Goodyear plant to be built in Mexico

According to numerous news sources, including Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, Goodyear Tire & Rubber will later today announce its decision to locate the company’s new factory for the Americas in Mexico’s San Luis Potosi state. Mexico was on a shortlist of potential sites for the new plant that reportedly also included Brazil, Columbia and, initially at least, the USA. Mexico’s President, Enrique Peña Nieto, will apparently announce his country’s selection by Goodyear together with senior company executives.

Goodyear first stated in May 2014 that it would invest US$500 million to build a facility capable of producing six million consumer tyres a year. Reuters and WSJ indicate a higher investment figure of $550 million. Company chairman and chief executive officer Richard Kramer commented in February that the new facility “will come online in early 2017.”