Yokohama Rubber Opens a New Tire Plant in China

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announces that on November 22 it held a ceremony commemorating the opening of its new passenger car plant in Hangzhou City, China. The ceremony was attended by many representatives from the local community. Yokohama Rubber was represented by President & COO Shinji Seimiya.

The new plant is the first plant to be 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. In accordance with YX2026’s “Low cost, speedy development of quality products” watchword for implementing technology and production strategies, Yokohama Rubber has undertaken a “1-year plant” challenge that 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. Construction of the new China plant began in December 2024, and the plant’s start of production in November 2025 is therefore one month ahead of plan.

In his ceremony-opening greeting, President & COO Seimiya expressed his gratitude to the many people whose efforts contributed to the rapid completion of the plant’s construction ahead of the targeted timeframe. He also noted that the new plant is a very important project for Yokohama Rubber’s sustainable growth in the future and that every effort will be made to quickly achieve mass production and deliver high-quality, high-value-added products to the Chinese market as soon as possible.

The new plant is a response to the Hangzhou government’s request for the relocation of a previously existing plant as part of the city’s environmental measures. The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 9 million tires, about 3 million units greater than that of its predecessor, which will enable Yokohama Rubber to capture the expected increase in demand for passenger car tires in the Chinese market in the years ahead. Full-scale production is expected to start by the second quarter of 2026. The new plant will increase Yokohama Rubber’s local production of high-value-added tires for new energy vehicles such as EVs, as well as high-inch tires.

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.

Source: Yokohama