TOKYO-Bridgestone Corp., in a joint venture with Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a large Japanese trading company, soon will open three tire sales promotion companies in Eastern Europe under the Bridgestone/Firestone banner. The new companies-owned 60 percent by Mitsui and 40 percent by Bridgestone-will take advantage of Mitsui's established network in the region and work to enhance awareness of the Bridgestone and Firestone brands, establish sales channels and build a solid customer base, Bridgestone said.
Based in Warsaw, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; and Prague, Czech Republic, the companies will work within their own countries, except the Czech company also will cover Slovakia.
CEAT TO BUILD VIETNAMESE PLANT
BOMBAY, India-Ceat Ltd., India's second-largest tire maker, has agreed to become the lead partner in a $51 million project to build a bias-ply truck/bus tire plant in Da Nang, Vietnam.
No target date for completion has been set, but the plant is to have an initial capacity of 500,000 units per year to be doubled within five years-all for domestic consumption. Ceat expects to invest about $10 million in the project, for which it will provide the technology, engineering and management.