It’s almost two years since we first heard of Guizhou Tyre Co. Ltd’s intention to establish a plant in Vietnam, and plans have been taking shape since then. On 4 March, the Chinese tyre maker’s Board of Directors approved the establishment of a new wholly-owned subsidiary.

According to a statement issued by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange the following day, Advance Tyre (Vietnam) Co. Ltd. has been established with a registered capital of US$42.9 million. The entity represents the plant Guizhou Tyre is setting up for the manufacture of all-steel truck and bus radials (TBR) and other products; this plant is being built on a 297,000 square metre site in the Long Jiang Industrial Park, some 50 kilometres southwest of Ho Chi Minh city.

Guizhou Tyre reported in 2017 that it would invest almost US$400 million in the project. The planned investment for the first phase alone was $245 million and will provide a capacity for the manufacture of 1.2 million TBR tyres a year. A further two phases will give the plant additional capacities for heavy-duty and specialty tyres.

In addition to Advance, Guizhou Tyre manufactures tyres under the Samson, Tornado, Chinhoo and King Kong brand names.