Toyo picks Serbia for 1st European tire plant

BELGRADE, Serbia — Toyo Tire Corp.'s board of directors has approved a $450 million investment plan to build a passenger and light truck tire plant in Europe to support the company's growth plans for the region, which represents about 15% of Toyo's global tire sales.

Toyo has selected a 150-acre site about 35 miles northwest of Belgrade for the factory, which will be rated at 5 million units a year at full capacity. Toyo plans to break ground in May 2020 at the site in Indija, Serbia, with production slated to start by January 2022.

The plant is expected to hit full capacity by summer 2023 with 500 employees, Toyo said. The plant will be Toyo's eighth tire factory worldwide and make Toyo the 15th global tire company with production capacity in Europe.

Toyo said the new factory will incorporate its Manufacturing Execution System and elements of the Internet of Things to make this a "sophisticated smart factory" capable of achieving high quality at low cost and of supplying differentiated and high value-added products for luxury passenger vehicles and light trucks within and outside the European market.

Inđija is a municipality of about 47,000 inhabitants located in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia.

Toyo supplies tires for the European and Russian markets from factories in Japan and Malaysia. The new manufacturing base in Serbia will reinforce Toyo's global tire manufacturing and supply system, the company said, and reflects the firm's global growth strategy outlined last year when Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. raised its ownership stake in Toyo to 20% from 3%.

At that time, Toyo and Mitsubishi outlined a wide-ranging strategic partnership that will enhance Toyo's global distribution assets, help it compete more effectively in the evolving mobility sector and fund capacity expansions.

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi's increased share ownership represented a $425 million infusion of new capital. Mitsubishi has partnered with Toyo in distribution worldwide since 1974.

Toyo only recently disclosed plans to expand its 13-year-old tire plant in White, Ga., by nearly 10% to 13.9 million passenger and light truck tires annually by January 2021.