HIRATSUKA, Japan—Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (YRC) is planning to upgrade and expand passenger tire capacity at its 26-year-old plant in the Philippines with a $62.5 million investment over the coming two years.
Capacity at the plant—a key production site for North America—will increase nearly 6 percent to 32,500 units a day, including for the first time tires with 21- and 22-inch rim diameters, YRC said.
The majority of the plant's output is shipped to Europe, North America and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region for use as replacement tires, YRC said, with the rest shipped to automobile makers in North America and Asia for use as original equipment on new cars.
YRC said the planned expansion will enhance its ability to respond rapidly to an expected increase in global tire demand while also strengthening Yokohama Tire Philippines Inc.'s earnings by expanding production of higher-value-added, larger rim-sized tires.
Yokohama said it expects work on the expansion work to commence in the second quarter of 2024, with the new lines expected to be fully operational starting in the second quarter of 2026 when YTPI marks its 30th founding anniversary.
The plant, located in the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga, Philippines, has been producing since January 1998. Capacity now is roughly six times that of the plant's capacity when it opened.
U.S. imports of tires from the Philippines totaled more than 6 million units last year (4.2 million passenger, 1.9 million light truck tires), according to U.S. Commerce Department data.