With only a tiny slice of the replacement market and no local manufacturing for OEM supply, Yokohama nonetheless has ambitious plans for its year-old Indian plant in Ballabhgarh, Haryana state.
"We will decide on the scale of expansion by the end of this year, president and director Satoshi Fujitsu told ETAuto in an interview. Current capacity is just 700,000 tyres a year – utilised 80% – but Fujitsu reckoned the supplier could "at least double" that.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The company currently produces 550,000 units locally and imports about 100,000 for high-end SUVs.
Sales have increased 45% year on year with 420,000 units shifted last year and over 650,000 this year's target.
In the long term, the tyremaker expects to spend JPY10bn to take total capacity to 3m units a year by 2020, ET Auto said.
However, the company has no plans to venture into any new segment and will continue to operate in the passenger vehicle segment.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataYokohama currently has less than 1% market share in the replacement market, and is yet to start locally sourced OEM supply though it does have plans.
"We are already talking to our Japanese carmakers like Toyota, Honda and others to get the OEM business," Fujitsu said.
Yokohama supplies Toyota Kirklosar with imports from Japan but is working towards fulfilling orders within India . Fujitsu said OEM would contribute 30% of the total business once peak production was reached.
Local content is 20% but should increase to 90% in four-five years.
"With greater localisation and higher volume we expect the manufacturing cost to come down by 20%," Fujitsu told ET Auto.
