TOKYO—Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. has plans to build its eighth off-highway tire production, this one in Visakhapatnam, in India's south eastern Andhra Pradesh province.
The $165 million plant will span 344,000 square feet and will produce 55 metric tons (rubber weight) of tires per day, Yokohama said in a statement. Construction is set to begin this fall, with production scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.
The Indian manufacturing facility will be operated by Yokohama subsidiary Alliance Tire Group, which has seen continued rise in demand for its off-road tire products.
ATG currently has two tire plants in India—one in Dahej, Gujarat, and one in Tirunelveli, in Tamil Nadu—which manufacture tires for use in the agricultural, construction, industrial and forestry machinery industries.
The new investment follows an expansion project at the Dahej production facility in 2018, which increased ATG's total capacity by 60 percent.
"However, expectations for further increases in demand for ATG's off-highway tires led to the decision to build an entirely new plant," Yokohama's statement said.
In addition to the plants in India, Yokohama operates three off-highway tire production facilities in Japan, one in Israel and one in Vietnam. Once completed, the Visakhapatnam facility will raise Yokohama's overall production capacity for off-road tires to 480 metric tons (rubber weight) per day.
Under its medium-term management plan, Grand Design 2020 (GD2020), Yokohama has positioned off-highway tires as a "growth driver."
Accordingly, the group aims to expand this business, which includes ATG as well as group company Aichi Tire Industry's tires for industrial machinery.