Bridgestone closing Shenyang, China TBR tyre plant

It appears that Bridgestone is preparing to close its tyre factory in Shenyang, China. A plant employee told our Tyrepress China site that production in Shenyang ceased at the end of January 2024 and that Bridgestone will officially shutter the site at the end of February. As of 5 February, Bridgestone had issued no official announcement regarding the plant.

The company’s decision to close the Shenyang tyre plant may be linked to its declining truck and bus radial sales in China. As recently as 2023, Bridgestone announced an exit from the TBR original equipment business in China, taking this step on 31 December. At the time, Bridgestone said that while it was experiencing declining commercial tyre production and sales in China, the OE business in particular had been dramatically affected. After adopting many measures, including “optimising production capacity and reducing costs,” the results did not meet expectations and failed to turn the business around.

Aftermarket activities continue

According to Bridgestone’s most recent statement, the company is continuing to operate in the TBR replacement tyre business as usual. As of 6 February, the tyre maker’s Chinese website was still selling TBR products.

In January 2023, Agustin Pedroni became general manager of Bridgestone (China) Investment Co. Ltd. At the time, Bridgestone had 4,200 employees in China and operated production sites in Shenyang, Tianjin and Wuxi. More recently Bridgestone shared that, from December 2023, it would upgrade the passenger car tyre production line at its Tianjin plant.

In addition to the tyre plant, Bridgestone also has a steel cord manufacturing plant in Shenyang.