TOKYO — Bridgestone Corp. will end all production and sales of commercial tires in China by the first half of 2024, the tire maker announced Feb. 27.
The group will "cease production of truck and bus tires (TBRs) at Shanghai-based Bridgestone (China) Investment Co. Ltd. ... And withdraw from the commercial tire business in the Chinese market."
The move, under Bridgestone's mid-term business plan (2024-26), is intended to "rebuild earning power" and redirect strategic resources to the "premium passenger car tire market."
Also as part of the withdrawal, the Tokyo-based group said it had ended TBR production its tire plant in Shenyang, China, on Jan. 26. The facility, operational since 1996, employs 657 people and produced approximately 4,300 TBR tires per day.
The decision to exit the Chinese TBR market follows previous efforts by Bridgestone to improve the profitability of the business.
In September, the Japanese group announced that it would discontinue the TBR OE business in China by the end of the year. The decision, Bridgestone said at the time, followed a "significant decline in production and sales" of truck and bus OE tires in the country.
At the time, the group said it made "many internal efforts to optimize production capacity and reduce costs" but has not been able to improve the situation.
In late 2021, Bridgestone closed a TBR production facility in Huizhou, China. The 800-employee plant had a capacity to produce 4,400 units of tire per day.
