Yokohama significantly boosting car tyre capacity in India

In order to satisfy increasing local demand, The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. is expanding passenger car tyre production capacity in India. It will invest US$82 million in its Yokohama India manufacturing and sales subsidiary to increase capacity from 2.8 million tyres per annum to 4.5 million tyres.

The new capacity will be installed within Yokohama’s Visakhapatnam plant (ATC Tires AP Pvt. Ltd.) in Andhra Pradesh, a 390,000 square metre facility that entered service in August 2022 to boost production capacity within the Yokohama Off-Highway Tires business. The new line is scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of 2024 and will be capable of building passenger car tyres up to 22 inches.

One of the most important markets

The Japanese company established Yokohama India in 2007 and credits the subsidiary with facilitating a “sharp increase” in sales of Yokohama branded tyres in the Indian market. The tyres Yokohama sells in this market are specifically designed for Indian driving conditions. “By producing quality tyres that meet local market needs and expanding its sales channel, Yokohama India has grown rapidly and has made India one of Yokohama Rubber’s most important markets,” states the tyre maker.

India’s automotive industry has expanded rapidly and its total sales volume surpassed that of Japan in 2022, making India the third largest market in the world. Yokohama Rubber expects this growth to continue in future and is supporting this growth by steadily expanding Yokohama India’s annual production capacity. Starting with an initial 700,000 tyres a year in 2014, capacity grew to 1.53 million in 2019 and 1.96 million in 2021. The subsidiary reached its current annual capacity of 2.8 million in January 2023.