Bridgestone to Build Fourth Tire Plant in China

Tokyo (JCNN) - On April 27, Bridgestone announced a plan to construct a plant in the city of Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China, to produce radial tires for trucks and buses. The company's fourth tire plant in China and the 50th in the world, Bridgestone (Huizhou) Tire will serve to keep up with high growth in the Chinese market. The plant is scheduled to begin operation in January 2007.

Bridgestone (Huizhou) Tire was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone on April 22. It is capitalized at $105 million.

Plans call for investing $300 million in the plant and having a workforce of about 1,000 employees in the first half of 2009. The plant will have a daily production capacity of 5,000 tires in the first half of 2009.