Yokohama Will Merge Subsidiaries : * Consolidation: Mohawk Rubber Co. of Ohio and Yokohama Tire Corp. of Fullerton will be combined in O.C. headquarters to integrate U.S. marketing efforts.

Tokyo-based Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. said Thursday it will merge its two U.S. subsidiaries into a single operation headquartered in Fullerton in an effort to integrate marketing efforts in this country.

The July 1 merger will combine Mohawk Rubber Co., a sales and manufacturing subsidiary located in Akron, Ohio, and 23-year-old Yokohama Tire Corp. in Fullerton, the Japanese tire maker’s U.S. sales arm for the Yokohama brand.

Yokohama officials said they expect the combined companies to post sales of $425 million this year.

Yoshimichi Hanabusa, president of Mohawk, has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the expanded Yokohama Tire Corp.

Koin (Ken) Suzuki, chief of the Fullerton sales subsidiary, will become executive vice president of the combined companies.

The merged company will retain the Yokohama Tire Corp. name but will be responsible for both Yokohama and Mohawk sales, service, manufacturing, and research and development activities throughout the United States, officials said.

The merger is expected to streamline sales, management, manufacturing and customer service operations, Hanabusa said in a statement issued Thursday.

The Mohawk brand name will continue and the Mohawk manufacturing facility in Salem, Va., will produce both Mohawk and Yokohama brand tires, said Jeff Carpenter, general manager of marketing for Yokohama Tire.

He said the merged company will maintain a branch office in Akron and that no layoffs are anticipated in the combined work force of 1,200 employees. About 250 of those employees work for the current Yokohama Tire Co. in Fullerton.

The Friend Tire, SAS Rubber and Tread Rubber divisions of Mohawk--which Yokohama acquired in 1989--will become independent subsidiaries of Yokohama Rubber and will operate separately from Yokohama Tire, said Carpenter.

Yokohama Rubber established Yokohama Tire as its U.S. sales arm in 1969 and has since expanded it to include a network of five regional offices.

In 1991, Yokohama Tire posted sales of $226 million in the United States, while Mohawk sales totaled $180 million.

Shortly after acquiring Mohawk, Yokohama refurbished that company’s manufacturing plant in an $80-million overhaul and began producing Yokohama-brand passenger car tires there.

Yokohama Rubber Co. is also a member of a joint venture with Toyo Tire Corp. and General Tire Corp. in the operation of the Mount Vernon, Ill.-based GTY Tire Co. that began production of Yokohama-brand tires in May, 1991.

GTY supplies Yokohama Tire with domestically produced bus and truck tires for sale in the United States, while the Mohawk plant provides U.S.-made, Yokohama- and Mohawk-brand passenger car tires.