Yokohama sets up its first manufacturing plant in India

Yokohoma set up its first and all-new tyre manufacturing plant at HSIIDC, Bahadurgarh. The facility was inaugurated by Haryana CM, Bhupinder Singh Hooda. This Rs. 300-crore facility will produce Yokohama Earth-1 tyres and the first phase of commercial production is all set to start in the second half of 2014. The plant boasts of a production capacity of 2000 tyres a day.

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

The Yokohama Earth 1 tyre comes with technologically advanced wear control shoulder design which are vertical and horizontal grooves that reduce uneven wear and enhance quietness as the tyres wears. The centre rib in the tread pattern helps to maximize handling performance alson with other features which include controlling the pattern noise echoing under the car body, ensuring a quieter ride, maximise drainage performance among other features.

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