Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. has broken ground on a passenger tire manufacturing plant in Lipetsk, Russia.
The plant will operate as part of Yokohama R.P.Z., a tire manufacturing/selling company established by Yokohama and Itochu Corp. in late 2008. (Yokohama owns 80% of the company, while Itochu owns the rest.)
"Construction of the new tire plant is aimed at delivering the highest quality tires to every corner of Russia as soon as possible," Shinichi Suzuki, Yokohama managing corporate officer, said at the factory's recent groundbreaking.
The factory will begin producing tires by the end of 2011. It will boast an annual production capacity of 1.4 million units.
