the European market and ramp up exports to North America.

The new $450 million facility spans about 6.45 million square feet (approximately 150 acres), has the capacity to produce 5 million passenger car tires annually and currently employs about 580, according to plant specifications. The site will manufacture radial tires for passenger vehicles, SUVs and light trucks.

The company expects production to ramp up to full capacity in the second half of fiscal year 2023, according to a Dec. 14 news release.

The factory features state-of-the-art technologies, such as enterprise resource planning and manufacturing execution system to visualize processes.

"By precisely linking the status information of each piece of highly productive production equipment, this 'smart factory' unlocks a higher dimension of production management system optimization," the Japanese tire maker said.

By taking advantage of "leading-edge technologies," the factory will produce "high-performance, competitive tires that meet market insights, including the ongoing shift to electric vehicles (EVs)," according to Toyo.

The site also features an adjacent proving ground with a 720-meter (about 2,362 feet) straight track—with a total length of 1,690 meters—where the company will carry out test runs to gather data on tires.

This proving ground, Toyo said, will help the company verify compliance with European laws, regulations and certification requirements, "allowing us to deliver attractive tires to the market in a more timely manner."

The site also is equipped with a solar power system, which Toyo said is "one of the largest" in the country, that provides 10.15 GWh of electricity output and will reduce 7,100 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Toyo said the plant will meet local demand in Europe while also catering to the North American market.

"With the prospect that the new factory will bring about novel business value to our business in Europe and North America, we have renewed our determination to provide the market with competitive products, bringing joy to many more customers with our manufacturing prowess," Toyo said.