Yokohama Establishes Local Subsidiary in Brazil

The Yokohama Rubber Co. established a new overseas subsidiary, called Yokohama Rubber Latin America Comercio Ltda., in April in Sao Paulo, Brazil.


The company will begin enhancing marketing activities in Latin America, including the development of local sales channels for expanding tire sales, this month. Capitalized at approximately 1.1 million Brazil reals (equivalent of $600,000), the new company is a joint investment by Yokohama Rubber and Yokohama Europe GmbH.

In recent years, Yokohama Rubber has strengthened its tire sales activities in Latin America including Brazil, Argentina and Chile, boosting tire sales volume in the market nearly 4 times in 5 years until 2007. As a result, the Japanese tire maker decided to establish a business base in Brazil, the largest market in Latin America, to stimulate further sales growth and bolster marketing activities focusing on high-performance passenger car tires, the company said.

With the establishment of the new subsidiary, Yokohama Rubber closed its representative office in Panama.

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