Cheng Shin eying China plant No. 7

YUANLIN, Taiwan (July 30, 2013) — Taiwan's Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co. Ltd./Maxxis International plans to build a seventh plant in China in the coming years, but management has yet to settle on a location or scale of investment.

The company, the world's ninth largest tire maker with 2012 sales of $4.6 billion, said the plant would be in northern China but other details are still being formulated.

Cheng Shin's other six plants—including two opened in the past 18 months—are in central China.

Cheng Shin Vice President Wu Hsuan-miao disclosed the company's intentions for the plant in remarks made at the company's annual meeting recently.

With six plants and a new test facility in China, Cheng Shin has become one of the largest tire companies in China.

The company's recent investments include:

• $150 million for a 9.2 million-sq.-ft. tire test proving ground adjacent to its Maxxis International tire plant in Kunshan City; and
• $600 million for passenger tire plants in Chong Qing and Xiamen, both rated at 30,000 tires a day.

Cheng Shin in 2011 said both new plants would be based on the design of its Maxxis International (Thailand) Co. Ltd. factory in Thailand's Rayong Province, and both would be designed to serve the needs of the company's export and domestic markets, including OE requirements.

Besides the plants in China and Thailand, Cheng Shin has tire factories in Vietnam and Taiwan.

It goes to market with the brands Cheng Shin, CST and Maxxis and is represented in North America by Maxxis International in Suwanee, Ga., and Brampton, Ontario.

Cheng Shin only recently launched a website covering its global businesses, with pages devoted to its various businesses—motorcycle, bicycle, ATV, industrial and commercial. It also maintains a site for the Maxxis brand.