CHINA’S TRIANGLE TIRE TO BUILD FACTORIES IN THE US

Triangle Tire has announced plans to set up two tyre factories at an unspecified location in North Carolina, the US. These will be Triangle’s first non-Chinese manufacturing operations, wrote David Shaw, CEO, Tire Industry Research, in a note on Linkedin.

“In the first phase, Triangle plans to build a factory for five million units/year of high-performance PCR and SUV tyres, with an investment of $298mn. This project will begin construction in 2018 and come on stream within two to three years. In the second phase, Triangle will add a one million unit/year TBR factory for a further investment of $282mn. That project is scheduled to begin in 2020 and should be on-stream in 2022 or 2023,” Shaw wrote.

Both factories are intended to help serve markets in the NAFTA region: The United States, Canada and Mexico as well as neighbouring countries. The factories will be 100% owned by Triangle through local subsidiaries or as direct ownership, the note further said.

Triangle opened a tech centre in Akron in 2011. In October 2015, it opened US headquarters in Franklin, close to Nashville, Tennessee and shortly afterwards named long-time industry veteran Manny Cicero as CEO of Triangle Tire USA.