Triangle tyre to invest 275 million expanding TBR capacity

Tyre maker Triangle Tyre Co. Ltd is reportedly planning to invest 275 million euros in raising its production capacity to 2 million radial truck tyres a year. According to reports published by Tyres & Accessories’ German sister publication NeueReifenzeitung (reifenpresse.de), the investment is earmarked for the development of the company’s operations in Weihai, Shandong province. NeueReifenzeitung reported that the large Chinese tyre manufacturer has a total of three plants in Weihai where is also produces OTR production as well as tyres for cars, agricultural and industrial vehicles.

In an effort to verify and add detail to the reports, T&A contacted Triangle representatives who told us that the company is already in the process of building the new factory specified here. Triangle were said to have been planting trees to signify the start of the project around Easter 2010 and this year the firm began building work. The new plant is being described as a “state of the art green factory”. The sources T&A spoke to could not confirm production volumes, but we did learn that agricultural production is slated to start next year.

The project referred to here is understood to be the same “Triangle Industry Park” located inside the Weihai Industry Zone that Tyres & Accessories reported on in April 2011’s issue of the magazine.

Back then building for the project was reportedly already underway. The site covers an area of 430 acres, leaving plenty of room for annual production capacity upon completion to reach 20 million units of UHP passenger car tyres, 5 million units of truck and bus tyres and 750,000 tons of rubber mixing. Altogether this is expected to generate “10 billion yuan in sales annually”. While the exact details remained unconfirmed (T&A has asked the company for confirmation), it is possible that the 2 million unit figure refers to phase one of the 5 million tyres mentioned above.