Kenda to make truck tires TAIPEI, Taiwan—Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd. plans to add its first production capacity for truck and bus tires this year at a plant in mainland China.
Local media in Taiwan reported that the project is a joint venture between Kenda and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., but Cooper officials denied that is the case.
Kenda will spend $15.5 million to set up a new production line at its 6-year-old factory in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province.
Another Taiwanese tire maker, Nankang Rubber Tire Corp. Ltd., plans to spend nearly $19 million to add capacity for radial truck and bus tires as its factory in Hsinchu, China, while a third company, Hwa Fong Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd., also is considering expanding into medium truck/bus tire production.
China to boost tire output
AKRON—Vehicle tire production in China is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 9.0 percent, from 106.5 million units this year to 150.3 million by the end of 2003, according to a study by Smithers Scientific Services Inc.
The Akron-based research company projected the following annual production increases for individual tire categories within this total group: passenger tires, 7.7 percent; light truck tires, 5.4 percent; truck and bus tires, 3.5 percent; farm tires, 12.1 percent; and motorcycle tires, 3.6 percent.
Titled The Tire and Rubber Products Industry in China, 1999-2003, the study also predicts that sales in China of motorized vehicles, including motorcycles, will increase 3.8 percent annually, from 13.6 million to 15.8 million, during the same four-year period.