The likelihood of seeing BKT tyres ‘Made in the USA’ appears even more uncertain following an earnings call held by Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) on 13 August. Although the tyre maker reported three days earlier that the 20,000 tonne per annum factory project was just “in abeyance”, comments made during the call suggest the pause on work is more than temporary.
In just a few months’ time, Toyo Tire Corporation will begin research and development work at a new site in Europe. The tyre maker is setting up an R&D centre in Willich, Germany to support its future factory in Serbia, and intends to start operations there in the autumn. Having a local R&D presence in the vicinity of vehicle manufacturers and related companies will, says Toyo, be beneficial in terms of the quality and freshness of the information gained.
Yukio Hasegawa has been named the new president of Toyo Tire Corporation’s subsidiary in Russia, effective tomorrow. He succeeds Kenta Kuribayashi in this role. Kuribayashi remains chief executive officer of the Toyo Tire RUS LLC operation (and president of Toyo Tire Europe GmbH) and will additionally, as of tomorrow, become the Russian subsidiary’s chairman.
Trial production at Nokian Tyres’ new factory in Dayton, USA has begun with the production of the very first test tyre. Nokian Tyres says the manufacture of the Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 in size 205/55R16 marks the start of a half-year trial period in which “thousands” of tyres will be produced for “testing and machine calibration purposes” prior to the commencement of series production in early 2020.
The foundation stone for a new Continental motorcycle tyre factory in Thailand was laid yesterday. The facility in Rayong province will be built alongside the Continental passenger car tyre plant that entered service in March.
It appears that Sentury Tire has paused its project to set up a tyre factory in the USA. Local newspaper the Valley Times News shares that work has been “placed on hold indefinitely.”
Following a month of orientation, Nokian Tyres has sent the first group of employees hired for its new factory in the USA on a six-week training experience at its facilities in Russia and Finland. The training trip’s aim is to equip members of the Dayton, Tennessee plant launch team with the skills they’ll need when beginning the production process ramp-up ahead of the start of commercial production in 2020.
A groundbreaking ceremony has been held for the new Prinx Chengshan Thailand factory in the WHA Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate EISE 3 in Chonburi. The new plant is amongst the first to be set up in the industrial park, and Prinx Chengshan notes that a launching ceremony for the park was held today.
A ceremony has taken place to mark the start of work on Linglong Tire’s new tyre factory in Serbia. Company chairman and chief executive officer Wang Feng greeted guests at the site of the future plant on 29 and 30 March to launch the new subsidiary, Linglong International Europe D.O.O. Zrenjanin (LLIE), and to hold the tyre maker’s global partner conference.
Continental’s new tyre making facility in Thailand is officially up and running. A ceremony was held yesterday to mark the occasion, with around 500 people present to mark inauguration of the 250-million-euro greenfield factory in Rayong. Production will now be ramped up to provide a capacity to manufacture some four million passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres by 2022. These tyres will be sold locally and throughout the entire APAC region.
The City of Zrenjanin in Serbia reports that Linglong Tire will lay a symbolic foundation stone on 30 March to mark the start of construction work on its new tyre factory. The ceremony will be attended by China’s ambassador to Serbia as well as national and local officials.
It’s almost two years since we first heard of Guizhou Tyre Co. Ltd’s intention to establish a plant in Vietnam, and plans have been taking shape since then. On 4 March, the Chinese tyre maker’s Board of Directors approved the establishment of a new wholly-owned subsidiary.
Providing an update on its USA factory project, Nokian Tyres reports it is on schedule to begin producing tyres at the Dayton, Tennessee site in 2020. Progress made so far on the facility’s construction, it adds, has been “significant”.
Shandong Linglong Tire’s plans to set up a tyre factory in Serbia gained a further boost on 17 September with the finalisation of an investment framework agreement with the country’s Ministry of Finance. The document was signed by Linglong chairman Wang Feng and Siniša Mali, Serbia’s Minister of Finance, at a ceremony in Beijing also attended by Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia.
During a meeting with European dealers, Prinx Chengshan’s Michael Chu shared details of the company’s plans to set up a new manufacturing facility outside of China. Prinx Chengshan is currently in negotiations with authorities in Malaysia and aims to establish both PCR and TBR production there.
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