The tire industry is global, but most of us tend to think of it in regional terms — North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe and so on.

While it’s true that many global tire manufacturers give their regions a considerable amount of latitude, at many companies, strategic direction, product development and other important functions tend to emanate from the home office.

A recent whirlwind tour — three cities in three days — of Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd.’s Technoplex headquarters, Technodome research and development hub and Technoplex proving grounds, all located in South Korea, reminded me of that. 

I discovered that what Hankook does in South Korea doesn’t always stay in South Korea - by design. You can probably say the same for Clermont-Ferrand, France (home of Michelin Group); Hanover, Germany (worldwide headquarters of Continental AG); Tokyo, Japan (where Bridgestone Corp. and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. are located); Akron, Ohio (hometown of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.) and places where other global players are domiciled. 

At the same time, many manufacturers have embraced a “local for local” strategy - also for good reasons. 

Bridgestone Americas Inc. operates plants in Aiken, S.C.; Warren County, Tenn.; Bloomington, Ill.; Des Moines, Iowa; and two others in the U.S., plus one plant in Canada and two plants in Mexico (Monterrey and Cuernavaca). The company also produces racing tires at a facility in Akron. 

Continental Tire the Americas LLC has three plants in the U.S.: one in Mount Vernon, Ill.; one in Sumter, S.C.; and one in Clinton, Miss. 

Giti Tire (USA) Ltd.’s U.S. plant is in Richburg, S.C. 

Goodyear has seven plants in the U.S. — Danville, Va.; Fayetteville, N.C., which is scheduled to close next year; Findlay, Ohio; Lawton, Okla.; Texarkana, Ark.; Tupelo, Miss.; and Topeka, Kan. (Like Bridgestone, Goodyear also builds racing tires in Akron.) In addition, Goodyear has two plants in Canada and another in Mexico.

Hankook Tire America Corp.’s U.S. plant is in Clarksville, Tenn. 

Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc.’s U.S. plant is in Macon, Ga. 

Michelin North America Inc.’s U.S. plants can be found in Dothan, Ala.; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Greenville, S.C.; Lexington, S.C.; Piedmont, S.C.; Sparanburg, S.C.; Starr, S.C.; and Tuscaloosa, Ala. The company also operates three plants in Canada and a plant in Mexico. 

Nokian Tyres has a plant in Dayton, Tenn. 

Pirelli Tire North America Inc. has a plant in Rome, Ga., and another in Guanajuato, Mexico. 

Sailun Tire USA also owns and operates a plant in Mexico while Specialty Tires of America Inc. makes products in Indiana, Pa., and Unicoi, Tenn. 

Titan International Inc. has four U.S. plants — one in Bryan, Ohio; one in Des Moines, Iowa; one in Clinton, Tenn.; and another in Freeport, Ill.

Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. has a plant in White, Ga. 

Yokohama Tire Corp. has a plant in West Point, Miss. 

Another division of Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., Yokohama TWS, builds tires in Charles City, Iowa. 

JK Tyre & Industries, Grupo Corso and Corporacion de Occidente SA de CV operate plants in Mexico. (JK Tyre & Industries has two. The others each have one.) 

Together, all of these plants have the capacity to manufacture slightly more than 929,000 tires per day, according to MTD research. That’s an astounding number of tires. (I would encourage you to grab a copy of MTD’s 2026 Facts Issue, published this past January, if you want to see precise production capacity amounts for each company.) 

More plants are in the works. Yokohama and ZC Rubber are at various stages of plant construction in Mexico. Nexen Tire America plans to put up a plant in the U.S. at some point.

Other plants have shut down. Michelin stopped making tires at its Ardmore, Okla., plant last year. (The company still uses the factory as a rubber mixing facility.)

Bridgestone closed its plant in LaVergne, Tenn., last year. Yokohama TWS closed its plant in Spartanburg, S.C., also in 2025. Yokohama, too, closed its Salem, Va., plant in 2025. Titan has announced the closing of its plant in Jackson, Tenn.

“Local for local” will remain an important strategy, just as global tiremakers will continue to develop products, technologies and business direction that will radiate to regions in other parts of the world. Both of these strategies are a must in today’s hyper-connected industry.

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