Yokohama opens its first plant in India

Yokohama India, the 100 percent subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber Co, Japan, has opened its first and all-new tyre manufacturing plant at HSIIDC, Bahadurgarh. Inaugurated by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief minister of Haryana, on February 21, the Rs 300 crore facility will produce Yokohama Earth-1 tyres. The plant will begin its first phase of commercial production in the second half of 2014 with a production capacity of 2,000 tyres a day.

Speaking at the plant opening, 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.”

He added, “The Yokohama Earth-1 tyre is especially designed for India, keeping the diverse road conditions in mind, and will cater to most of the cars in B, B+ and C-segments. It is tough, to take on bad roads but quiet at the same time to provide comfortable ride on smooth roads.” 

The Yokohama Earth 1 tyre comes with a technologically advanced wear control shoulder design which has vertical and horizontal grooves that reduce uneven wear and enhance quietness as the tyres wears. The centre rib in the tread pattern helps maximise handling performance. 

Yokohama India currently has around 600 sales touch-points including 22 Yokohama Club Network (YCN) across India. The company plans to double its number of YCNs, which are a specialised network based on Yokohama’s global philosophy to provide a world-class tyre buying experience, by the end of 2014.

The tyremaker, which says it currently has 2 percent of the total market share in India, competes only in the tubeless radial tyre market. With a growing consumer shift from tube-type tyres to tubeless tyres and the new manufacturing unit, Yokohama India is targeting a 5 percent market share.