New joint venture will boost TBR capacity.

Cooper Tire has entered into a joint venture with Sailun Vietnam to build a manufacturing plant with the capacity to produce more than 2 million truck and bus radial (TBR) tires annually.

The facility will be located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at the site of Sailun Vietnam’s existing operations. Cooper will own 35 percent of the new venture. 

“The [joint venture] announced today is another step forward in Cooper’s strategy to expand and diversify our TBR tire production globally, giving us additional capacity to help serve our growing original equipment and replacement TBR business around the world,” said Brad Hughes, Cooper President & Chief Executive Officer. “We are very pleased to build on the great relationship we have with Sailun to help us address opportunities in the global TBR market.”

Construction of the facility is expected to begin early next year with tire production commencing in the first half of 2020.