ZRENJANIN, Serbia — China's Linglong Tire Group has started commercial production of steel truck and bus tires at its newly opened plant, where passenger tire production started in August.
Linglong disclosed the development in its third-quarter financial results statement, stating that manufacturing capacity for 1.2 million units of all-steel truck and bus tires had "reached production."
Linglong, considered the world's No. 13 tire maker based on fiscal 2021 sales of $2.9 billion, broke ground on the $994 million project in Zrenjanin, northern Serbia, in August 2019.
At full capacity, the factory — one of six that Linglong operates internationally — is rated to produce 12 million radial passenger tires, 1.6 million truck/bus tires and 20,000 off-the-road tires a year.
Linglong said it anticipates producing about 6 million car tires next year at the plant.
The tire maker said it had signed a cooperation agreement with Chinese contractor CCCC First Highway Engineering Group for the completion of the Serbian project's next phase, without giving further details of the agreement.
