OE business to shape Yokohama’s next India capacity decision

Yokohama’s existing Maruti Suzuki supply relationship and efforts to secure further carmaker business form part of its assessment of additional passenger-tyre capacity in India.

Yokohama India is looking to deepen its relationships with vehicle manufacturers as it evaluates its next manufacturing expansion, linking additional capacity to opportunities in both original-equipment supply and the replacement market.

In written responses following Bizmudra’s Visakhapatnam visit during the launch of their Geolandar X-CV tyres, Harinder Singh, managing director and ceo of Yokohama India, confirmed that the company supplies Maruti Suzuki. He did not identify the models supplied or disclose additional confirmed OE programmes.

“We are working towards expanding our relationships with other automobile manufacturers, and any additional OE programmes will be an important consideration as we evaluate the next phase of manufacturing capacity,” Singh said.

For Yokohama, supplying tyres fitted to new vehicles provides a complementary route to its replacement business. Singh described the objective as building a balance between the two while retaining the company’s premium positioning as Indian buyers move towards SUVs and larger tyre fitments.

Annual passenger-tyre manufacturing capacity currently stands at approximately 4.5 million units. Anil Gupta, vice chairman of Yokohama India, said this could expand to approximately 6.3 million in the short to medium term, depending on market conditions.

“At this stage, we are not attaching a specific investment figure to the 6.3-million capacity expansion. The timing and scale will be determined by market demand and business requirements,” Gupta said.

Gupta also identified SAARC countries and Africa among passenger-tyre export destinations, saying growing Indian demand would provide greater flexibility to direct production towards domestic customers. The next capacity decision therefore rests on how replacement demand and further carmaker programmes develop. The 6.3-million figure remains a potential scale of operation, with investment and timing still dependent on business requirements.