Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has held a groundbreaking ceremony ahead of the start of construction of its new passenger car tyre plant in Hangzhou City, China. The ceremony was attended by many local government officials and representatives from the local community, including Hangzhou City Mayor Yao Gaoyuan. Yokohama Chairman & CEO, Chairman of the Board Masataka Yamaishi and President & COO Shinji Seimiya also attended the ceremony.
The groundbreaking ceremony marks the start of construction of the first plant being built under the “1-year plant” challenge in the consumer tyre business’ growth strategy set forth in Yokohama’s medium-term management plan Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026), which is being implemented during 2024–2026.
Under the “1-year plant” challenge, Yokohama aims to construct plants in just one year that achieve low-cost and highly efficient production that will realise a strong competitive position in the local market. Toward that end, Yokohama will combine its accumulated know-how with that of local partner companies that have a proven track record in the local market.
In his opening greeting, Chairman & CEO Yamaishi expressed his gratitude in advance for the many efforts to be made in the plant’s construction and said that he considers the plant to be a great growth opportunity given China’s rapidly growing automotive industry.
Yamaishi said that the startup of a state-of-the-art plant using the latest equipment that incorporates advanced automation and digitalisation technologies in just one year’s time will enable Yokohama to quickly meet local users’ needs for high-quality tyres and contribute to regional development.
The new plant will replace another Yokohama plant currently operating in Hangzhou City, and the new plant will have an annual tyre production capacity of 9 million tyres, 3 million units greater than that of its predecessor in order to ensure that Yokohama can capture the expected increases in demand for passenger car tyres in the Chinese market in the years ahead. Full-scale production is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2026. The new plant will increase Yokohama’s local production of high-inch tyres in the Advan global flagship brand and the Geolandar brand of tyres for SUVs and pickup trucks, with a focus on tyres for new energy vehicles, which are expanding rapidly in China.
Source: Tyretradenews
