Kumho Tire eyes expansion of Vietnam plant

Tires of Kumho Tires Co. are pictured at an auto parts market in Shanghai, China, 21 March 2011. South Koreas Kumho Tires Co. apologized to its Chinese consumers on a CCTV program airing Monday (21 March 2011) after the companys products were exposed to be defective on March 15, the Beijing Times reports. Lee Han-xie, Board Chairman of Kumho China, said the company will recall all its problematic products as soon as possible, but did not mention when or how. One week earlier, CCTV reported that Kumho used excessive amounts of recycled rubber as raw materials to reduce costs in its manufacturing facility in the northern municipality of Tianjin, which would cause tires to rupture and pose other safety risks.

South Korea’s Kumho Tire plans to invest $305 million to expand its plant in Vietnam.

The expansion, when completed in the first quarter of 2023, is expected to nearly double the plant’s capacity to 9.3 million tires a year.

“After considering our plans to increase exports to North America and potential U.S. anti-dumping duties, we came to the conclusion that increasing the capacity of the Vietnamese plant would be the best solution,” a Kumho executive said.

The $200-million plant in the My Phuoc 3 Industrial Park in the southern province of Binh Duong was built in 2008 to manufacture passenger car and light truck radial tires and is the company’s only plant in Southeast Asia.

In January, China’s Jinyu Tire invested $320 million to expand its factory in the southern province of Tay Ninh.