-COO Nishigai expresses the company’s excitement to contribute to economic growth in Vietnam and Hai Phong City-

TOKYO (July 2, 2012) — Bridgestone Corporation today held a groundbreaking ceremony in the Dinh Vu Industrial Zone of Hai Phong City, Vietnam, where the Bridgestone Group plans to build a new passenger radial tire plant. This will be the company’s first tire production facility in Vietnam.

At the ceremony, attended by Mr. Hoang Trung Hai, Deputy Prime Minister of Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, other government officials and the company’s business partners, Kazuhisa Nishigai, COO and Representative Board Member of Bridgestone Corporation, and Susumu Yazaki, President of Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing Vietnam Limited Liability Company (BTMV), talked about the growing global market for tires and the role this new plant will play in it.

“The Bridgestone Group looks forward to contributing to economic growth in Vietnam and Hai Phong City through this new operation, as well as providing employment for its citizens and cultivating new skills in our employees that will position them for future success,” said Nishigai. "The global demand for tires continues to grow, and this plant will play an important part in helping us to meet the needs of our customers around the world.”

The new plant will serve as an export base for replacement tires sold in Europe, North America and Japan. Bridgestone has currently increased its production capacities at the Nong Khae Plant in Thailand and the Karawang Plant in Indonesia to supply tires to these markets. Regardless, Bridgestone determined that a new plant in Vietnam was necessary in order to respond to the continuing growth in demand. Operations in Hai Phong City will begin in March 2014. The plant is planned to be completed in the first half of 2016 with a production capacity of 24,700 tires per day.
 

                   
                                                  Photo: Groundbreaking ceremony
                     Susumu Yazaki, President of BTMV (Left); Mr. Hoang Trung Hai, Deputy
                                  Prime Minister of Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (Center);
                                Kazuhisa Nishigai, COO of Bridgestone Corporation (Right)