CHONGQING, China—Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd. is planning to add nearly a million units of annual production capacity for self-sealing passenger tires by 2024 at its 7-year-old plant in Chongqing.
The $24 million project, to be ramped up in four phases, has passed an environmental impact assessment, according to the tire maker.
The dedicated manufacturing area will cover nearly 28,000 square feet within the Chongqing factory.
Phases one to three each represents 184,800 units of annual capacity, while phase four will have twice that, Hankook said, noting it will start one phase a year through 2024.
The company also is investing $350,000 to expand its specialty rubber production capacity by 350 metric tons annually. The material will be used for the manufacture of the self-sealing tires, it said.
Hankook's Chongqing site has an annual capacity to produce 900,000 truck and bus tires and 12 million passenger car tires. The company will lower its production of standard passenger tires of the same sizes as the new project comes on stream, to keep the overall capacity at the same level.