Yokohama
India Pvt. Ltd, a 100pc subsidiary of Japan based Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd that
came into India in 2007, inaugurated its first tyre manufacturing unit at
HSIIDC Bahadurgarh in Haryana in North India. The plant was inaugurated by the
Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Built
with an investment of over Rs.300 crore, this new manufacturing unit at
Bahadurgarh will manufacture Yokohama Earth-1 tyres, designed to cater to the
comfort and economy segment along with S drive.
Yokohama India will see its first phase of
commercial production start in the 2nd half of 2014 with a maximum production
capacity of 2000 tyres per day. “The plant can be scaled up to 8000 tyres per
day in the next phases of growth. Yokohama India will continue to import tyres
other than being manufactured in India” said Takeshi Fujino, MD – Yokohama
India.
At
the current trial production itself, the Yokohama factory employs more than 100
direct mployees and will soon grow three folds by the end of 2014. “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-segment. It is tough, to take on rough roads but quiet at the same time to
provide comfortable ride on smooth roads” added Fujino.
Yokohama
India currently has approx 600 point of sales which also includes 22 Yokohama
Club Network (YCN) across length and breadth of India. YCN is a specialised
network based on Yokohama’s global philosophy to develop Point Of Sales to
provide world class tyre buying experience. Yokohama India’s plan is to double
up the YCN strength by end of 2014. Yokohama India is currently operating on
2pc of the total market share. While tube type tyres still contribute a
considerable share of the total passenger car radial market, Yokohama India is
only competing in the tubeless market.
With the fast transformation of market from tube type tyres to tubeless
tyres and manufacturing unit coming up, the world’s Eighth tyre
manufacturer is looking at 5pc market
share in the near future to support GD 100.
The
Yokohama Earth 1 tyres come with technologically advanced Wear Control Shoulder
Design which are Vertical and Horizontal Grooves that reduce uneven wear and
enhance quietness as the tyres wears. The Centre Rib in the tread pattern helps
to maximise handling performance along with other features which include controlling
the pattern noise echoing under the car body, ensuring a quieter ride, maximise
drainage performance among other features
Speaking
at the occasion Hooda noted “We are glad that Yokohama India chose Bahadurgarh.
Of every two cars being manufactured in India, one comes from Haryana. In fact
70pc of total Japanese investments in India too is in Haryana”
Present at the occasion were Takeshi Yagi, Ambassador
of Japan in India, Tarun Bajaj, MD, HSIIDC, Rajinder Joon, MLA, Bahadurgarh, Dr
Shigeru Kagami, Corporate officer, The Yokohama Rubber Company Limited Japan)
and Takeshi Fujino, MD, Yokohama India.
Globally other than replacement tyres
business, Yokohama tyres is original equipment suppliers to many top of the
line car manufacturers like Audi, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan,
Porsche, Suzuki and Toyota.