Yokohama India will introduce two new Geolandar tyres in 2027 as the Japanese tyre maker looks to strengthen its presence in India’s fast-growing SUV market and increase its exposure to larger tyre sizes.
The company plans to introduce the Geolandar A/T4 in the first half of 2027, followed by the Geolandar H/T4, according to a product roadmap shared by Yokohama India.
The A/T4 will cater to the all-terrain category, aimed at SUVs used both on and off the road, while the H/T4 will target highway use and premium touring. The two launches will follow the 2026 range expansion of the Geolandar X-CV, which is targeted at the crossover and SUV segments.
“Couple of quarters down the line, we will introduce an upgraded all-terrain tyre, further followed by an upgraded highway-terrain tyre,” Gaurav Mahajan, Head of Marketing at Yokohama India, said.
The product push comes as SUVs take a larger share of India’s passenger vehicle market. SUVs accounted for more than 66% of passenger vehicles sold in India in 2025, compared with less than 20% about a decade ago. The share of vehicles running on tyres of 16 inches and above increased to around 54% in 2025, according to Yokohama.
“Cars are getting bigger, tyres are getting bigger and we know today premiumisation is really driving sales in automotive,” Mahajan said.
Yokohama expects the shift towards SUVs to continue. Utility vehicles accounted for about 68% of India’s passenger vehicle market in the first quarter of FY27, up from 66% in the year-ago period. UV volumes grew 28.6% year-on-year during the quarter, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
Yokohama’s product expansion also comes as India assumes greater importance in its global passenger-car tyre business. India is now the company’s fourth-largest passenger-car tyre market after Japan, the US and China. Yokohama expects its sales in the country to grow by around 18% in 2026.
“India has been very important and instrumental in driving overall global directional improvement and sales for Yokohama globally,” Mahajan said.
Geolandar Pushes Deeper Into SUV Market
The Geolandar range is Yokohama’s main SUV tyre brand and covers applications ranging from urban crossovers and highway-focused SUVs to all-terrain and hardcore off-road vehicles.
Yokohama on Wednesday launched the expanded Geolandar X-CV range in India. The compay claims that the tyre offers up to 20% better wet grip and 10% longer life than the previous product, while also offering improved high-speed stability and lower road noise.
Beyond Geolandar, Yokohama caters mainly to the passenger-car and SUV tyre segments in India, with products under brands including ADVAN, BluEarth and Earth-1, spanning performance, premium and mass-market applications.
Globally, Yokohama is sharpening its focus on premium products through what it calls the AGW category — ADVAN, Geolandar, winter tyres and tyres of 18 inches and above. The category is central to its premiumisation strategy.
Replacement Market Remains Mainstay
In India, Yokohama remains heavily dependent on the replacement market, while it is also looking to increase its exposure to vehicle manufacturers. The company is looking to raise the share of its original-equipment business to double digits from single digits following the expansion of local production capacity. It currently supplies tyres to Maruti Suzuki India.
The tyre maker’s replacement business in India is supported by more than 3,500 retail touchpoints across the country, including over 800 Yokohama Club Network outlets, its branded retail format. The network has expanded from more than 3,300 touchpoints earlier this year as Yokohama pushes deeper into Tier-II and Tier-III markets.
Yokohama competes in India with large domestic tyre manufacturers including MRF, Apollo Tyres, CEAT and JK Tyre, as well as global companies such as Bridgestone, Michelin and Continental. Competition is particularly strong in replacement tyres, while tyre makers are also expanding their premium SUV and larger-rim portfolios as the vehicle market shifts towards SUVs.
Yokohama is seeking to differentiate itself through premium and performance-oriented products and a stronger focus on SUVs. Globally, the company also targets original-equipment fitments with premium vehicle makers and lists Porsche, Mercedes-AMG, BMW M, Bentley, Lexus and Audi among brands in its OE portfolio.
Capacity Can Rise to 6.3 Million Tyres
Supporting this expansion is Yokohama’s growing manufacturing footprint in India. The company currently has capacity to manufacture 4.5 million passenger-car tyres annually, with production at Bahadurgarh in Haryana and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Yokohama started local tyre production at Bahadurgarh in 2014 with an annual capacity of 700,000 tyres. It subsequently expanded capacity to 2.8 million units by 2023, before scaling its overall India tyre capacity to 4.5 million units by 2025.
The Visakhapatnam facility was originally commissioned in 2022 for Yokohama’s off-highway tyre operations before passenger-car tyre production was added.
The company already has room for another expansion. Yokohama said its Indian manufacturing platform can accommodate an additional 1.8 million tyres annually, potentially taking passenger-car tyre capacity to about 6.3 million units.
“The kind of response, the kind of encouragement we are seeing from Indian consumers, is very encouraging and we were able to do 3x capacity in the last five years itself,” Mahajan said.
“With Vizag capacity in place, we have 4.5 million annual capacity installed. At the right time, this can be further extended or expanded by another 1.8 million units, which makes it around 6.3 million possible capacity,” he added.
The company has not disclosed a timeline or investment requirement for the next phase of expansion.
Yokohama’s local production platform can manufacture tyres up to 24 inches, giving it room to cater to the shift towards larger wheel sizes. This is an advance on the original 2023 expansion plan, when the company said the new Visakhapatnam passenger-car line would be capable of making tyres up to 22 inches.