Continental, Yokohama to end OE tyre joint venture

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. and Continental AG have announced that they will wind up their joint venture company, Yokohama Continental Tire Co., Ltd. (YCC), at the end of this month. The two tyre makers believe the 50/50 joint venture, which was established in Q1 2002, has served its purpose.

YCC was formed in order to meet the global procurement needs of Japanese and Korean car makers. Although the operation is said to have delivered the two parent companies “great success” over the past 14 years, both Yokohama and Continental have expanded their own global production networks since it was founded.

Following YCC’s dissolution, Yokohama intends to leverage its own global production network to further expand its original equipment tyre supply in markets outside Japan. The company is expanding shipments of original equipment tyres from its plants in China, Thailand, the Philippines and Russia, while also supplying Japanese vehicle manufacturers with original equipment tyres for fitment on export models.

A key goal set out in Phase IV (FY 2015 to 2017) of Yokohama’s Grand Design 100 mid-term management plan is to strengthen the company’s presence in the global original equipment market; the aim is to achieve a fourfold increase in the number of Yokohama tyres fitted to new cars in markets outside Japan between 2014 and 2020.