GUANGZHOU CITY, China — China's Wanli Tire Co. Ltd. has unveiled plans to upgrade a truck/bus tire plant in Guangzhou City to enhance the site's production capacity by 60%.
The Chinese tire maker — which had announced plans in 2017 for a pair of factories in the U.S., only to suspend them indefinitely a year later — said it submitted an environmental impact report fo the $85 million "upgrade and technical transformation project" for public endorsement.
The project will involve upgrading all production lines and removing outdated equipment at the site to increase production capacity to 24 million units from 15 million.
The capacity expansion will not require a physical expansion of the factory site.
Wanli Tire Group is part of Vanlead Group, which also operates South China Tire & Rubber Co. and Guangzhou Rubber Enterprise Group Co. Ltd.
Wanli is considered the world's No. 51 tire maker, according to Tire Business' annual Global Tire Report calculations, with fiscal 2021 sales of $572 million.
