Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., today announced that it would increase the production capacity for passenger car and light truck (PC/LT) tires in Thailand. By expanding the second plant specialized in PC/LT tires on the premises of Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. through its second-term construction, Yokohama Rubber will increase its annual production capacity for PC/LT tires to 2.8 million tires in FY 2009.

For the second-term expansion of the second plant, Yokohama Rubber will employ a small-scale integrated manufacturing system that was also introduced in the first term. The system shortens the time from the beginning of plant construction to operation start-up and requires a smaller-size investment, thus enabling Yokohama Rubber to employ a flexible investment strategy taking market trends into account. The second-term construction for expansion will take one year and 7 billion yen of investment.

Established in January 2004 in Rayong Province, Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) is a tire manufacturer/distributor. Its site area of 420,000 square meters is the largest among the tire plants of the Yokohama Rubber group around the world. Yokohama Rubber plans to make Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) its largest overseas base for comprehensive tire production. At the Thai subsidiary, the first plant specialized in tires for trucks and buses already began operating in April 2005, while the second plant specialized in PC/LT tires has been in operation since November 2006.