Bridgestone Corporation has announced it is to make investments to expand capacity in three passenger car tire plants in Japan – the Hikone, Tosu and Tochigi plants – that are the main production bases for high rim diameter tires for cars in the premium segment.
The collective investment will be approximately ¥27bn (US$174.8m) with expansion set to start from the beginning of 2025 and be completed by the end of 2028. The strategic investment is expected to ramp up total production across these three plants by approximately 3,000 tires per day, for tires 20in and larger, with demand for these tires expected to grow, according to Bridgestone.
The company is accelerating its focus on reinforcing its premium tire business with Dan-Totsu products. The enhancement and expansion of its production capacity is part of its strategic investment outlined in its mid-term business plan (2024-2026), which supports the implementation of Enliten – its base technology for product design – in new products and the strengthening and expansion of its global production of HRD tires for passenger cars.
In strengthening the premium tire business for passenger cars, Bridgestone is accelerating value creation using the Enliten technology and the Bridgestone Common Modularity Architecture (BCMA) – the base technology for manufacturing and R&D. BCMA is designed to reduce operational business cost and environmental impact across the entire value chain by simplifying development and production process.
This news follows Bridgestone’s announcement earlier this month that it is investing in two facilities in India.
