Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and Sailun Vietnam Co., Ltd. recently celebrated production of a first tire at ACTR, their new joint venture facility located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Cooper owns 35% of ACTR, which will produce truck and bus radial (TBR) tires for global markets. The ceremonial first tire was the centerpiece of a special event held at the facility on Nov. 18 to celebrate the construction of the plant. The plant is expected to be operational and producing tires on a commercial level by early 2020. At full capacity, production is expected to be approximately 2 million tires annually.

“Cooperation between Cooper and Sailun has been outstanding, and we thank our partner Sailun for working so closely with us over the past several months to construct this facility,” said Brad Hughes, Cooper president and CEO. “This is another important step in Cooper’s strategy to expand and diversify our TBR production globally, giving us additional capacity to supply quality Roadmaster TBR tires to customers worldwide.”

Zhongxue Yuan, chairman and president of Sailun Group Co. Ltd., said, “ACTR is a highly modern tire production facility with the latest technologies to drive quality and efficiency. We thank Cooper and all of those involved in the construction of the facility for their excellent support and cooperation. We look forward to many years of successful operation together with Cooper at ACTR.”