Former Bridgestone plant in Russia still idle

The plant in the Ulyanovsk region, formerly owned by Bridgestone, and now part of the Cordiant tire cluster has not yet resumed operation after the Japanese company's withdrawal from Russia, with the main reason being the lack of necessary equipment and new molds, according to Mosaica.ru, citing the words of Sergei Vasin, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Government.

As Vasin noted, new molds are needed because the old ones remained the property of Bridgestone, and now it is necessary to develop their own tire tread patterns to launch production. It was previously reported that the enterprise would master a line of premium-class tires under a new brand, and the plant would be renamed Gislaved.

In early October 2024, it was announced that the Cordiant cluster, which includes, in addition to the Ulyanovsk plant, four more production sites, had been sold by the S8 Capital holding to the Severgroup company, which manages investments on behalf of Alexey Mordashov.

Recently, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Alexey Russkikh, stated that he intends to meet with Mordashov in the near future to discuss the restart of the tire plant.

The plant in the Zavolzhye industrial park launched commercial production in 2016, with a projected capacity of 2.4 million tires per year.

Photo: Sergei Vasin's personal VK page