Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced today that Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM, which was established by Yokohama Tire Corporation, a subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its truck and bus tire manufacturing plant at West Point, Mississippi, the United States on September 23, 2013. The new plant is slated to begin operations in October 2015. The festive event was attended by President and Representative Director of Yokohama Rubber, Hikomitsu Noji, Yokohama executives, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, numerous state officials and more than 350 guests,

"This is a great day for Yokohama, Mississippi and the community of West Point," said YTMM's President Tadaharu Yamamoto. "As we move forward with construction of our new tire-making facility, I'd like to personally thank Gov. Bryant, his staff and all the people in Mississippi for their support on this incredible endeavor. There's no question we made the right choice coming to Mississippi with this project."

Yokohama plans to make an initial US$300 million investment in the facility and employ approximately 500 people in the first phase. The investment and employment may be expanding to 4 times each in the future. The company also plans to construct a plant equipped with production, warehousing and operations facilities on more than 500 acres of land and will produce up to one million tires annually.

"Today is a very exciting day as Yokohama prepares to begin construction of its very first U.S. manufacturing facility to be built from the ground up," said Gov. Bryant. "Just five short months ago, the company announced its plans to locate these operations in West Point, and I am grateful to the Yokohama team and those at the state and local levels for working so quickly to get this project underway. I look forward to visiting again in the near future as we celebrate the grand opening of Yokohama's tire manufacturing plant and once again prove to the world that Mississippi is a great place for business."