Yokohama Rubber Co, a major Japanese
tyre company, has announced an additional investment of $171 million
into its upcoming off-highway tyre plant in Vizag. This investment will
almost double the initially planned daily capacity of 137 tonnes to 257
tonnes henceforth. The initial planned capacity came with an investment of $165 million. The
overall investment the Japanese group has made in its Indian business
Alliance Tire Group (ATG) so far is $508 million. “By production
capacity, and employee strength, this is the largest investment globally
so far,” said Anil Gupta, Chief Operating Officer (CEO), Yokohama Rubber Co. The first phase with the investment of
$165 million for 137 tonnes of daily capacity, will be on-stream by the
first quarter of 2023. The new additional daily capacity of 120 tonnes,
in the second phase, is scheduled to start in the first quarter of
2024. Yokohama had announced
in early 2020 about its Vizag plant with an initial investment of $165
million. It was decided then that this tyre-manufacturing plant will
come up in Atchutapuram Industrial Park in Vizag. Yokohama Off-Highway
Tires is now the consolidated off-the-road tyre business of Yokohama
Rubber, after the merger of its two off-the-road tyre businesses
(Yokohama OTR and Alliance Tire Group) globally effective this January. The company sells its products globally under the brands- Alliance, Galaxy, Primex and Aichi. In
India, the group has two units- Yokohama Off-Highway Tires India and
Yokohama India. They manufacture passenger and commercial vehicle tyres.
The Vizag expansion is erected to meet the rising demand for
off-highway tyres in the global markets. For
the group’s off-highway tyre business, India is the largest production
base with 90 percent of its global production coming in from the Dahej
(Gujarat) and Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) plants. Subsequently, this will
go up after the Vizag plant goes on-stream.
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