Michelin investing €75 million in Chinese venture
12:00 AM @ Monday - 01 January, 1900
Paris – Michelin, Double Coin Holdings and Shanghai Huayi have signed the final agreement to create a joint venture in China to produce and market Warrior brand passenger car and light truck tires for the local market. The new company, Double Coin Group (Anhui) Warrior Tires Co, will be owned 40% by Michelin and 60% by its Chinese partners. The Michelin Group will contribute capital of CNY 667 million (approximately €75 million) to the joint venture. Double Coin Group (Anhui) Warrior Tires Co will operate a plant now being built in Wuwei, Anhui province, around 400 kilometers west of Shanghai. Representing an investment of CNY 3.5 billion (approximately €390 million), the project calls for creating production capacity of 15 million car and light truck tires eventually. The agreement is subject to approval by the appropriate Chinese authorities. Present in China since 1988, Michelin currently employs more than 6,000 people in the country, with four industrial sites producing passenger car tires and/or truck tires (three in Shanghai and one in Shenyang). Its retail network comprises more than 4,000 sales outlets, including the TyrePlus franchise network (more than 600 sales outlets). In late 2010, Michelin launched a $1,350 million capital expenditure program in Shenyang, China, designed to relocate part of the plant’s activities, to expand it and upgrade it too. The new unit will eventually have twice the production capacity as the former plant. It will mainly produce Michelin-brand fuel-efficient tires, with capacity eventually reaching 10 million passenger cars and small truck tires, 1.8 million truck and bus tires, and 300,000 retreads for trucks and buses.