Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd. is reportedly investing millions of dollars to build a new factory in the U.S. that will be lead by a former Nokian vice president, according to Tyres & Accessories.
Former Nokian vice president of car and van tires Rami Helminen left the company in November and has joined Sentury as an executive vice president to lead the U.S. project, T&A reports.
Helminen told T&A “hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars” will be invested into the new factory and a site search firm has been hired to help the company find a location.
In Phase 1, Sentury’s plan is to have a capacity of 5 million tires a year in 2017. The company plans on doubling its capacity with Phase 2 for a total annual capacity of 10 million tires a year, T&A said.
Sentury’s Qingdao factory currently supplies tires to the U.S, but with a factory in the U.S, the company would be able to avoid import tariffs.
