Yokohoma Rubber Co’s 100 percent subsidiary, Yokohoma India, has set up its first and all-new tyre manufacturing plant at HSIIDC, Bahadurgarh. The Rs 300-crore facility, inaugurated by Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will produce Yokohama Earth-1 tyres. The plant will start the first phase of commercial production in the second half of 2014 with production capacity of 2,000 tyres a day.
Takeshi Fujino, managing director, Yokohama India, said: “The plant can be scaled up to produce 8,000 tyres per day in the next phase of growth. Yokohama India will continue to import tyres other than being manufactured in India.” He added, “The Yokohama Earth-1 tyre is especially designed for India, keeping the diverse road conditions in mind, and will cater to most of the cars in B, B+ and C-segments. It is tough, to take on bad roads but quiet at the same time to provide comfortable ride on smooth roads.”
The Yokohama Earth-1 tyre comes with a wear and tear control shoulder design. The tyres come with vertical and horizontal grooves that reduce uneven wear and tear. The centre rib in the tread pattern helps maximise handling performance. Yokohama India currently has around 600 sales touch points including 22 Yokohama Club Network’s (YCN) across India. The company plans to double the number of YCNs, a specialised network based on Yokohama’s global philosophy, to provide a world-class tyre buying experience, by the end of 2014.
The tyremaker, which claims two percent of the total market share in India, competes only in the tubeless radial tyre market. With a growing consumer shift from tube-type tyres to tubeless tyres and the new manufacturing unit, Yokohama India is targeting a five percent market share.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
