Sentury Tire is opening a $530 million manufacturing facility in LaGrange, Ga.
“We are very happy to select LaGrange to the location of our North American manufacturing,” said Rami Helminen, Sentury Tire executive vice president. “The education systems and high quality workforce complement our leading edge technology in the production and research and development. We are confident that Georgia has the infrastructure that can help us build a successful logistical operation to supply our growing aftermarket dealer sales and OEM sales to auto manufacturers in the North American market.”
Sentury anticipates it will start production at the LaGrange facility in 2018 and eventually will provide 12 million passenger and light truck tires annually. The new facility will create roughly 1,000 jobs.
“Sentury Tire’s commitment to locate in LaGrange speaks to Georgia’s business-friendly climate and the strong relationship we maintain with our economic partners in China,” said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. “We value Sentury Tire’s investment in Georgia and the vision of the company’s leadership for continued growth in Troup County. I am positive that Georgia’s automotive manufacturing and technology capabilities will be assets to Sentury Tire as the company serves a growing customer base.”
Headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong, China, the tiremaker has facilities in both China and Thailand. This will be Sentury’s first U.S. plant.
