Japan's Bridgestone creates subsidiary in Vietnam

TOKYO, Dec 15, 2011 (AFP) -- Japanese tyremaker Bridgestone said on Thursday it would open a subsidiary dealing with production and sales in Vietnam next year, to accompany a new tyre factory in construction.

The subsidiary company, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing Vietnam, will be 100 percent owned by Bridgestone and will manage a factory in Vietnam due to begin operations in 2014, making tyres for export to Europe, the United States and Japan.
The factory in Vietnam is expected to employ some 1,900 workers and have an output of 24,700 tyres per day by 2016.
The Japanese tyremaker said the new subsidiary was necessary as it had already raised the production capacities of its factories in Thailand and Indonesia.
Bridgestone, which vies with France's Michelin to be the world's top tyremaker, saw a net profit of 98.9 billion yen ($1.18 billion) in 2010, a huge rise from a 1.04 billion yen profit in 2009.
The worldwide recovery in auto sales has been driven by emerging market demand from the likes of China, India and Brazil.