HYOGO, Japan — Toyo Tire Corp. is set to inaugurate commercial-scale production in December at its plant in Indija City, Serbia, before ramping up to the factory's full production capacity over the coming three quarters.
Toyo disclosed in its third-quarter financial results that all of the plant's main facilities would be "installed and operational" by December.
Toyo said it made its first shipment of tires from the plant — which will "preferentially supply the U.S. market" until year-end to meet robust demand —on Aug. 9.
The tire maker said bringing on stream additional production equipment will lead to the factory's reaching an annualized production capacity of 5 million tires by the third quarter of 2023.
Once fully operational, Toyo aims to exports 2 million tires from the plant to North America while 3 million units are to be supplied to the local European market to accelerate the company's shift to local production.
Toyo broke ground on the $450 million plant in Indjija City — a municipality of about 47,000 residents northwest of Belgrade in the autonomous province of Vojvodina — in December 2020.
