Press Release
May. 15, 2007
Toyo to Expand North American Tire Production
OSAKA, JAPAN―May 15, 2007――Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Yoshio Kataoka) hereby announces that the company will increase production capacity at its North American manufacturing subsidiary, Toyo Tire North America, Inc. (Bartow, Georgia, USA). With an estimated investment of about 6,000 million yen, the move is intended to help Toyo Tire expand North American sales of its 16- to 24-inch ultra-high-performance (UHP) tires and meet anticipated future demand from local auto manufacturers for original equipment tires.
Toyo Tire North America, which began commercial production of passenger car and light truck tires in March 2006, uses a new, proprietary, highly-automated "Advanced Tire Operation Module (A.T.O.M.)" system, which is designed to enable multi-item small-lot production of high-quality products within a much smaller space. The A.T.O.M. will be upgraded as part of the announced capacity expansion so as to help achieve higher product quality while boosting output to the target of about 3.3 million units per year by 2009.
Toyo aims to enhance its brand value in North America while continuously endeavoring to strengthen its global production and supply organization.
| 1. | Location: Bartow, Georgia, USA |
| 2. | Establishment: June 2004 |
| 3. | Shareholder: Toyo Tire International, Inc. (a 100% subsidiary of Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd.) |
| 4. | President: Shozo Kibata (Senior Managing Executive Officer of Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd.) |
| 5. | Paid-in capital: US$50 million |
| 6. | Ground area: 150 acres |
| 7. | Total floor space: 96,000m² (incl. 40,000m² warehouse) |
Toyo Tire Corporation
Corporate Communications Dept.
Hyogo Head office Telephone: +81-72-789-9100 Facsimile: +81-72-773-3272
