US production expansion on Toyo’s cards

Toyo Tire & Rubber appears likely to increase production in the US. Company president Akira Nobuki has been quoted by Bloomberg as saying that US manufacturing is “making a comeback” and that Toyo can “can picture the scenario of jobs coming back” and expansion occurring in this market.

Toyo’s current global capacity is around 30 million tyres; following completion of third-phase expansion at its US plant in August 2011, capacity at its North American business unit is 6.5 million units, a low figure when considering North American markets accounted for around 37 per cent of the Japanese company’s turnover in the first quarter of 2013.