Mohawk Rubber to Boost Tire Output

FULLERTON — Japan’s second-largest tire maker, Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., said it will spend $40 million to increase production at Mohawk Rubber Co. of Akron, Ohio, which Yokohama acquired last October.

Fullerton-based Yokohama Tire Corp. is the Japanese company’s U.S. marketing arm, and its 125 employees will be responsible for handling sales of the new products coming out of Mohawk plants in Akron and Salem, Va., a company spokesman said.

The expansion, aimed at more than doubling Mohawk’s current production of 4.1 million tires a year by the end of the decade, ultimately will increase the size of the Yokohama Tire Corp. work force, the spokesman said.

Mohawk currently produces private brand tires sold principally at service stations and in auto parts stores, and Mohawk-brand tires sold through Sears, Roebuck and K mart stores. As part of the expansion plan, it will begin producing Yokohama-brand passenger car and light truck radial tires for the U.S. replacement market by year’s end.

Yokohama, which supplies original equipment tires for various Japanese auto makers, said it intends to push into the original equipment market in the United States as well. To date, Yokohama Rubber has spent $200 million on the Mohawk acquisition and subsequent improvements.