Yokohama Rubber holds groundbreaking ceremony for new passenger car tire plant in China
Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced that on December 16 it held a groundbreaking ceremony ahead of the start of construction of its new passenger car tire plant in Hangzhou City, China. The ceremony was attended by many local government officials and representatives from the local community, including Hangzhou City Mayor Yao Gaoyuan. Yokohama Rubber Chairman & CEO, Chairman of the Board Masataka Yamaishi and President & COO Shinji Seimiya also attended the ceremony.
The groundbreaking ceremony marks the start of construction of the first plant being built under the “1-year plant” challenge in the consumer tire business’ growth strategy set forth in Yokohama Rubber’s medium-term management plan Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026), which is being implemented during 2024–2026. Under the “1-year plant” challenge, Yokohama Rubber aims to construct plants in just one year that achieve low-cost and highly efficient production that will realize a strong competitive position in the local market. Toward that end, Yokohama Rubber will combine its accumulated know-how with that of local partner companies that have a proven track record in the local market.
In his opening greeting, Chairman & CEO Yamaishi expressed his gratitude in advance for the many efforts to be made in the plant’s construction and said that he considers the plant to be a great growth opportunity given China’s rapidly growing automotive industry. Yamaishi said that the startup of a state-of-the-art plant using the latest equipment that incorporates advanced automation and digitalization technologies in just one year’s time will enable Yokohama Rubber to quickly meet local users’ needs for high-quality tires and contribute to regional development.
The new plant will replace another Yokohama Rubber plant currently operating in Hangzhou City, and the new plant will have an annual tire production capacity of 9 million tires, 3 million units greater than that of its predecessor in order to ensure that Yokohama Rubber can capture the expected increases in demand for passenger car tires in the Chinese market in the years ahead. Full-scale production is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2026. The new plant will increase Yokohama Rubber’s local production of high-inch tires in the ADVAN global flagship brand and the GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks, with a focus on tires for new energy vehicles, which are expanding rapidly in China.
In addition to the “1-year plant” challenge, the consumer tire strategy in YX2026 aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added tires by expanding sales of the ADVAN brand, the GEOLANDAR brand, winter tires, and 18-inch and larger tires. Yokohama Rubber also is implementing “Product and Regional Strategies” focused on strengthening the development, supply, and sale of tires that respond to specific trends in each regional market.