Japan’s Yokohama set for first India tyre unit

ONE FOR THE ROAD `300-cr plant to make tubeless radials specially designed to cater to India’s diverse road conditions

NEW DELHI: Japanese tyre major Yokohama on Saturday inaugurated its first factory in India that will manufacture its new range of passenger car tyres developed specifically for the domestic market.

The factory is being built at an investment of `300 crore and will be operational by the second half of this year. It has an initial capacity of 2,000 tyres per day that can be ramped up four fold.

“The very plant can be scaled up to 8,000 tyres per day in the next phases of growth,” said Takeshi Fujino, managing director, Yokohama India. “We will continue to import tyres other than being manufactured in India”

At the trial production itself, the Yokohama factory employs more than 100 direct employees and will soon grow three folds by the end of 2014.

At present, the company is operating at just 2% of the total market share through its imports and is present only in tubeless tyre category. With the industry gradually moving amount invested in setting up the factory

per day initial production capacity. The company plans to scale it up to 8,000 tyres per day in the next phase of growth

no. of people currently employed.

It is expected to grow three-fold by the end of 2014

towards tubeless radials Yokohama is looking at a 5% market share in the near future.

“Our new range of tyres — Earth-1 — is especially designed for India keeping the diverse road conditions in mind. It will cater to most of the small cars and sedans in the country,” Fujino added.

The entry of Yokohama, the world’s eighth-largest tyre maker, will increase competition in the domestic market. While a number of global heavyweights such as Michelin and The unit will be operational by the second half of 2014

Global heavyweights such as Michelin and Continental are already present in India However, none has been able to loosen the stranglehold of domestic firms including MRF, JK Tyres, Apollo, Ceat

Continental have entered India, nobody has been able to loosen the stranglehold of the domestic tyre majors including MRF, JK Tyres, Apollo and Ceat.

Globally other than replacement tyres business, Yokohama also supplies to the likes of Audi, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Suzuki and Toyota.

The company said it would start talks with manufacturers in India now that its factory is getting ready.