OREANDA-NEWS. Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. announces that it has established and begun operation of Toyo Tire (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “TTT”) (local affiliate with 100% capital contribution by Toyo Tires) tire sales subsidiary in Thailand as part of the Company’s Asia growth strategy for its tire business unit.

The car market in the ASEAN nations has been growing rapidly in recent years propelled by construction of new plants and buildup of production bases by the world’s major car makers, and has grown on a scale equal to that of the China market. Thailand in particular is Southeast Asia’s largest car market, and with a year-on-year increase in February of over 40% in terms of volume of cars sold, its growth is remarkable even among these countries. Toyo Tires has positioned Thailand as a vital strategic market in Southeast Asia. Up to now, the Company has sold TOYO TIRES brand tires through local distributors. However, in order to capture an increasingly greater share of the demand in Thailand that is growing each year, the Company established TTT as a local sales subsidiary.

With TTT, Toyo Tires will undertake to enhance passenger vehicle aftermarket tire sales with local sales channels, while making an effort to boost its ability to sell tires mounted onto new vehicles to local car makers. Moreover, with SUV*2 and pickup trucks comprising over half of the cars owned in Thailand, the Company also plans to aggressively promote sales of light truck tires, which even among Toyo’s products are particularly popular in North America.