Bridgestone To Build Third Factory in China

TOKYO, Feb 28, 2003; Reuters reports that Japan's largest tyre maker, Bridgestone Corp, said on Friday it would build a tyre factory in Wuxi, China, its third in the country as it responds to strong demand in the booming Chinese auto market.

Details will be announced on Friday afternoon, but the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported earlier that Bridgestone would invest 12 billion yen ($102 million) to build the plant.

The newspaper said the factory would produce 2.6 million car tyres a year starting in September 2004.

The plan underscores Bridgestone's aggressive expansion stance after it bounced back from a huge recall scandal at its U.S. Firestone unit, and as it battles Michelin (Paris:MICP.PA - News) and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co for global supremacy.

The move also marks another step in efforts by Japanese tyre makers to build facilities in China after initially trailing European and U.S. rivals in making inroads there.

Bridgestone will also invest about six billion yen to boost annual production capacity at an existing truck and bus tyre factory in Shenyang, China to one million tyres from the current 330,000 by April 2004, the newspaper said.

The firm also plans to invest around one billion yen to increase capacity at its car tyre plant in Tianjing by 40 percent to 4.6 million units by the spring of next year, the Nihon Keizai said.

Bridgestone last week posted a 161 percent surge in group net profit for 2002 on the back of brisk exports to the United States and Asia, confirming a comeback from the recall scandal that nearly destroyed its Firestone brand.

The results offered further evidence that Bridgestone -- battered for two years by the fallout from deadly accidents involving its U.S. unit's tyres -- had largely put the Firestone mess behind it.