Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., today announced that it established a new overseas subsidiary called Yokohama Rubber Latin America Comercio Ltda. in April in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to begin in May enhancing marketing activities in Latin America including the development of local sales channels for expanding tire sales. Capitalized at approximately 1.1 million Brazil reals (equivalent of 600,000 US dollars), the new company is a joint investment by Yokohama Rubber and Yokohama Europe GmbH.

In recent years, Yokohama Rubber has strengthened its tire sales activities in Latin America including Brazil, Argentina and Chile, boosting tire sales volume in the market nearly 4 times in 5 years until 2007. As a result, the Japanese tire maker decided to establish a business base in Brazil, the largest market in Latin America, so as to stimulate further sales growth and bolster marketing activities focusing on high-performance passenger car tires, an area in which Yokohama Rubber excels. With the establishment of the new company, Yokohama Rubber closes its representative office in Panama.

Also the new company will conduct market researches to confirm the possibility of localizing the tire business in Latin America. To this end, Yokohama Rubber will increase the number of both dispatched and locally hired employees to form a team with around 10 members in 2009.

Based on its GD100 new mid-term management strategy started in 2006, Yokohama Rubber has promoted business expansion initiatives in BRICs countries. With the establishment of a local subsidiary in Brazil, Yokohama Rubber has completed deploying business bases in all BRICs countries, following the establishment of a business umbrella company, 2 tire manufacturing/sales companies, 3 multiple business or non-tire product manufacturing/sales companies and a tire sales company in China, a tire sales company in Russia and a local subsidiary in India.

Corporate name: Yokohama Rubber Latin America Comercio Ltda.
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Established: April 2008
Paid-in capital: Approx. 1,100,000 Brazil reals(equivalent of 600,000US dollars)
(Joint investment by Yokohama Rubber and Yokohama Europe GmbH)
Representative: Kazuya Miyazawa (dispatched from Yokohama Rubber)
Lines of business: Tire sales, Tire technical services, Market research
Number of employees: 4