Thai tyre manufacturer Deestone is to invest about 7 billion baht over the next three years on two new production facilities to cope with rising demand for tyre replacements at home and abroad.
"Thailand's domestic tyre replacement market is promising, driven by rising vehicle numbers every year," said managing director Kirk Wongsariyawanich.
"It is anticipated that over the next few years the market has an average of 5-10% growth potential from 50 billion baht now," he said.
On Friday, the company officially commenced operation of its fifth plant, making truck tyres in Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom. It is run by its subsidiary Siam Truck Radial.
This 3.5-billion-baht factory won the Board of Investment privileges in March to produce 1 million tyres a year with 1,000 employees.
The company plans to produce 300,000 tyres in the first-year operation and up to 1 million tyres in the next two years.
"Thailand is now ranked the sixth top tyre manufacturer in the world. I am confident the country is now the global hub of the world's automotive industry," said Mr Kirk. "Despite existing bearish automotive market in Thailand, I expect the impact is only short term."
Founded in 1982, Deestone supplies vehicle tyres, tubes and specialised tyres for all market segments. In 1994, with the establishment of Deestone International Co, the company diversified into bicycle, scooter and special industrial tyres and inner tube manufacturing for export.
Currently, some 60% of Deestone Group products are destined for export markets worldwide including the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Denmark, France, the UK, Israel and Jordan.
Mr Kirk said the company planned to raise the export proportion to 70% in 2016, citing Thailand's slowing automotive market after its massive sales in 2012, driven by the government first-time car buyer scheme.