Bridgestone Corp. announced that it plans to build a tire production plant in Vietnam. The new plant will mainly produce radial tires.

Bridgestone's decision to build a new plant was mainly due to the increasing demand for radial tires in the global automotive market. The newly-built Bridgestone Group invested a total of nearly 35.5 billion yen (US$460 million). After the plant is completed, it will start production from the first half of 2014. By the first half of 2016, the plant is expected to produce 24,700 tires per day and 1,900 employees.

The new plant in Vietnam will serve as Bridgestone’s replacement tire export base to Europe, North America and Japan. Bridgestone currently meets these market demands for radial tires by increasing its production capacity at its Nong Khae plant in Thailand.

As for the selection of the new site, Bridgestone conducted a comprehensive assessment of infrastructure, geographical location, labor force, and cost from a variety of perspectives, and finally selected the Dinh Vu Industrial Park in Hai Phong, Vietnam as a new plant. The site of the factory. The new factory covers an area of ​​about 1.02 million square meters.

Bridgestone currently has 47 tire manufacturing plants in 20 countries around the world. Bridgestone plans to build a large or super-large tire production plant in India and the United States, plus a new factory in Vietnam, Bridgestone. There will be a total of 50 tire manufacturing plants in 21 countries around the world.