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Yokohama to Start US Tire Production

Fullerton-based Yokohama Tire Corp. is building a manufacturing plant in West Point, Miss., where it expects to make about a million tires a year for commercial trucks and buses once production begins in late 2015.

Yokohama Tire is the North American marketing arm of Tokyo-based Yokohama Rubber Co., one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world, with about $5.72 billion in sales last year. Yokohama Tire’s sales account for about 20% of the parent company’s total, or more than $1 billion annually.

The West Point plant will be the first U.S. manufacturing facility built by the company, which acquired a plant in Salem, Va. in 1992 for $80 million. It bought the Salem plant from Mohawk Rubber Co., an Akron, Ohio-based company that Yokohama Tire’s parent acquired in 1989 and merged with the Fullerton unit in 1992.

Yokohama Tire also has been importing tires from Japan and Thailand for sale in North America.

The company said “it considered it necessary to build the new plant to accommodate the growing demand for its brand and further strengthen a system aimed at local production for local consumption.”

500 Workers

Yokohama Tire said its initial investment of $300 million could grow to about $1.2 billion. It plans to initially hire about 500 workers and eventually have about 2,000 employees there.

The company will get an incentive package from the state of Mississippi and local governments that is worth about $130 million.

Special Session

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant last week thanked the state’s legislature for crafting the incentive package during a recent special session.

Yokohama brand: Fullerton-based North American operations account for more than billion in annual sales

The deal for a new plant comes shortly after a series of changes in the executive ranks at Yokohama Tire.

Hikomitsu Noji, president of the parent company, recently began work as the Fullerton unit’s new chief executive, a role he will perform from Japan.

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Takayuki Hamaya will oversee the day-to-day functions at the Fullerton headquarters.

Yokohama Tire got a new chairman and executive adviser, Norio Karashima, who most recently served as the parent’s chief global marketing officer.

Mexico

The company also named Gary Nash president of its new subsidiary, Yokohama Tire Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V.

The Mexico-based unit was formed in response to “the growing demand for consumer, commercial and [off-the-road] tires in Mexico,” according to the company.

Nash will stay in Fullerton in his new role.

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