SHIYAN, China — Qingdao Doublestar Tire Co. Ltd. is planning to relocate its Doublestar Dongfeng Tire subsidiary in Shiyan and upgrade it to a "smart" factory in a $220 million, 18-month project.
The new plant, with planned annual capacity of 1.5 million truck/bus and 5 million passenger tires, will be built on a 3.23 million-sq.-ft. site in the Zhangwan District Industrial Park in Shiyan, Hubei Province.
Doublestar said it expects the Dongfeng subsidiary to generate $23 million in annual earnings on $475 million in revenue when the new plant is on stream.
Doublestar did not elaborate on its reasons for relocating the Dongfeng subsidiary's 23-year-old plant, but valued the facilities to be discarded at $29.5 million.
Doublestar also plans to set up a smart plant for scrap rubber recycling at the new site, according to Shiyan government's website.
Shiyan is a "prefecture-level" city in northwestern Hubei with a population of more than 3.3 million.