In the second half of 2016, Bridgestone Corp. will open its first manufacturing facility in Russia. Located in the Ulyanovsk region, the plant will go by the name Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing C.I.S.
The $147.7 million project will be built in cooperation with Mitsubishi Corp. Bridgestone will own 90% of the operation and Mitsubishi 10%.
The plant will produce 2 million tires annually at full production capacity by 2019. However, capacity at the plant can be doubled to 4 million tires if there is sufficient demand, the tiremaker said. Bridgestone currently has 155 plants in 27 countries.
Bridgestone first announced plans for its Russian facility in 2013.